Singapore Airlines

NEW DELHI: Tata SIA Airlines has finalised a deal to lease 20 Airbus A320 planes, as it prepares to become the newest full-service airline to enter the Indian skies with New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport as its operational hub. According to an application from Tata SIA seeking a no-objection certificate from the ministry of civil aviation, the airline plans to park its planes at the airport in Delhi, which will be its operational base. The airline needs this NoC to seek a scheduled air operator's permit. ET has seen a copy of the application. The application filed in the last week of December said the airline will use narrow-body planes, but didn't provide further details on the aircraft type. A company spokesman said it has finalised the leasing deal for 20 A320s.

Tata SIA is working on the delivery schedule for the aircraft and only after deciding on this 'the final plans on how many planes we start with will emerge', the spokesman said. He did not name the leasing company.

In the NoC application, the joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines said its planes would be configured in a two-cabin arrangement offering business and economy class seats. But, according to it, the seat pitch and the number of business class seats had not yet been finalised. The A320 is a popular choice for single-aisle jetliner in India. There are already 113 A320s operating in the country with IndiGo having the most with 72 A320s. The number of A320s on order in the country is also quite large - around 260 planes are in the order pipeline, including about 170 for IndiGo and 72 for GoAir.

Tata SIA has started interviewing pilots trained on the A320 and safety-training executives, the spokesman said, as it prepares to launch operations this year. The hiring of pilots is being handled by Captain Roshan Joshi, who has joined the Tata SIA joint venture from Singapore Airlines, where he had worked for more than 30 years. A senior aviation ministry official said the airline may start operations with 400-450 people.

NEW DELHI: However, the Tata SIA spokesman said details on hiring would be finalised only over the coming months. 'We are about a dozen people right now, and first the top management team is being finalized, after that we will take a final call on the actual number of staff required to start operations.'

According to its NoC application, the airline plans to undertake basic maintenance checks in India. The more detailed maintenance inspections, which usually happen every two to five years, would be outsourced to SIA Engineering Company, a unit of Singapore Airlines in Singapore. Tata SIA is also yet to decide on the brand name for the airline.

While the company is registered as Tata SIA Airlines, the NoC application made no mention of the branding for the airline. Meanwhile, a person at the aviation ministry with knowledge of the matter said the NoC application has been sent to the ministry of home affairs for security clearance for directors on the board of Tata SIA - Prasad Menon, Mukund Rajan and Mak Swee Wah. This person said since the NoC application did not have the details of the aircraft type, Tata SIA will have to inform the ministry of the aircraft type and the number of aircraft it wants to initially import before the NoC can be given.