Monday, January 10, 2005
Local carriers give a boost to aircraft majors
Bipin Chandran / New Delhi January 10, 2005
Encouraged by the fleet expansion plans of Indian carriers, global aircraft maker Airbus Industrie has upped its forecast for sale of new aircraft to Indian carriers to 400 from 220 by the year 2023.
This would 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.
While all domestic carriers have embarked on ambitious expansion, about a dozen other companies have announced plans to launch new services keeping in mind the rising air traffic in the country.
It has been projected that total air traffic in India will rise by 5 million passengers each year over the next ten years. In 2004, the traffic grew by over 30 per cent to touch an all-time high figure of 23 million passengers.
The government has also allowed domestic carriers with five years of experience and a fleet of at least 20 aircraft to fly abroad. This is also expected to result in larger orders for aircraft makers such as Airbus.
The biggest orders will come from the state-run carriers. While Indian Airlines will soon place the largest aircraft order from India ever to buy 43 Airbus A320s, Air India Express will buy 18 Boeing aircraft and Air-India will need to buy at least 50 aircraft to meet its growth requirements. It is estimated that the two state-run carriers would invest over $5 billion in the next few years to modernise their fleet.
Air Deccan (which has a fleet of 16 now, with 3 Airbus and 13 turbo propelled small aircraft) has ordered 30 A320s for delivery from 2007 to 2010, plus options to buy another 25 airplanes.
Kingfisher Airlines signed a contract with Airbus in December for four A320s and exercised six options, making a total of ten aircraft on firm order. In addition, Kingfisher Airlines will have options to buy 20 aircraft.
Kingfisher expects to take delivery of these A320s at a rate of up to 9 aircraft per year until 2008. Kingfisher has also recently concluded an agreement to lease four A320s from Debis Airfinance, to launch operations in April 2005.