The Hindu Business Line : IA, subsidiary to lease fifteen Airbus aircraft

The move will also give a much-needed product upgrade to AA. The 122-seater Airbus aircraft, which the eight-year old airline plans to lease, will offer passengers the choice of sitting in either economy or executive class.

At present, the Boeing 737-200 aircraft operated by AA only offers seats in economy class.

The five Airbus A-319 aircraft, which will be replacement for the existing fleet of 11 Boeing aircraft being operated by the airline, are scheduled to arrive in November this year, in time for the winter schedule operations of Alliance.

Sources indicated that the entire existing fleet of Boeing aircraft being operated by AA is likely to be replaced in a phased manner.

The empowered committee also gave its nod for IA to acquire another six Airbus A-320 aircraft on dry lease. The move to lease another six Airbus A-320 aircraft comes even as four similar aircraft are scheduled to join the airline fleet in June this year.

Both Alliance and IA are to acquire the aircraft initially for a period of three years. However, the lease can be extended by another two years.

The induction of six Airbus A-320 aircraft by IA in November this year will see the airline fleet strength increase to 51, up from 48 aircraft in June this year.

Similarly, Alliance will have a fleet strength of 15 aircraft, including five Airbus A-319, six Boeing 737-200 and four ATR aircraft.

The move to induct at least four aircraft to replace the ageing fleet of AA was first thrown up at a brainstorming session held in the Ministry of Civil Aviation on November 3 last year. While the meeting felt that four aircraft should be taken on lease by Alliance, the decision on the variety or type of aircraft was left to senior officials of the airline.

AA, at present, operates 11 Boeing 737 aircraft, which are about 20 years old. However, sources were categorical that the proposed move will not affect the 43-aircraft fleet acquisition plans of the State-owned airline, which has been pending with the Government for the past two years.