GoAir,the ‘fly smart’ low-fare domestic airline today announced that it has placed anorder for additional 72 aircraft worth Rs 32,400 crore or US$ 7.2 billion.
GoAir’stotal order with Airbus is now 92 aircraft worth Rs 43,200 crore or US$ 9.6billion. The airline previously placed an order of 20 Airbus A320s.
GoAir currently operates 10 aircraft with an average age of 2 years which makesit the youngest fleet in India.Thecompany will take delivery of its additional aircraft from its previous orderover the next 24 months.
Announcingthe strategic initiative at a press conference, Mr. Jeh Wadia, ManagingDirector, GoAir said: “As part of our Vision 2020, we have placed an order foradditional 72 A320 NEO aircraft with Airbus. These aircraft will give us afurther competitive advantage of up to 15% on efficiency, primarily gained froma much improved fuel burn.”
Mr.Wadia also said that: “We are very committed to reduce Carbon emissions throughcomprehensive programs of reinvestment in equipment and technologicalinnovation and partnerships. In linewith this commitment this order with Airbus will ensure we continuously reducegreenhouse gas (GHG). Some of the other initiativeswe have taken on in the past is to minimize our ground speeds and wash ourengines frequently which increase the engine efficiency apart from saving fuel.”
Theplacement of an additional 72 aircraft is a game-changer for GoAir and theIndian aviation sector. “In terms of aircraft, we see tremendous potential inIndia which has barely six airlines with 350 aircraft catering to a billionpeople, compared to China’s present 1100 aircraft. Incidentally, with all thepresent orders placed by Indian carriers we would only reach 1100 aircraft by2020. One domestic airline in America, SouthWest, already has close to 700aircraft. In terms of seats flown, one airline in Europe, Ryan Air sold approx.65 million seats last year while the whole of Indian aviation sold just 54 million seats*. With India’s GDPgrowing at a brisk 8-9% per annum, we see a great future ahead for the aviationsector, including GoAir. Our strategy is to fly those who currently don’t fly,”Mr. Wadia added.
GoAirtoday also announced the appointment of Mr. Giorgio De Roni as its ChiefExecutive Officer. Commenting on the new appointment, Mr. Wadia said: “Onbehalf of the Board members of GoAir, I welcome Mr. Giorgio De Roni to theGoAir family. Giorgio brings deep and rich experience spanning 25 years in theaviation industry. In his last job, he was instrumental in increasing passengertraffic from 1 to 8 million, increasing market share from 6% to over 30% andthereby delivering substantial profits to the US$1 billion Italian privateairline Air One. We feel he is the right person to further build and weavetogether a world class management team to take the company to the next level ofits growth trajectory.”
Mr.Giorgio De Roni said: “I am delighted to be part of GoAir, the most profitable,most revered and best managed airline in India. It will be my endeavor toexpand the operations profitably and continue to provide miles and smiles toour customers. With the delivery of new aircraft to take place soon, the brandproposition ‘fly smart’ will get a whole new dimension.”
“Ouraircraft utilization is best-in-category, giving us operational edge overothers. GoAir recently received Best Performing Airline award in the AirbusA320 category operator in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region. Theaward is presented every two year by Airbus based on both fleet utilization andperformance achievements in each region and worldwide and for two categories offleet size. Their metrics take into account On-time performance as well asseverity of the operational interruptions (based on the Airbus Severity Indexcalculation),” he added.
GoAircurrently operates across 18 destinations 133 daily flights and approximately931 weekly flights. The destinations include Ahmedabad, Bagdogra, Bengalooru,Chandigarh, Cochin, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Jaipur, Jammu, Leh, Lucknow, Mumbai,Nagpur, Nanded, Patna, Pune and Srinagar.