Privately owned Russian carrier Polet is looking to reinforce its passenger capacity by acquiring a batch of Western-built narrowbody jets.
General manager and majority shareholder Anatoly Karpov has disclosed plans to take at least five Boeing 737 or Airbus A320-family aircraft with up to 150 seats.
The carrier, he says, needs additional capacity to fully meet growing demand for charter flights from its Voronezh base to leisure destinations abroad.
"We'll deploy it on routes to Greece, Spain and Turkey, which are now served by aircraft with smaller capacity," says Karpov.
For passenger services, Polet operates five leased Saab 2000 and five owned Saab 340 turboprops, as well as two Antonov An-148 regional jets.
Karpov says the carrier is already searching for larger 737 or A320 jets that might be delivered by the summer season. He estimates that the project could initially cost $1.5 million per aircraft, adding: "To reduce acquisition costs, we'll turn to operating lease structures, rather than financial lease as before, because they are cheaper."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
