GoAir set to seal $3 billion aircraft shopping list

Low-cost carrier GoAir is likely to finalise the acquisition of around 35-50 aircarft valued at $1.5-3 billion from either Boeing or Airbus ...

Low-cost carrier GoAir is likely to finalise the acquisition of around 35-50 aircarft valued at $1.5-3 billion from either Boeing or Airbus in the next month even as it plans to expand its services to North and East India by operating flights to 20 new sectors including cities like Delhi and Kolkata from March onwards.

‘‘We are looking at acquiring 35-50 aircraft worth $1.5-3 billion over the next five years. We will arrive at a decision in January,’’ GoAir MD Jeh Wadia said.

The airline is likely to buy some of these aircraft while the others would be taken on lease. It presently operates with two A-320 aircraft and is planning to add one more aircraft of the same make in the next month. GoAir would have seven A-320 aircraft in its fleet by July 2006.

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Industry watchers say that the Wadia’s-owned airline in all probability would throw its lot behind Airbus as its crew was already being trained on these kind of aircraft.

The airline is also planning to make a major thrust into the North Indian region and Jammu and Kashmir by planning to serve as many as 20 new sectors in the region by March 2006. ‘‘GoAir will be serving around 20 new sectors including cities like Delhi, Lucknow, J&K, Shimla, Amritsar, Allahabad, Khajuraho, Agra, Udaipur and Kolkatta amongst others by March next year,’’ Wadia said.

All the flights to these sectors would be daily and we will be deploying our A-320s on these new routes, he added. The company presently operates on four sectors including cities like Mumbai, Goa, Ahmedabad nad Coimbatore and will be starting services to cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Jaipur from December 12.