National carrier Air India (AI) has given the mandate to ICICI Bank for re-financing loans it raised to purchase 21 Airbus A 320 family aircraft, valued at Rs 5,500 crore.
AI?s board, which met on Wednesday in Mumbai to discuss the progress of the turnaround plan of the carrier, also approved delivery financing of three B777- 300 ER aircraft and one GE-90 spare engine with US Exim support worth $475 million. The mandate for this has been awarded to Citibank for 85% and Standard Chartered Bank for 15% financial support each.
The board also approved disposal of four A310 passenger aircraft along with the simulator, and dry lease of 10 Airbus A 320 aircraft to replace the ageing fleet. Simultaneously, two A330 aircraft will be dry leased. The board also ratified the decision to continue the dry lease of four B737-800 aircraft for Air India Express. Air India Express will now have a fleet of 21 including 17 owned aircraft.
The board gave an approval of acquiring 30 acre near Nagpur SEZ area to set up the MRO facility.
The airline?s financial advisory firm Deloitte has suggested a series of measures, including a freeze on any increase in pay or promotion of its 31,000 employees for the next three years. The board discussed some of these also.
Meanwhile, AI has again issued an advertisement for a chief strategy officer in the company.