The Hindu Business Line : Jagson to buy 20 Airbus

"We have communicated the purchase decision to Airbus. The airline will place firm orders for 14 aircraft, while we will exercise options on another six," the airlines Chief Executive Officer and President, Mr Uttam Kumar Bose, said.

In a statement, the airline has said that the financing modalities for the acquisition were being worked out. Jagson Airline, however, hopes to close the process of acquisition by March. The airline, that currently operates Dornier aircraft on feeder routes from Delhi, will utilise the Airbus aircraft to fly on trunk routes.

Inaugural flight

"The inaugural flight of the airline will be between Delhi and Bangalore. We hope to start flying sometime in April or May this year," Mr Bose said.

The airline will take to the skies with leased Airbus aircraft but plans to start inducting the aircraft that it will be purchasing from 2008-09 onwards, sources indicated. The 152-seater Airbus A-321 aircraft will offer seating in economy and premium economy.

During the first phase of operations the airline plans to offer flights to Delhi, Bangalore, Patna, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Jaipur, Dibrugarh and Goa.

In the second phase, while adding flights to these sectors, the airline will extend operations to Lucknow, Cochin Kochi and Hyderabad.

The airline joins a host of other Indian carriers that have announced orders for new aircraft during the week. While the Mumbai based budget airline, GoAir, announced the acquisition of 20 A-320 family of aircraft,

Another low cost airline, SpiceJet announced that it would purchase 10 Boeing 737 aircraft including five Boeing 737-800 and five Boeing 737-900 extended range aircraft.

In addition, the state owned Indian Airlines, signed a purchase agreement with Airbus for acquiring 43 aircraft.