Ashwini Phadnis

New Delhi, Nov. 29 The board of Alliance Air, the 100 per cent subsidiary of Indian, on Wednesday cleared a proposal to lease three ATR aircraft. Official sources told Business Line that the aircraft would be leased directly from the manufacturer for three to five years.

The agreement that has been firmed up also allows Alliance to extend the lease for seven years if required or return the aircraft to the leasing company earlier after giving a nine month termination notice. The airline primarily used to operate the Boeing 737 aircraft in the fleet of Indian, most of which have now been withdrawn from service and converted into freighter aircraft.

“These days there is a lot of activity going on in Alliance Air. Apart from the ATR aircraft, the airline is also inducting Bombardier aircraft. Besides, it has bid for running an airline in the north eastern part of the country,” sources said.

Asked why such investments were being made as the airline was to be wound up, sources claimed that while winding up the airline may be the ultimate aim, no such decision has been communicated in writing to the management.

“The Cabinet note on merger of Air India and Indian is also silent on closure of Alliance. While that may be the ultimate goal, there is no time frame for it although the Government has said that there would be only one low cost airline,” sources pointed out.

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