GoAir takes delivery of first of 20 aircraft order

New Delhi, Oct 4 (UNI) The Wadia group's low-cost airline GoAir today received the first aircraft delivery of its 1.2 billion dollar order placed last year.

It is expected to receive delivery of the second aircraft in first half of November, said managing director Jeh Wadia. ''The last delivery of 20 Airbus A320 aircraft will be complete in the next 18 months.'' With the addition of two new planes, said Mr Wadia, GoAir's operational focus will be to consolidate its current network of destinations. The key objective will be to service existing destinations by increasing flight frequencies.

''The first phase of frequency enhancement strategy will be rolled out in sectors of Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad and Bangalore with the rest to follow in the second phase,'' said Mr Wadia.

The total number of weekly flights will then increase to 305.

GoAir currently operates across 11 destinations through 259 flights with four leased aircraft and has 4.4 per cent market share.

Mr Wadia ruled out GoAir operating on international routes in future, saying the focus will be on India which is the largest potential domestic market in the world.

He said the company is open to divesting 26 per cent stake and is in talks with a financial investor. GoAir is also mulling to float an initial public offering (IPO) of stocks sale by March 2009, he said.

The airline has however scrapped a plan to set up maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, said Mr Wadia.

UNI