GoAir and Air France to ink $40 million maintenance contract

Mumbai: Wadia group-promoted GoAir is reported to be in the process of inking a $40 million contract with Air France for the maintenance of its aircraft.

Speaking to the media, the airline's chief executive Edgardo Badiali said that the company has already signed the letter of intent with Air France, and the formal agreement would be in place ''very soon''. 

The contract will cover the maintenance of 20 aircraft for a period of six years, and is a ''purely a customer-supplier arrangement''. Badiali clarified that it is not any type of joint venture between the two companies.

By 2012, GoAir will have a fleet size of 20, Badiali said, with the airline scheduled to replace another four of its aircraft with new ones in the coming five months. Over the course of the next one year, GoAir will induct 10 new planes. It presently has seven Airbus A-320s in its fleet, including two new ones that jointed its fleet recently. Badiali said one aircraft will be returned to the lessor.

Badiali also said that if fuel prices stabilised at a ''decent level'' his airline cold break even in the next financial year.