MUMBAI: National carrier Air India Ltd has put on hold its plan to lease five Boeing 777 aircraft from the now defunct Jet Airways (India) Ltd. in the back-burner, a senior official of the government-backed airline told Mint on Monday.
“We have submitted our plans (to lease the aircraft) to State Bank of India (SBI) and we are yet to hear from them," said a senior Air India official requesting anonymity.
Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani had in April expressed interest in taking on lease five Boeing 777 aircraft from Jet Airways and deploying them in key international routes.
However, the national carrier, which has a portion of its fleet grounded due to pending maintenance, repair work and engine overhaul, hopes to get at least a few of these grounded aircraft in air in the coming months.
"We are spending at least ₹7-10 crores, everyday, on grounded aircraft," said the above mentioned official, adding that the airline has been funding the maintenance work from its internal accruals.
Air India, which has about 123 aircraft in its fleet, has offered three of the newer generation CFM Leap 1-A engines that power its Airbus A320neo fleet as collateral, for purchasing five new CFM 56-5B engines, the airline said in a recent tender.
This move from the national carrier comes after it exhausted sovereign guarantee to raise more loans, and had to come up with other collateral to raise $45 million to finance the purchase of five CFM 56-5B engines for its Airbus A320 aircraft.
