BOC Aviation said it is in final talks to lease 20 Airbus Group NV A320 aircraft to a new Indian airline founded by Singapore Airlines and Tata Group.
“We are on schedule in terms of timing,” BOC Aviation’s Chief Executive Officer Robert Martin said in an interview in Singapore today. “I can say that planes that we have are ready to go in the fourth quarter.”
The venture between Singapore Air and Mumbai-based Tata plans to start a full-service carrier to tap a surge in travel demand in the world’s second-most populous nation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government in 2012 permitted foreign airlines to buy as much as 49% in local carriers, reversing a decade-old ban on such investments.
The new airline, which has won approval from India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board, will lease the aircraft for 12 years, Sanjay Singh, a New Delhi-based spokesman for the venture, said last month. Tata will hold 51% and Singapore Air the rest in the New Delhi-based airline
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