IA receives revised Airbus, Boeing bids

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Dec. 21

INDIAN Airlines (IA) on Friday received the revised financial bids from Airbus Industrie and Boeing Aeroplane Co for its multi-billion dollar fleet acquisition plan.

Senior IA officials, however, refused to confirm whether the bids had been received or whether the last date for submission of the bids had been extended.

``The committee is not in place. We will be able to comment on the bids only on December 24,'' a senior IA official said.Industry sources, while declining to go into specifics of the revised price bids, said that more important than a reduction in fleet prices are the standard services being offered by the manufacturers, and their price.

"Price is a very small part of the entire deal. It is all about maintenance, spares, customer support and services. What is important is the performance and operating costs of the aircraft during its life cycle. If the airline has to pay a bit extra in the initial stage so that it can enjoy uninterrupted use of the aircraft for a longer period, why should anyone mind,'' they added.

IA decided to call for revised price bids after receiving a letter from Boeing that the company was ready to revise the prices earlier offered.

The price bids that were submitted on Friday would be valid for six months, according to the sources.The list price of an aircraft includes flight crew, engineering, maintenance and despatch training.

However, the sources refused to speculate on how a reduction in prices would affect the training programmes that are offered with the reduced price.

Among the aircraft offered by Boeing include the 100-seater 717-200 and several versions of the new generation Boeing 737, including the Boeing 737-600 (100-seater), Boeing 737-800 (150-seater) and the Boeing 737-900 (189-seater). Similarly, Airbus Industrie has offered the Airbus A-319 in the up to 100-seater category, the Airbus A-321 in the above 150-seater category and the Airbus A-320.

IA plans to purchase up to 40 aircraft - 16 100-seater, 16 aircraft of the more than 150-seater variety and eight that can seat 140-150 passengers - in a phased manner over a five-year period.

On the issue of delivery of the aircraft, the sources said that the waiting period could be 12-18 months depending on the configuration and avionics the airline may seek.