Airlines Deals

GoaAir, the Wadia promoted low cost airline, plans to ink a deal worth Rs 22.25 billion with global jet engine manufacturer CFM International. The company will be acquiring 40 engines from CFM, reports Business Standard.

The airline is negotiating for two different types of jet engines for its Airbus A320 fleet. CFM International is a joint venture between Snecma of France and General Electric Company of the US.

GoAir Managing Director Jeh Wadia confirmed the negotiations were at an advanced stage. However, he also added that nothing has been finalised.

GoAir has recently signed a purchase agreement for 10 Airbus A320 family aircraft with an option for 10 more at Farnborough Air Show in London.

Meanwhile, GoAir has also firmed up plans to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility for aircraft engines, joining hands with an international partner.

The Wadia Group has recently signed an agreement with the engineering arm of Singapore Airlines, SIA Engineering Company, for MRO services for both narrow and wide body aircraft in India.

Launched in November 2005, GoAir operates a fleet of three Airbus A320s with 24 flights covering 13 cities including Jammu & Srinagar. The airline operates with a single class, 180-seat configuration and is planning to expand its fleet to 33 aircraft in three years.

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Wadia group, the promoter of budget airline GoAir will invest $30 million with SIA Engineering, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, for maintenance, repair and overhaul services in the country.
The joint venture is expected to commence operations from November this year. Wadia group will hold 49 per cent stake in JV while the foreign partner will hold the remaining stake.

“We will invest up to $30 million to start with…and plan to operate at eight major airports in India and expand to 30 cities over the next five years,” Wadia group Director Jeh Wadia said.

Both firms also plan a training institute and expect to produce 50 engineers and 100 technicians in next two years.

“The staff strength would be 100 in the first year of operation, which would go up to 500 by 2010,” he added.

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GoAir has signed a purchase agreement with Airbus at the Farnborough International Airshow confirming the firm order of 10 Airbus A320 aircraft and ten more as optional. As part of the agreement, GoAir’s deliveries start from 2007.

The company launched services with two leased A320s in November 2005, with a further five leased A320s scheduled to enter the fleet during 2006. Having a single class configuration, each of the GoAir A320 aircraft will seat 180 passengers in an all-economy layout.

GoAir currently has 4 per cent of the market share and by bringing these aircraft into service; GoAir is looking at aggressively growing its business through a focused increase in sectors that have high potential of growth.

Targeting the A/c first class and second class passengers of the railways GoAir provides direct point to point connectivity to towns and cities that these passengers travel to.

Speaking on the occasion, Jeh Wadia, managing director, GoAir said, ‘I am delighted to have signed this contract which is a demonstration of our long standing confidence in the Airbus A320 family.

These aircrafts will enable us to develop our network and introduce new routes not previously served and we are excited about being able to offer the ‘Fly Smart ‘ experience to more cities and passengers through-out India.

‘I am very happy that GoAir has extended its partnership with Airbus by signing an agreement for more aircraft,’ said Christian Streiff, Airbus president and CEO

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The Fly Smart Airline, based in Mumbai, signed a purchase agreement for 10 Airbus A320 family aircraft with an option for a further ten at the Farnborough air show.
GoAir launched services with two leased A320s in November 2005, with a further five leased A320s scheduled to enter the fleet during 2006. All of the A320 aircraft on firm order will seat 180 passengers in an all-economy layout. In bringing these aircraft into service GoAir will expand services to major business and leisure destinations across the country. “I am delighted to have signed this contract which is a demonstration of our long standing confidence in the Airbus A320 family. These aircraft will enable us to develop our network and introduce new routes not previously served and we are excited about being able to offer the Fly Smart experience to more cities and passengers throughout India,” Mr. Jeh Wadia, managing director, GoAir.

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GoAir , ‘The Fly Smart Airline” today signed a purchase agreement with Airbus at the Farnborough International Airshow confirming the firm order of 10 Airbus A320 aircraft and ten more as optional. As part of the agreement, GoAir’s deliveries start from 2007.

GoAir launched services with two leased A320s in November 2005, with a further five leased A320s scheduled to enter the fleet during 2006. Having a single class configuration, each of the GoAir A320 aircraft will seat 180 passengers in an all-economy layout. GoAir currently has 4% of the market share and by bringing these aircraft into service, GoAir is looking at aggressively growing its business through a focused increase in sectors that have high potential of growth. Targeting the A/c 1st class and 2nd class passengers of the railways GoAir provides direct point to point connectivity to towns and cities that these passengers travel to.

Speaking on the occasion, Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir said, “I am delighted to have signed this contract which is a demonstration of our long standing confidence in the Airbus A320 family. These aircrafts will enable us to develop our network and introduce new routes not previously served and we are excited about being able to offer the “Fly Smart” experience to more cities and passengers throughout India. ”

“I am very happy that GoAir has extended its partnership with Airbus by signing an agreement for more aircraft. The purchase agreement signifies the growth of the airline and the increasing popularity of the A320 aircraft.” said Christian Streiff, Airbus President and CEO.

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Budget airline GoAir will add five more sectors with eight new flights next month to expand its fleet by 33 per cent as it revamps its operations in the fast growing domestic aviation market.

The new sectors are Goa-Delhi, Pune-Delhi, Mumbai- Chennai, Mumbai-Hyderabad and Kochi-Coimbatore, the airline promoted by the Wadia group said here today.

The new flights will begin from August 22, it said.

“This is part of our strategy to consolidate on key routes within our current network. These routes will provide convenient service to business and leisure travellers alike,” GoAir Managing Director Jeh Wadia said.

With the launch of the new routes, GoAir will operate 32 daily flights across 13 destinations.

The airline has also announced 50,000 tickets at special fares starting from Rs 525. These tickets will be available to passengers who wish to travel between July 19 and December 16, and will be applicable to both existing and new sectors to be launched next month, the airline said.

Last week, GoAir placed an order for 10 Airbus A320s as part of its fleet augmentation programme.

The low-cost carrier currently operates a fleet of Airbus A320s, with 24 flights covering 13 cities including Jammu and Srinagar.

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Wadia group`s low cost carrier GoAir today signed an agreement with Airbus Industries to acquire 10 A-320s with an option of purchasing 10 more.

The agreement was signed at the ongoing Airshow here by Airbus President and CEO Christian Streiss and Goair Managing Director Jeh Wadia.

The aircraft would be powered by CSM international engines and would have an all economy configuration of 180 seats.

After signing the agreement, Wadia said these aircraft would enable Goair to develop its domestic network and introduce new routes in India.

“We are delighted to sign this agreement which also expresses our long standing confidence in the A-320 family of aircraft. By these new aircraft we will be able to offer our `fly-smart` experience to passengers throughout the country”, Wadia said.

The Airbus Chief said the agreement signifies the growth of Goair as well as the increasing popularity of A-320 aircraft.

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Indian budget airline company GoAir has confirmed that they are acquiring ten Airbus A320 planes. The Wadia Group owned Airline Company has also taken an option to buy 10 more A320 planes.

The Airbus A320 planes are worth around $670 million at list prices.

Interestingly, this deal was announced on the first day of the Farnborough International Airshow and was the only confirmed order for Airbus planes.

GoAir said that they expect to take the deliveries of these planes starting from next year. This would help them expand the number of flights they operate in the domestic market of India.

GoAir Managing Director Jeh Wadia spoke on this new development: “At the moment we are consolidating the routes that we fly on and we are looking at only those routes.”

The company currently uses a leased fleet of A320s for their flights. They currently have no plans to go international and are more interested in expanding their services within the country.

Indian airline operators are once again expected to be the dominating buyers at this ongoing air show.

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At a news conference at the Farnborough International Airshow, Airbus’ chief salesman, John Leahy, said the A320 planes have an average catalog price $65 million to $70 million. Airlines normally negotiate discounts.
Jeh Wadia, managing director of GoAir, said he plans to purchase and lease back the new A320 airplanes.
Wadia told Dow Jones Newswires that his company is aiming for an initial public offering in 2008 or 2009.
The Mumbai-based budget carrier launched services in 2005 with two leased A320s and has five more leased A320s due to enter service this year.

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European planemaker Airbus said on Monday that Indian low-cost airline GoAir was buying 10 of its A320 planes, worth $670 million at list prices.

GoAir, owned by India’s Wadia Group, also has an option to buy 10 more A320 planes, Airbus said at the Farnborough International Airshow.

The deal was the only firm order for Airbus planes announced on the first day of the show where the planemaker has been explaining how it will address delays in its A380 superjumbo.

GoAir said it expects to take deliveries of the aircraft next year to increase flights on existing routes within India, which has experienced a boom in air travel in recent years.

“At the moment we are consolidating the routes that we fly on and we are looking at only those routes,” GoAir Managing Director Jeh Wadia told Reuters on the sidelines of the air show.

GoAir has no immediate plans to fly outside of India, he said.

GoAir, which already has a fleet of leased A320s, was launched in November last year.

Wadia told reporters that GoAir was not interested in buying any assets from Indian carrier Air Sahara. A deal by private airline Jet Airways to buy Air Sahara for $500 million collapsed last month.

Indian airlines are expected to dominate orders at the Farnborough show.

India’s Kingfisher Airlines was close to a deal to buy 10 new engines from engine consortium International Aero Engines (IAE), a source familiar with the situation told reporters earlier Monday.

India’s Deccan Aviation Ltd. also said on Monday it would buy 60 new engines from IAE.

IAE is a multinational consortium of United Technologies Corp. unit Pratt & Whitney, Britain’s Rolls-Royce Plc, Japanese Aero Engines Corp. and Germany’s MTU Aero Engines.

Airbus said the GoAir planes are to be powered by CFM International engines, a joint venture between General Electric and France’s Snecma.

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