Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel’s suggestion to the national carriers that they must rework their fleet acquisition plans has caused much speculation, with both carriers now busy studying the implications.It must be noted that the Indian Airlines’ acquisition plans have reached an advanced stage, awaiting only the Public Investment Board’s nod, before the proposal can be taken to the Cabinet. The Ministry, however, in its letter has asked IA to reconsider its acquisition plan for changes it may desire in the original configuration of 20 Airbus 321s, 19 A-319s and four A-320s.As for Air India, sources said it was felt the airline may want to rework its original proposal for 28 aircraft because it’s going to start a low-cost Air India Express. However, the Maharaja’s acquisition plans are not in an advanced stage, with the proposal yet to be screened for pre-PIB clearance.The suggestion for a relook was based on the logic that market dynamics and requirements could have changed since the proposals were last formulated, and that the airline may even want to increase the number of aircraft to broaden the scope of its operations. The IA board had cleared the Rs 10,000-crore proposal for 43 aircraft in March 2002.In case of the IA, Patel had floated the idea of replacing the Airbus-300 with another set of wide-bodied aircraft. He had pointed out the 43-aircraft configuration does not include any wide-bodied aircraft that can seat over 250 passengers.With the Airbus-300s being phased out, the argument is that the airline will not be left with a single wide-bodied aircraft. Ministry sources said the airline has conducted an in-house study on its requirements to operate to destinations in Europe, with flying time of over eight hours. A wide-bodied aircraft was regarded suitable.
