http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News-by-Industry/Paramount-close-to-Rs-4K-cr-fleet-deal/articleshow/4465457.cms
Paramount close to Rs 4,000-cr fleet deal
30 Apr 2009, 0001 hrs IST
Mithun Roy, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: Paramount Airways, the country’s only full business class airline, is close to signing contracts worth Rs 4,000 crore with Boeing and
Airbus. It has decided to order 10 new fleet — A330 and A350 from Airbus, and B777 and B787 from Boeing — for its proposed overseas operations, a person close to the development said. He said Paramount will pay in instalment to take delivery of these aircraft within 18 months of placing orders.
When contacted, Paramount MD M Thiagarajan told ET: “I cannot reveal anything now, but we are finalising deals with two foreign aircraft makers for acquisition of fleet. We will make an announcement in a few weeks.†Mr Thiagarajan further said the airline would launch operations in South-East Asia, West Asia, the US and Europe. The existing regulations require an airline to complete five years in the domestic market to be eligible for launching international operations. Paramount has been running operations for the past four years.
Paramount Airways, which has been the only profit-making home-grown carrier, is the market leader in South India with a 26% share and reported a 45% increase in passenger traffic in January compared to last year. The carrier has a network of more than 20 destinations across the country. It operates 1,600 services every month, which will be scaled up to 2,200 by October. It has been hiring pilots, cabin crew, airport managers, in-flight supervisors and ground instructors.
Indian carriers are bleeding and the industry may suffer a combined loss of Rs 10,000 crore this fiscal. The airline industry posted a drop of 10% in passenger traffic in the past fiscal year, hit by slowing economic growth and high oil prices. According to an estimate, the Indian domestic airlines together have a combined fleet strength of 300 aircraft, which could increase to about 600 by 2010 based on current orders.
By: KabirT - 30th April 2009 at 09:37
Actually both 9W and IT had well planned and thought out expansion plans. NO one saw the recession coming, but since then IT has been making many more operational mistakes than 9W.
One of the biggest mistakes committed by IT is not using BOM, DEL or BLR as a hub. All their international operations are scattered. BLR would have been an ideal hub for them.
But this year will be crucial for 9W and IT. It will be very sad to see any one of them go under as they both offer great products.
In fact i am booked on 9W for LHR in August.
By: Bmused55 - 30th April 2009 at 07:19
Jet and Kingfisher are bleeding heavily inside.
Spending too much on fancy jets and cabins and not enough on the base line I suspect.
By: KabirT - 30th April 2009 at 07:06
The expansion plan although positive news for Boeing and Airbus is still apprehensive in my view. The Indian aviation industry is expected to post a collective loss of $1.6 billion this upcoming quarter. and airlines such as Jet and Kingfisher are bleeding heavily inside.
By: *ALLIANCE - 29th April 2009 at 23:12
This is an Airline which i had never heard of untill reading the article in this months Airliner World. Looks to have good product going here. Hope there international plans work out. I wonder if they can come up with anything as special as the J/F cabins on JET?
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April 29, 2009 at 8:30 pm