New Delhi: Indian Airlines may soon give tough competition to Air India as it plans to expand its international operations substantially.
?Go West? is the new mantra for India's public sector domestic carrier Indian Airlines. After the Middle East, Singapore and Malaysia, the company is now eyeing the lucrative west European routes and London is likely to be the first stop.
"London was always on our radar, we are looking at it," Anil Goyal, commercial director, IA, said.
Since Air India already plies this route, analysts see the impending IA entry as another signal that the two national carriers will ultimately be merged.
The airline is looking at both the options of aircraft leases and outright fleet acquisitions to expand its operations. Indian Airlines plan to lease 12 wide-bodied jets for this purpose.
Orders have already been placed to Airbus for 43 aircraft and the first batch of new planes are expected to arrive by September 2006.
But going global will not be at the cost of its domestic operations. With competition heating up, IA is keen to launch its own low cost service in India soon and here too leasing is the preferred option.
Five Airbus A-319's have been selected in an all-economy configuration, typical of a low cost service.
Under current norms, private airlines cannot fly abroad before completing five years on domestic routes. Jet Airways is the only private airline to fly to London currently.
With the new private airlines lobbying hard to get a chance to fly abroad, Indian Airlines has finally decided to spread its wings.
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