Thursday, July 7, 2011

GoAir May Buy Regional Aircraft to Connect Smaller India Cities

Go Airlines (India) Ltd., the discount carrier that ordered 72 Airbus SAS A320neo jets last month, is considering adding modest planes to tap rising travel demand in the South Asian nation.

“The Indian industry has essential ability for regional aircraft,” Giorgio De Roni, who took more than as chief executive officer last month, stated inside a July Five job interview in Mumbai. GoAir has had “very preliminary” talks with planemakers Avions de Transport Regional, Bombardier Inc (BBD/B) and Embraer SA (EMBR3), he said.

GoAir might join rival SpiceJet Ltd. (SJET) in ordering modest planes that seat less than 100 folks as economic growth spreads beyond India’s major cities. The Mumbai-based carrier plans to double its fleet of larger A320s to 20 in the next two many years previous to it starts receiving aircraft from its latest order.

“There is a strong case for airlines to produce a regional network,” stated P.C.K. Ravindran, chairman of Kochi, India-based Institute of Employed Aviation Management, and an adviser on aviation projects. “Gradually, if not immediately, air site visitors will grow in states as industrialization catches up.”

Deliveries of GoAir’s 72 A320neos will begin in 2016, De Roni said. The airline currently flies to modest Indian cities for example Bagdogra, Guwahati, Jaipur and Nagpur using its A320s. The carrier had sales of $300 million in the last financial year and posted a profit, he stated with no elaboration.

SpiceJet, India’s only listed discount carrier, will add 15 Bombardier Q400 turboprops by July next year. The carrier is expanding services to modest cities and towns because it aims to more than double passenger numbers in three years. It ordered the planes last year and took choices for another 15.

IndiGo, the nation’s biggest low-fare airline, last month placed an order for 180 Airbus planes at the Paris Air Show.
Source: bloomberg.com