Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Apr 12, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Apr 12, 2005 |
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Logistics
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Airlines South African Airways in lease pact with Jet Our Bureau
Dr Khaya Ngqula (right), President & CEO, South African Airways, and Ms Nalini Gupta, General Manager, at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday. - Shashi Ashiwal
Mumbai , April 11 SOUTH African Airways (SAA) has sub-leased three of its Airbus A340-300 aircraft to Jet Airways, the private carrier that was recently given the nod to commence operations to London, apart from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The aircraft lease agreement, signed for two years, was above market rates and made good commercial sense for South African Airways, said Dr Khaya Ngqula, CEO and President, SAA. However, he refused to divulge the terms of the lease agreement. Under a separate strategic alliance, Jet would also provide South African Airways (SAA) connectivity within India, meeting the demand from all the urban centres. Dr Ngqula said Jet would also provide international connectivity solutions for SAA as and when it was allowed to increase its international destinations. At that point, SAA would be keen to enter a frequent flier and code share partnership with Jet, which accounted for 43 per cent of the domestic traffic in the country. Dr Ngqula told presspersons here that the lease was for a period of two years. SAA had leased a fourth aircraft to contractors, bringing down its fleet strength to 61 from 65. The decision to whittle down the fleet strength was linked to SAA's plan to improve aircraft utilisation of craft to 70 per cent, he said. The decision fell in line with its overall design to cut costs and improve profitability. He added that India was a key market for South African Airways, and the airline now offered a daily service between Mumbai and Johannesburg. The airline hoped to begin a service to Delhi by the year-end. It was also looking at Hyderabad and Bangalore for further expansion.
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