India's Jet set to order over 100 planes

Indian carrier Jet Airways is expected to place orders for more than 100 planes from Boeing and Airbus at the Paris Airshow in June, a top aviation consultancy said late Thursday. The projection by CAPA -- Centre for Aviation comes weeks after Jet agreed to sell a minority stake in itself to Abu Dhabi's Etihad in a $380-million deal. Jet, controlled by former travel agent Naresh Goyal, is "expected to announce a total order for over 100 aircraft" at the week-long Paris airshow, CAPA said in the report on the Indian aviation market. India is one of the biggest aviation markets in the world as its increasingly large middle-class turns to flying, spurred by rising incomes, and shifts away from the nation's sprawling, dilapidated train network. CAPA said Jet had already confirmed an order for 50 737-MAX jets and up to 10 777-300 extended-range planes from Boeing and added that Jet's no-frills JetKonnect unit would put in an order for 50 Airbus A320neo planes. The 737-MAX and the A320neo planes, which feature greater fuel savings, carry a list price of around $100 million each. The Boeing 777-300 extended range has a list price of $315 million. The Indian carrier could place orders for another 100 planes over the "longer term" but that is expected to be announced in phases, CAPA added. The Paris order would be among the biggest in India's aviation history. There was no immediate comment available from Jet or the US planemaker Boeing and its European rival Airbus on the CAPA report. Jet swung into profit in the last financial quarter and had a total debt of over $2 billion as of the end of December. Jet has an existing fleet of about 115 planes that are a mix of Boeing, Airbus and small ATR aircraft. Last September, Boeing forecast India would need 1,450 new aircraft worth $175 billion by 2031, projecting that the South Asian nation would have the most passenger traffic growth globally over the next two decades.