LONDON – Irish company CDB Aviation was one of the first well-known lessors to secure an order from Air India under the new Tata Group ownership.
Reporting from Singapore on 9 November 2022, CDB Aviation which is a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of a Chinese leasing giant China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co. Limited (CDB Leasing) has announced the news where they have allocated six Airbus A320neos to the flag carrier of India.
The Irish subsidiary made the announcement in Singapore at the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers Asia Pacific 2022 conference while signing a new series of lease agreements for a fleet of six Airbus respectively, slated to be delivered to Air India.
Contracts with Tata Group
The Irish company is one of the first major aircraft leasing giants to win a contract for Air India’s additional A320neo machines under a series of larger fleet growth plans by its new owners, Tata group. Tata group has large ambitions in making the national carrier of India a modern and efficient airline.
This will inevitably increase Air India both domestic and international operations with new narrow-body aircraft. These aircraft are slated to be delivered in the second half of 2023.
Ryan Barrett, CDB Aviation’s Head of Asia Pacific commented: Our commercial team is delighted to have worked closely with Air India to help solve their fleet requirements with these new Airbus narrowbody aircraft from our order book,”
Mr. Barrett furthered: “This fuel-efficient, new generation aircraft are well suited to support Air India’s fleet revitalization initiatives, positioning the airline for sustained growth and profitability.’’
The Chief Commercial Officer of Air India, Nipun Aggarwal commented: “This is an important agreement, which will help us to strengthen our fleet with state-of-the-art aircraft. This will boost our connectivity, especially on the short and medium-haul routes, and is an important step ahead in our transformation journey.”
Peter Goodman, CBD Aviation Chief Commercial Officer also commented on India’s booming commercial aviation sector: “India is an increasingly important region for CDB Aviation, being the second largest Asia Pacific market for new aircraft deliveries, with nearly 1,000 Boeing and Airbus jets in its order book”
Goodman furthered: “Our commercial team remains steadfast in its outreach efforts across the Asia Pacific, leveraging our platform’s resources and scale to support the region’s airlines in restoring their networks and growing their fleets.”
Air India growth
The leasing of 6 extra A320neos to Air India indicates that Tata Group is committed to growing Air India sustainably and responsibly. The leasing of 6 new aircraft seems to appear to be very minimal when one takes into account the growth of aviation in the region and other airlines in India, such as Vistara, Indigo and SpiceJet.
The speed at which Tata Group paces Air India on a growth trajectory is somewhat very moderate and cautiously optimistic, likely to prevent overcapacity and to succumb to future unforeseen events. Air India, could not afford to repeat its demise under state management hence the modest growth.
