In a major expansion bid, Air Deccan, which now operates primarily on regional routes, has decided to acquire two Airbus A-320s and lease five more to launch nationwide no-frill, low cost air operations in competition with major domestic players.
The five A-320s, to be leased from Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, would start joining its fleet from July this year, while the delivery of the two new aircraft would begin from September 2005, the major European aircraft manufacturer, Airbus Industrie, said in a release in New Delhi.
Besides acquiring two new A-320s, Air Deccan has taken options for two more such aircraft. All the planes would be 180 seaters in an all-economy configuration.
The catalogue price for one A-320 plane is $65 million.
"With our low-cost approach, we naturally wanted the most economical aircraft for the job and the A-320 was the clear winner in our evaluation," Air Deccan's managing director C R Gopinath said.
The wide cabins of A-320s and their spacious character would "allow us to compete with other carriers on product as well as cost," he said.
Air Deccan offers 40 flights a day currently but hopes to boost its services to 100 flights per day by June or July this year, he added.