The Hindu Business Line : IA signs deal with Airbus

THE four-year wait for the state-owned carrier Indian Airlines to acquire new aircraft ended on Monday. The airline signed an agreement with the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus Industrie for buying 43 new aircraft.

The agreement was signed by the airlines' Chairman and Managing Director, Dr Vishwapati Trivedi, and the Executive Vice-President, Airbus, Dr Kiran Rao.

The airline board had cleared acquisition plan in April 2002.

The purchase agreement was among the nine agreements concluded between India and France on the second day of the visit of the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac. The signing was witnessed by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh and the French President.

The deal, which is to see Indian Airlines acquire 20 Airbus A-319, 19 Airbus A-321 and four A-320 aircraft, is valued at about Rs 9,890 crore. The first of the new aircraft, an Airbus A-319, is scheduled to arrive in October this year after which the airline is to get one aircraft a month till 2010. While the Airbus A-319 will seat 122 passengers, the A-321 aircraft will seat 171 passengers and the A-320 aircraft 140 passengers. All the aircraft will offer seats in both the economy and business classes.

Meanwhile, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation, ANTRIX, and EADS Astrium signed a contract to provide a communication satellite for the international market. The aim of the alliance is to jointly offer communications satellites in the market segment of about 4kW of payload power and with a launch mass of 2 to 3 tonnes.

Besides, to promote educational ties between the two countries, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and the French business school ESSEC signed an agreement facilitating exchange of students and faculty apart from encouraging joint research. The agreement will see doctoral students from each institution spending six months to one year at the partner business school with the objective of gaining a Euro-Asian corporate perspective.