Air India is leasing five Airbus A320 aircraft from China Aircraft Leasing Company (CALC) for 12 years as part of a replacement programme for its ageing fleet of 21 ageing A320/A319 narrow body aircraft. The airline will also announce two more similar leasing agreements shortly.
According to information submitted by the civil aviation ministry in Parliament, the state-owned carrier had advertised a tender for dry lease of up to19 new A320 aircraft in August last year, but had received no response, prompting it to re-issue the tender in October 2013.
?Further two more separate tenders were published in August 2014, and bids received in response of the same shall be finalised in due course,? the ministry told the Parliament.
For CALC, which raised $94 million in its IPO last month, Air India is the first customer outside of China.
