Alliance Air To Phase Out Boeing 737s, To Acquire 11 Airbus 319s

Joy Roy Choudhury - Kolkata

Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Indian Airlines, has floated a tender for phasing out the currently used Boeing 737-200s, and replace them with 11 Airbus 319s.

Sunil Arora, managing director, Indian Airlines (IA) said, "A tender for leasing the 11 aircraft had been floated and the last date for submission was July 30. The eleven Airbus all below six years in service are expected to be inducted by December this year. The lease agreement is to be finalised over the next couple of months."

Alliance Air would get these 11 Airbus-319s on dry lease for better connectivity and safety of its passengers. At present, there are eleven 737-200s in operation and he said all these aircraft would be phased out subject to availability. On his plans for Indian Airlines, Arora said that the domestic carrier would get the 13th leased A-320 plane, which would be stationed at Kolkata Airport. He said another set of six leased planes would be coming to IA by winter this year. Arora said IA plans to increase its frequency of flights from Kolkata to destinations like Mumbai, New Delhi, Port Blair and Bagdogra in North Bengal.

Arora, however, admitted that the airline was keen to replace the fleet with younger, leased planes to cut down operational costs. Maintaining an aging fleet is very expensive, he said. Costs are expected to come down by 20-25 per cent with the induction of the leased aircraft.