Air India has placed an order to lease five ATR 72 turbo propeller aircraft for its fully-owned subsidiary, Alliance Airlines Services, which connects regional destinations. The airline is seeking to expand its network as it plans to connect more smaller towns and cities to compete with low-cost carriers (LCCs), which are expanding in these geographies.
Alliance Air, which has already received two out of the five ATR 72 turbo propeller aircraft it sought from leasing companies in the recent past, is looking to induct as many as nine such aircraft into its fleet by March 2016, a senior official of the airline told FE.
The carrier, which currently operates about 170 weekly flights to 25 domestic destinations, runs a fleet of nine aircraft consisting of three CRJ (70-seater), four ATR 42-320 (48-seater) and two ATR 72-600 (70-seater) type of aircraft (excluding the recently leased aircraft).
“The airline has placed order to lease five aircraft. While two have already joined the fleet, and been deployed on the routes, three more are likely to join the fleet shortly,” the official said.
“These aircraft are under long-term lease of 10-12 years. They have an all-inclusive rental of about $200,000 per month. This will be funded from internal approvals of cash (of the airline),” he added.
Alliance Air is currently the only airline servicing the recently inaugurated Durgapur’s Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport (KNIA), the country’s first privately held greenfield airport. However, low-cost carriers like SpiceJet and Air Costa are also expected to start their flights from the airport from August-September.
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