Flight International online news 13:00GMT: Indian Airlines is trying again to lease up to a dozen widebody aircraft in part to expand its international network to Europe.
The state-owned carrier says in a global tender notice that it is seeking to dry lease up to 12 widebodies for delivery between February 2006 and January 2007.
It wants lease periods of at least three years extendable by two years, and will consider Airbus A310-300s, A330s and A340s, as well as Boeing 777s and extended-range 767s.
Indian Airlines, which mainly operates Airbus A320-family narrowbodies, issued a similar tender earlier this year seeking the same number of widebody aircraft of the same types. It said at the time that it wanted deliveries between July this year and October 2006, but no deals were concluded.
The airline has an extensive domestic network and an international network that covers parts of the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It says it wants widebodies to boost its existing international services as well as to expand to Europe, which is a market fellow state-owned carrier Air India serves. It has not said which European cities it is interested in serving, however.
Both state-owned carriers are facing more competition from privately owned Air Sahara and Jet Airways, which have been expanding international operations, as well as from foreign airlines that have been given more rights to serve India.
Source: Flight International
