India's day out at Paris Air Show

Domestic airlines commit to buy aircraft worth over $7bn.

Domestic airlines companies "" Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Paramount "" grabbed the spotlight on the second day of the Paris Air Show, making commitments to buy over $ 7 billion worth of aircraft from Boeing, Airbus and the Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer.

Naresh Goyal's Jet Airways today committed to buy at least 20 Boeing planes worth over $2.8 billion at list prices, including 10 wide-bodied 777s that it will use to boost international service.

Jet said separately it would buy 10 Airbus aircraft with options to buy 10 more in a deal worth about $1.5 billion. The long-haul planes will be delivered from 2006 through 2009.

With the induction of these 40 aircraft, Jet Airways will become one of the largest carriers in India. At the moment, the private carrier has 36 Boeing 737s, three Airbus A-340s and eight atr 72-500s.

Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal told reporters the carrier's commitment to buy these aircraft was "just the beginning", adding that it was "looking very seriously" at Boeing's newest plane, the 787 Dreamliner.

"We will put the aircraft into service on major markets like the US, North America, the UK, Singapore and other destinations," Jet Airways Chief Executive Officer Prockschauer Wolfgang said.

Jet's domestic rival Kingfisher Airlines said at the Paris Show that it planned to spend about $2.5 billion for "multiple wide-bodied aircraft" from Airbus.

The yet-to-be launched Paramount Airways has placed an order with Embraer to purchase five of its new-generation 170/175 series aircraft in a deal worth $ 138 million. This is the first deal of the Brazilian company with an Indian client as it seeks to break into new markets.

"Paramount Airways will be the first carrier in India to use the Embraer 170/175 aircraft, making it also the first of its kind commercial transaction in civil aviation between India and Brazil," Paramount Airways Managing Director M Thiagarajan said.

Paramount, slated to commence operations in August, will be a full-service, low-cost airline, offering direct services to a number of secondary cities in India.

The carrier will offer an all-business class service on the first two Embraer 170 aircraft and a first and business class configuration on the next three Embraer 175 aircraft.

Paramount Airways is promoted by Paramount Group, a leading player in textiles, with interests in banking and a host of other activities. It will operate from its base in Coimbatore.

Noel Forgeard, president and CEO, Airbus, said: "Our ability to deliver aircraft early will also give Jet Airways the advantage of an early start."

The deliveries of Boeing 777s will begin from the latter part of next year and the planes would be used for non-stop flights between India and the us.

Meanwhile, the airline also informed the stock exchange that it wanted to commence flights to the United States and some other countries and increase the frequency of its operations to the UK.

India is all set to be one of the largest markets for aircraft makers. As per estimates by aircraft makers, India carriers "" both government-owned and private "" are expected to place orders for at least 200 new aircraft over the next 12 months. This is much more than the 175 airplanes that the seven Indian carriers own now.

But, this growth does not seem to be a short-term one. Airbus has upped its forecast of sales of new aircraft to Indian carriers to 400 from 220 by 2023. This will make India the third largest market for new aircraft in Asia, behind China (1,790) and Japan (640), according to Airbus' Global Market Forecast 2004-2023.

Boeing, on the other hand, expects India to buy aircraft worth $35 billion in the next 20 years. The demand, according to Boeing, will mainly come from new carriers as well as from the government's decision to allow Indian carriers to operate on international routes.