AI clears proposal to induct on lease 8 Boeing

Mumbai: Air India on Friday approved a proposal to induct on lease eight Boeing aircraft to augment the fleet strength of its wholly-owned subsidiary Air India Express.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Air India Board here this evening.
Of the eight Boeing B 737-800 planes, four would be taken on long-term dry lease and the remaining would be wet-leased for six months, airline sources said.
The sources said wet-leasing was being done to meet the shortage of pilots and cabin crew the no-frill carrier was facing now.
The four B-737s were being wet leased "in order to augment capacity to meet the surging demand and also the demands from MPs of Punjab and Kerala to restore the original (flight) schedule," the order signed by AI CMD Arvind Jadhav said.
Wet lease is an arrangement in which the lessor provides an aircraft along with the cockpit and cabin crew and pays for its maintenance and insurance.
However, the wet-lease move had baffled some officials who maintained that wet leasing was always costlier than dry lease and there was no shortage of pilots in Air India Express.
07/01/11 ZeeNews

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Categories: Air India Budget Jan 2011, Air India Jan 2011