IA to spread wings, induct four Airbus A-320s

Indian Airlines (IA) will induct four Airbus A-320 aircrafts on lease to meet the increased traffic demand.

The national carrier is planning to deploy the new aircrafts from June 2004 to increase the daily frequency on eight sectors, including the trunk routes like the Bangalore-Mumbai, Delhi-Hyderabad and Kolkata-Chennai.

The leased aircrafts would be used for replacing Boeing B-737s on the Chennai-Hyderabad and Chennai-Bangalore-Pune sectors and for additional frequency on the Chennai-Port Blair sector.

The Airline plans to deploy the aircrafts on the Cochin-Calicut-Mumbai and Mumbai-Bangalore sectors, while there would be two flights, each in morning and evening, on the Delhi-Hyderabad sector.

IA also plans to have morning flights, four times a week, on the Kolkata-Chennai sector.

Meanwhile, IA's Rs 10,000 crore proposal to acquire 43 Airbus A-320 aircrafts has effectively hit a roadblock, with the government putting off the crucial meeting of the Public Investment Board slated in end-January 2004 till the end of the general election.

The Government had reasoned then that it would not be pertinent to take a decision on a deal of such magnitude just before the elections.

IA, which has cited capacity constraint as the main reason for losing market share to private airlines, had initiated the process of partially meeting its replacement requirement of aging fleet and deploy additional capacity to meet traffic demand and network expansion through leasing of the A-320 aircraft simultaneously with the acquisition proposal.

IA had last acquired 30 Airbus A-320's in June 1989. Thereafter, the airline had inducted two wide-bodied A-300 aircrafts on lease in 1998 as an interim capacity induction.

Between April 2001 and October 2003, IA had taken 11 A-320 aircrafts on lease at different stages with a lease period of 3-5 years.

During the period, the airline had to withdraw seven aging A-300 aircrafts, while one Boeing 737 was lost in the Patna aircrash in July 2000.

Withdrawal of these aircrafts reduced the airline's installed seat capacity by about 1,850 seats, while the induction of the A-320s has compensated the loss of seats.

With the increase in fleet size of A-320s from 30 to 41 and efficient utilisation of the fleet, IA's capacity in terms of seat kilometers offered on different routes has marginally increased by about three per cent per year, a company official said.