Air India on Monday said it would lease six Boeing 777s, days after the Tata airline announced its merger with Vistara.
The aircraft, expected to be inducted in the first half of 2023, is in addition to the 30 leased earlier this year.
The Tata group is merging Air India with Vistara, its joint venture with Singapore Airlines, to create a bigger full-service carrier and strengthen its presence in both the domestic and international markets.
Air India said it has leased 36 aircraft since its privatisation in January. The airline had in September this year announced that it will be adding 30 leased aircraft — 21 A320, 4 A321 and 5 B777-200LR to its fleet over 15 months amid its plan to have a 30 per cent share in both domestic and international markets.
The airline said the B777- 300 ER will have a four-class configuration — first, business, premium economy and economy — to connect metro cities with more international destinations.
In addition to the leasing of aircraft, Air India has brought back into operation 19 aircraft, which were grounded for a long time while nine more such planes are expected to join the fleet.
As part of the expansion, Air India is enhancing the frequency of flights between key cities on domestic routes, besides announcing the expansion of international flight services.
“Growing our network is an essential part of Air India’s Vihaan.AI transformational journey and we remain committed to increasing connectivity and frequency of flights both domestically and internationally,” said Campbell Wilson, managing director and CEO, at Air India.
The additional aircraft leases will support the airline’s near-term growth even as it finalises plans to refresh and significantly grow the company’s long-term fleet, he added.
With the latest announcement, the fleet size of Air India will increase to 143 from 113. IndiGo is the largest airline in India with a fleet size of over 280 aeroplanes.
IndiGo expands
IndiGo has announced 32 flights to Europe, through its codeshare partnership with Turkish Airlines. The new routes, effective Wednesday, will cover destinations such as Milan, Manchester, Birmingham, Rome and Venice.
