Tata-SIA airline to lease 20 A-320 planes to launch flights

Operations will be launched by this winter

Start-up carrier Tata-SIA Airlines, which is yet to get a flying permit, will acquire at least 20 Airbus aircraft on lease from a Singapore-based firm to launch their operations in India by this winter.

"Tata-SIA has placed orders for leasing 20 Airbus A-320s from us," Claire Leow, Head of Investor Relations of BOC Aviation Private Limited, told PTI on the sidelines of the ongoing IATA annual general meeting here.

She said the deliveries of these aircraft are likely to start from the third quarter of this year "around September-October". BOC Aviation has already leased several aircraft to two Indian airlines -- Jet Airways and SpiceJet.

Full-service airline Tata-SIA, a 51:49 joint venture of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, submitted its application for the grant of Air Operator's Permit (AOP or flying license) in April. The AOP would enable it to provide scheduled air transport services in the country.

The airline, which would use A320-200 aircraft and A320-200 (Neo), proposes to start operations by September and plans to operate from its hub Delhi to Mumbai, Goa, Patna, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Hyderabad and Bengaluru in its first year of operations.

Initially, the carrier plans to operate two flights a day to Mumbai, with one of them going further to Goa. The initial phase would also see two flights a day each to Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

Besides the major metros, the proposed airline would also connect Srinagar, Patna, Chandigarh and Jammu. Under its aggressive expansion plans, the Tata-SIA Airlines proposes to add destinations like Chennai, Pune, Lucknow, Varanasi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Indore and Cochin within the first four years of operations.