IndiGo Airlines is all set to order 10 more Airbus A320neo aircraft. In the recently concluded shareholders meeting, the airline’s Board of Directors approved the leasing of these aircraft. IndiGo’s own leasing unit, proposed to be located at the IFSC Gift City in Gujarat, India, will handle the leasing of these aircraft.
IndiGo to order more Airbus A320neo
In 2019 Paris Airshow, IndiGo placed an order for 300 Airbus A320neo family jets. This order included Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo as well as the long range Airbus A321XLR aircraft. Now, the airline has added on to this order. 10 more Airbus A320neo will be added to this already placed order. At that time, the pricing of this order was $33 billion.
The airline Board of Directors have given in-principle approval to purchase 10 more Airbus A320neo aircraft from French manufacturer Airbus.
As far as it seems, IndiGo is a very big customer for Airbus and the airline has negotiated to make way for this extra aircraft. There may be a chance that these aircraft slots were actually meant for GoFirst, as the bankrupt Indian airline has now lost its IATA code. However, there is not much clarity regarding this.
Leasing Unit
IndiGo – the largest Indian airline is looking to set up a leasing firm at the same place – GIFT City. The airline has plans to invest Rs 30 crore to finance its aircraft. In the first lot, the airline is likely to lease 10 Airbus A320neo aircraft from this leasing firm. It has already committed corporate guarantee of up to $996 million for payment obligations of the leasing firm.
Recently, TATA Group Airline Air India announced its plan to lease 6 Airbus A350-900 aircraft from its own leasing firm proposed in GIFT City, Gujarat. GIFT City has provided several incentives for those who are setting up leasing firms. Air India will name its leasing firm as ‘AI Fleet Services IFSC Limited’ and will lease first 6 widebodies from it.
Till now, Vman Aero was the only major lessor at GIFT City. It leased a few ATR 72 to FlyBig and some helicopters. But now, major players are coming to GIFT City, which fits the best in the agenda of Indian government to create India a leasing hub for airlines.
Source : Livemint, Silicon India
