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NEW DELHI, Dec 24 (AFP): India's low-cost private carrier Air Deccan announced Saturday it would buy thirty A320 aircraft from European consortium Airbus Industrie for 1.5 billion dollars.
"The acquisition deal was signed with Airbus Industrie earlier this week and the delivery will begin from 2008," a company statement said.
The company previously purchased 30 ATR 72-500 aircraft in February for 528 million dollars and 32 Airbus A320s in December 2004 for 1.8 billion dollars.
The company said it plans to expand aggressively around the country, and perhaps further afield.
"With our extensive network, the additional acquisition will help us in increasing the number of flights and also connect newer destinations," managing director G.R Gopinath said in a statement.
"The additional acquisition of fleet will aid our plans of becoming a global player."
The company currently has a fleet of seven Airbus A320s and 17 ATR planes, up from three Airbus A320s and seven ATR aircraft a year ago.
Air Deccan says it will add eight A320s to its fleet next year, followed by 10 each year.
India launched its open skies policy in the 1990s, allowing private players to enter the domestic airline market previously dominated by state-run carriers.
Air Deccan, which started up two years ago, offers fares 30 to 40 percent below those of full-service Indian carriers like state-owned Indian Airlines and private operators Jet Airways and Sahara.
The low-cost carrier now operates almost 195 flights daily, more than double its operations a year ago.
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