• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Mumbai , Oct 7

AIR Deccan plans to dry lease two Airbus A320 narrow-body aircraft from GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS), the commercial aircraft financing and leasing business of General Electric. Both aircraft will join the Air Deccan fleet by January next year.

Currently, the low-cost airline has a fleet of 20 aircraft which would rise to 24 by the month-end when it takes delivery of four more aircraft - two Airbus and ATRs each.

Mr G.R. Gopinath, Managing Director, termed the agreement with GECAS as "the start of a new partnership."

Apart from teaming up for lease of aircraft, the partnership includes a training arrangement under which Air Deccan pilots could train at GECAS facilities in London and Hong Kong and a network of 50 flight simulator training centres across the world.

Mr Gopinath told newspersons on Friday that the lease agreement would not be subject to the withholding tax as it was entered into before the September 30 deadline set by the Government.

While he did not provide details of the value of the lease agreement, Mr Gopinath said that the lease generally worked out to 0.7-0.9 per cent of the asset value. Further, the value of the lease could vary with factors such as age of the aircraft and country risk.

The airline, he said, plans to have half its fleet on lease and half as own assets. According to him, while the airline undertook routine maintenance and small repairs on its own, it had comprehensive maintenance agreements with global companies for major overhauls.

The airline is in the process of returning its old ATRs; two have already been returned, five more would be returned in phases by end of the fiscal. The average age of the fleet would then be under two years, he said.

The Chennai hangar, for which the airline had been allocated 66,000 sq ft, is in progress. Besides, the airline is in talks with various parties for setting up a pilot training school with simulator facilities in Bangalore.

GECAS, which has a fleet of more than 1,300 owned aircraft, offers a range of aircraft fleet, financing, and productivity solutions to more than 200 airlines worldwide. The company has more than $250 million in leased aircraft invested in India.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Kingfisher launches 2 fixed fare offers

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line