GoAir not to place fresh orders for A320s
25 Apr 2008
Indian low-cost carrier, GoAir, has decided against placing orders for another 20 Airbus A320s and will wait for prices to decrease before placing any fresh orders.
According to industry sources, the carrier was in talks with Airbus for several months for an order of 20 A320s, meant for delivery once the last of the airline's original orders was completed in 2011.
According to industry sources, the airline has now decided to go easy and wait.
It would appear that while Airbus was keen to persuade GoAir to secure delivery slots for the first half of the next decade, Go Air itself found prices of the aircraft to be too high. GoAir would appear to be confident that pre-2013 delivery slots will soon become available as other carriers cancel orders of the A320s which they have ordered in very large numbers.
GoAir will take delivery of the third A320 from its 2006 order in June of this year.
Its initial order initially included 10 firm orders with 10 options. This was later converted into 20 firm orders. GoAir is slated to take delivery of the remaining 17 A320s at a rate of five per year.
Four of the new A320s, to be delivered over the next 14 months, will be used to replace GoAir's four leased aircraft. GoAir is keen to replace the leased aircraft as they burn 5%-7% more fuel than the new A320s.
