Indian, Alliance to boost seat capacity with more leased planes

New Delhi, Oct 23 (UNI) The board of Indian (Airlines) directors today approved leasing of five Airbus A320 aircraft besides six regional jets for its subsidiary Alliance Air to increase seat capacity amid an unprecedented upsurge in air passenger traffic.

''We have to be very aggressive in today's marketplace,'' said Indian's chairman and managing director Vishwapati Trivedi, adding the airline may start flying to Birmingham in Britain and cities in Australia, China and South Africa in coming months.

He indicated that Alliance may be turned into a low-frills airline with six new regional jets from either Embraer (of Brazil) or Bombardier (of Canada). These 60 to 80 seater aircraft with single-class configuration will be deployed for point-to-point operations.

There is a three point formula worked out to turn around the ailing airline. One is to achieve higher levels of aircraft utilisation. Two is to have a lower wage platform with about 80 per cent of employees on contract at one-third of cost than their counterparts in Indian. And third is to have a web-based model for distribution of tickets.

The regional jets are likely to be inducted by April 2007, said Mr Trivedi. In the process, six old Boeing 737s will be converted into freighters and the remaining five phased out. The four Dorniers will be replaced with six 48-seater ATRs for routes in the Northeast.

More UNI SU DKS HS1934