Indian low-fare carrier Air Deccan agreed at Asian Aerospace to order two Airbus A320s from the manufacturer and lease five others from Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE) under its plan to serve key domestic trunk routes. The deal was one of only a handful of orders to be announced at the show.
All of the Air Deccan A320s will be powered by International Aero Engines V2500 engines.
Deliveries of the SALE-owned aircraft are to start in July, while the purchased aircraft will be added from September next year. All seven aircraft will seat 180 passengers in all-economy class layouts.
SALE managing director Robert Martin says the first three A320s to be delivered are used aircraft. The two others from SALE are new aircraft from an existing order placed with Airbus by the lessor.
Air Deccan managing director Capt G R Gopinath says the Bangalore-based carrier intends to operate the twinjets on domestic trunk routes, and this will put it into direct competition with privately owned Air Sahara and Jet Airways, and state-owned Indian Airlines.
Source: Flight International
