Air India is said to be in talks with Kuwaiti and Chinese aircraft lessors to replace about a third of its narrow body planes which are about 20 years old with new leases. “The carrier has already tied up for five planes and is looking to lease another 14 aircraft,” ministry officials said.
Air India has already signed leases for five aircraft with China Aviation Leasing Group Holdings and they will be inducted into the fleet by the end of the year. The rest of the 14 planes will come from Kuwaiti lessors, officials said, starting mid-2016, officials said.
According to aviation statistics website Planespotter.net, the average age of Air India’s aircraft is 10 years while IndiGo’s fleet has an average age of 3.6 years. GoAir’s fleet has an average age of 4.1 years and Jet Airways aircraft has an average age of 5.9 years.
According to Directorate General of Civil Aviation statistics, in January, the state-owned airline’s on-time-performance (OTP), the parameter to measure delays, fell to an all time low to 52%. However, it managed to pull it up to 77% in May, though OTP still continues to be among the lowest in the industry, just above that of SpiceJet. “If you continue to use the same aircraft, the OTP is bound to come down,” officials said.
Air India has also witnessed a constant drop in market share month-over-month — from 18.7% in January, to 15.8% in May. In the same period, IndiGo has taken its share from 36.4% to 38.9%.
Air India ranked fourth after Air Costa, Jet Lite and SpiceJet in cancellations.
Air India owns 59 narrow body aircraft, and five more have been leased. Its fleet size is 114 planes, which includes 40 wide-body planes.
The company has Rs 30,000 crore of accumulated losses and Rs 50,000 crore in debt. The government has committed to infusing Rs 30,000 crore to the airline to help turn it around.
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