Ia Panel For Purchase Of Saab-2000

Alliance Airs (AA) feeder operations.

Highly placed sources told Business Standard at the air show here that the sub-committees technical evaluation report was submitted to the board during the last fortnight.

The choice was made from amongst the French ATR-42, the Canadian Dehavilland Dash-8 and the Fokker-50 made by the troubled Dutch plane-maker.

The Swedish plane scored in effective cost of operations over a 10 to 15 year period, the sources said.

The aircraft will cost around $25 million each and IA has been offered a

liberal leveraged financing package by all the bidders similar to that of large aircraft like Boeing and Airbus.

 

The sources clarified that the choice was by no means final and that the committees report would serve as a techno-economic input for the board which would make a final decision.

Commercial negotiations would follow once the board decides to purchase the planes and manufacturers may modify their terms during that phase, the sources said.

IA had decided to invite bids for 50-seaters earlier this year to start feeder operations by AA.

The start-up carrier has three old Boeing 737s from IA with it flies on non-trunk sectors.

The smaller planes are needed to operate on interior routes - AAs true mandate.

IA is to purchase up to six planes in the first instance and induct more later depending on traffic growth.

All manufacturers have proposed licenced production deals in the country and IA may tie up Hindustan Aeronautics to assemble the aircraft here.

The troubles faced by private operators in maintaining consistent operations to the so called social responsiblity sectors has put pressure on IA to operate on short haul feeder routes.

AA is to operate with its smaller planes in view of the lesser load factors on these sectors.

The fare to be charged on the routes served by 50-seater planes will be more than that of larger aircraft for the same flying time.

This is because the 50-seaters have a higher break-even load factor than Boeing 737s or Airbus A320s.

It is not clear what impact Prime Minister H D Deve Gowdas announcement of earmarking Rs 400 crore for a 50 seater project will have.