A-I short of leased planes as budget carriers fly in

Flag carrier Air-India (A-I) is finding it difficult to get aircraft on lease as budget carriers have cornered chunk of the supply in the global aircraft leasing market. Consequently, leasing rates have gone up.

While the national carrier has managed to get three Boeing 737-800 aircraft on lease for the Gulf-route-focused low cost arm Air-India Express, it is falling short of seven similar aircraft that were to be inducted in 2005.

Air India is in need of six more long-range aircraft to be deployed on the India-Europe-US sector.

The airline tender for Boeing 747-400s and 747-400 combis aircraft expires on January 18.

"We have not managed to get the required number of planes in 2005. With the demand for aircraft going up considerably, we have a problem in getting aircraft on lease. We will have to float more tenders for Air-India as well as Air-India Express in the near term," V Thulasidas, chairman and managing director of Air India said.

"With the travel market across the globe booming, lease rentals have gone up considerably," he added.

The airline today announced the induction of three new generation aircraft "" Boeing 777ER. Taken on lease, they will be deployed on the Mumbai-London sector. It is after a gap of over 10 years that new generation aircraft will be joining the Air-India fleet.

The airline had originally planned to take around 20 aircraft on lease in 2005 as it was not in a position to wait for the government to finalise its fleet acquisition.

It plans to launch new services on routes including Delhi-Amritsar-Toronto, India-Australia vis Singapore, India-South Africa via Mauritius, India-Shanghai, India-Japan besides additional frequencies on the India-London and India-Europe-Us route.