Air India loses lease deal for three aircraft to Jet Airways

Mumbai: National flag carrier Air India has lost a lease deal for three wide-body aircraft to rival Jet Airways (India) Ltd, two people familiar with the deal said.
Royal Brunei Airlines, which had been in talks with state-run National Aviation Co. of India Ltd (Nacil) earlier, has agreed to take the lease of three Boeing 777 planes from Jet Airways, said a senior executive at Air India, the country’s biggest by passengers flown.
The deal, however, is at a lower rate than Jet’s previous agreement with Gulf Air, which is returning the aircraft after deciding against extending its lease deal.
“Though Jet Airways could not manage to get the same rates they got from Gulf Air, the carrier has managed to strike a decent deal,” said an aircraft consultant close to the development.
Both the executive and the consultant did not want to be identified.
Boeing Co.’s 777 planes are used for long-haul routes and can seat up to 440 passengers.
A spokeswoman for Jet Airways said the deal with Royal Brunei Airlines it yet to be finalized.
“We have four Boeing 777 planes which we have leased out, and, in the next one or two weeks, we will finalize the lease-out plan for three more Boeing 777 aircraft,” said K.G. Vishwanath, vice-president (commercial strategy and investor relations), Jet Airways.
Air India is changing its strategy after it didn’t get a good response for its six Boeing 777 aircraft.
16/02/10 P.R. Sanjai/Live Mint

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Categories: Foreign Feb 2010, Jet Airways Feb 2010, NACIL Feb 2010