BANGALORE, India, Jan 6 (AFP) - India's growing no-frills budget airline, Air Deccan, signed a deal on Thursday to buy 15 turbo-prop planes from France's Avions de Transport Regional (ATR), officials said.
G.R Gopinath, managing director of Air Deccan told a press conference that the firm would also lease 15 new ATR 72-500s and six second-hand ATR 42-500 planes.
"The delivery schedule begins in 2005 and is spread out over a five-year period. We should receive six to eight planes a year," he told the conference, adding that the deal would be financed by several European banks.
ATR chief Filippo Bagnato did not disclose the size of the deal, citing a confidentiality clause in the pact, but said the price for the new planes would be lower than the advertised price of 17.6 million dollars for each plane.
"The sticker price for each ATR 72-500 aircraft is 17.6 million dollars. The exact price will be negotiated in consultation with export credit agencies such as Sace Bank of Italy and Coface of France, who will stand guarantee for 80 to 85 percent of the aircraft cost," Bagnato told the same conference.
As part of the deal, ATR will set up a training facility in the southern city of Bangalore with a simulator to train Air Deccan's new pilots.
ATR is owned by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS).
In December, Air Deccan signed a 1.8-billion-dollar-deal to acquire 30 Airbus A320 aircraft from European consortium Airbus Industrie.
Air Deccan now operates three Airbus 320 planes and seven ATR 48-seater aircraft. Three more ATRs are scheduled to join the fleet in January.
In August, Air Deccan launched 10-dollar-tickets between New Delhi and Bangalore. With Air Deccan, about 10 early-bird bookers can pay 500 rupees (10.8 dollars) while over 50 seats are available for 5,000 rupees. A one-way ticket on a mainstream carrier would be 10,400 rupees.
It operates 100 daily flights all over India daily and competes with Jet Airways, Sahara Airlines and Indian Airlines which command the largest share of India's booming domestic aviation market.
Air Deccan plans to raise 50 million dollars in private equity by shedding a 26 percent stake to finance the fleet expansion.
British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin group has held talks with Air Deccan over picking up a stake, industry officials said.
India's aviation sector is poised to take off as increasing affluence prompts more to travel by plane than train.
01/06/2005 17:21 GMT - AFP