Amid its aggresive drive for the fleet expansion , Air India has recently announced a 15 month plan in which it aims to lease 30 aircraft comprising of 5 B777, 21 A320neo and 4 A321neos.
Under the new management and CEO , One such development was evident, when it was revealed that they are leasing six Airbus A320neo aircraft from CDB Aviation.
On the sidelines of Airline Economics Growth Frontiers Asia Pacific 2022 conference , Air India has signed an agreement with CDB Aviation , a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co. for a fleet of six Airbus A320neo aircraft.
Expected to be used on domestic routes, these aircraft would be among the very first ones to renew the fleet of previous Government owned company , which the Business conglomerate Tata Group has taken over in January 2022.
Also , CDB Aviation is among the first aircraft leasing companies to secure the placement of Air India’s additional A320neo aircraft under the recently announced multi-stage transformation plan since the purchase of the airline by Tata group, which aims to increase the carrier’s fleet and help it boost both domestic and international operations.
Campbell Wilson, MD, and CEO, Air India says ,
"http://Vihaan.AI is our transformation plan to make Air India the world class airline it once was, and that it deserves to be again".
Expected to be delivered in the second half of 2023 , renewal of the fleet will help Air India to increase its market share to at least 30% in domestic market while significantly growing international routes from the present market share.
“Our commercial team is delighted to have worked closely with Air India to help solve their fleet requirements with these new Airbus narrowbody aircraft from our orderbook,” commented Ryan Barrett, CDB Aviation’s Head of Asia Pacific."
“These fuel-efficient, new generation aircraft are well suited to support Air India’s fleet revitalization initiatives, positioning the airline for sustained growth and profitability.’’
Commenting on the agreement , Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer of Air India, said:
“This is an important agreement, which will help us to strengthen our fleet with state-of-the-art aircraft. This will boost our connectivity, especially on the short and medium-haul routes, and is an important step ahead in our transformation journey.”
“India is an increasingly important region for CDB Aviation, being the second largest Asia Pacific market for new aircraft deliveries, with nearly 1,000 Boeing and Airbus jets in its orderbook,” explained Peter Goodman, CDB Aviation’s Chief Commercial Officer."
“Our commercial team remains steadfast in its outreach efforts across Asia Pacific, leveraging our platform’s resources and scale to support the region’s airlines in restoring their networks and growing their fleets.”
Apart from assets in Aircraft , Tata Group backed Air India looks to create a talent pool. And the first phase of this initiative has received an overwhelming response. Over 1,752 applications for pilots and 72,000 applications for cabin crew have been received in the last two months, which are in the process of assessment.
Air India’s narrow-body fleet , which operates its domestic routes stands at 70 aircraft . Out of them , 54 are in service and the remaining 16 aircraft will progressively return to service by early 2023.
The wide-body fleet stands at 43 aircraft , of which 33 are operational . Rest of the aircraft will return to service by early 2023.
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