Saturday, September 05, 2015

Air India gets two of its first five leased planes

State-owned airline Air India, which signed its first lease agreement to replace its old fleet last year, has received its first two leased aircraft — A320, said civil aviation ministry officials. According to them, with this the process of replacing the old fleet has begun.
During mid-2014, Air India signed a lease with Chinese lessor China Aviation Leasing Group Holdings for five A320 aircraft. “Air India has already got two of these new planes, and the remaining three are on its way. It is most likely that the other three aircraft will be received by mid-2016,” the official said.
Officials said that the lease is for 12 years. The board that governs Air India has approved dry leasing of 19 aircraft which have an average age of 18.5 years. The tender process for the leasing started in October 2013.
The 19 aircraft make about one-third of Air India’s fleet of narrow body aircraft—some of them as old as 20 years. Experts said that the old fleet is one of the main reasons for Air India’s low performance.
05/09/15 Financial Express
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