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Aparna Kalra
New Delhi, June 29: The Air India (AI) board on Tuesday shortlisted the Boeing 767 and the Airbus A 330 for expansion of its fleet.
The board has, thereby, dropped the ambitious $3-billion medium capacity long range (MCLR) aircraft deal, which was hanging fire for nearly four years, opting instead for the small capacity short range and the small capacity long range aircraft.
The Boeing 767 and the Airbus A 330 fall in the 250-seater category. The MCLR deal was for aircraft in the 300-seater category.
The board, in a special meeting convened in Mumbai to discuss the aircraft purchase, shortlisted both the normal and extended versions of the Boeing 767 and the Airbus A 330.
The board has directed the AI top brass to conduct further negotiations with aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus. "The board has directed Air India to proceed with further negotiations with Airbus and Boeing," said Air India's spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava.
The board's decision was based on a technical evaluation report onthe aircraft prepared by an in-house committee headed by commercial director Shanu Mukherjee.
It now appears that AI may have jumped the gun in inviting Boeing and Airbus ten days ago to submit their commercial bids for the aircraft. The airline should have waited for the board's approval before asking for the financial bids.
It will now have to re-invite the financial bids in line with the aircraft shortlisted by the board for the purchase. It was not immediately known whether the board of directors expressed any reservations on Air India's hasty move in the meeting. The spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.
AI is in urgent need of new aircraft, as its 26-aircraft fleet is ageing rapidly. For the past three years, the airline has been trying to finalise its aircraft purchase without any success.
However, the civil aviation ministry headed by Ananth Kumar is now moving rapidly to finalise the aircraft purchase of Indian Airlines (IA) and Air India, so much so that the moves on this front haveinvited the scrutiny of President KR Narayanan.
The President's reservations concern the issue of pumping in fresh equity of Rs 325 crore in Indian Airlines by a caretaker government. The funds are to be utilised as margin money for purchasing new aircraft. Kumar is involved in a tussle with IA chief Anil Baijal over the purchase of 50-seaters for the airline.
The AI board's decision on Tuesday will lose its significance as soon as the code of conduct comes into effect before the elections. It remains to be seen whether AI is able to finalise the aircraft purchase in the short time that remains.
Meanwhile, the Union cabinet is yet to decide on a Rs 1,000-crore equity infusion in Air India, which will fund the aircraft purchase. The equity infusion is part of the disinvestment programme for the airline.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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