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Kingfisher Airlines confirms order for 15 aircraft from ATR
New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines today confirmed to a order for 15 options for the ATR 72-500 it had placed for in November 2005. It also placed additional 20 options for the new planes today. Kingfisher had in November 2005 placed an order for 20 new ATR 72-500 besides placing an option for the 15 additional aircraft. The value of the contract is around 270 million dollars and the aircraft are scheduled for delivery from 2007 onwards.
Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman and Managing Director, Kingfisher Airlines, who signed the agreement with officials from Avions de Transport Regional (ATR) at the French Embassy in the presence of visiting French President Jacques Chirac, said that the deal would give a boost to air travel in the country. The ATR 72-500s will be used as feeder aircraft on smaller domestic routes to link Kingfisher Airlines' four hubs- New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore, he said. "Our experience of opening up new routes with Airbus aircraft gives us the confidence that there is a huge latent potential to connect even smaller Indian cities where a lot of wealth resides. These smaller cities also do not suffer from the infrastructural constraints at Metro airports. We see an attractive opportunity to also provide feeder services for our Airbus network," he said. "In these days of high fuel prices, the ATR 72-500 is ideal for us to exploit these opportunities in the most economical manner," he added The aircraft would be fitted with the "Elegance" cabin and the newest technological innovations in the field of communications and navigation aid tools, besides in flight entertainment.
The
ATR 72-500 is the latest development of the ATR-72 and shares the same
power plant, six bladed propellers, interior design and soundproofing
techniques of the ATR 42-500. With a standard capacity of 68 seats, the
ATR 72-500 has the lowest seat mile cost and is regarded as a benchmark
for the regional market.
-Feb
19, 2006