NEW DELHI, 17 September — India’s flag carrier Air-India is all set for its largest fleet expansion exercise ever, as its board meets tomorrow to discuss the purchase of some 40 aircraft.
The airline, which showed a profit of over 250 million rupees in 2001-02 for the first time in six years, has decided to acquire about 40 aircraft over a five-year period at a cost of nearly $ two billion, an airline official said.
"It is the largest ever one-time purchase of aircraft by Air-India," airline director (public relations) Jitendra Bhargava told reporters.
The airline plans to purchase a mixed fleet of 250-seaters and 150-seaters, including aircraft that can fly long distances to destinations such as the US, Europe and the Far East.
Bids will be invited from aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus after the Air-India board finalizes the fleet acquisition plan prepared by an expert committee.
In the meeting, the members are also expected to iron out differences over the type of aircraft to be purchased.
The expert panel, comprising members of the Air-India board and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, wants the carrier to acquire 17 long-range 250-seat and 21 short-range 150-seat planes, besides retaining six existing Boeing 747-400s and eight Airbus A310s.
