Indian Shares

"Looks like Boeing finished the year with an order for 10 Boeing 787-8s from Mumbai-based Jet Airways The order, placed in December 2006 is included in Boeing total orders of 1014 for 2006. The Boeing 787-8 order is valued at more than $1.5 billion at list prices and deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2011."

Further Information

"India will soon have a dedicated global facility to convert passenger airplanes to cargo planes, with state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) planning a full fledged conversion centre for Boeing aircraft. This proposed facility will cater to the requirements of the international market as well as domestic demands"

Source: Business Standard India

With the Indian economy growing at staggering pace and more and more goods need importing and exporting.

The Times in the UK has a detailed article today about the start up of Indian carrier Indigo with flights from Delhi.

Times Article : New era of travel takes off in India

"The Indian economy is growing at staggering pace and more and more goods need importing and exporting. Ceasing on this oppourtunity Flyington Freighters has launched a cargo airline. Flyington Freighters of India placed an order for 4 Boeing 777-200F aircraft at the Farnborough Airshow."

Source: DigitalAirliners.com

Kingfisher Airways announced today that it will be acquiring 5 Ultra Long Range (ULR) Airbus A340-500HGW to operate non-stop services from India to the USA. The Airbus A340-500 series is currently being used by Singapour Airlines to fly non-stop between Singapore (SIN) and Los Angeles (LAX) and by Emirates to fly non-stop to New York (JFK) from Dubai (DXB). The model ordered by Kingfisher Airlines is the High Gross Weight (HGW) version of this aircraft which will have an ever longer range that the original 500 series.

The Airbus A340-500 has a direct competitor which is the Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner which entered service with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) this year. The Boeing 777-200LR will also be joining Air Indias fleet.

 

Over the last year Indian airlines such as Air India, Indian Airlines, Spicejet, Kingfisher, Air Sahara, Go Air and Jet Airways have ordered 100s of new Airbus and Boeing planes. Now the planes have been ordered the question asked by Rediff.com is where will all the pilots to fly these aircraft come from?

 

The Business Standard and The Hindu newspapers are both reporting that TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) are eyeing significant parts of the IT work Boeing intends to outsource to Indian companies as part of the re-investment from the recent Air India order for Boeing aircraft.

SpiceJet the Indian low cost carrier created in 2004 today order a further 10 Boeing 737s from the manufacturer. Five of the new Boeing 737s will be the larger 900ER version. The airline also secured a further 10 options which could if converted tale the SpiceJet fleet to 30 new Boeing 737s.

The larger Boeing 737-900ERs will incease capacity on the airlines routes Delhi - Mumbai and Delhi - Bangalore.

When Air India placed an order for 68 Boeing aircraft earlier this year it was announced that US $2 billion would be invested back into the Indian economy. An example of this re-investment and outsourcing of work back to India was illustrated with the announcement this week of collaboration between InfoSys and Spirit AeroSystems, a Boeing contractor.

The two companies will set up an aerospace engineering centre in Bangalore.

 

It was announced on Friday that Air Deccan are intending to raise funds by floating 24.5 million shares in an IPO. The funds will help the airline continue its expansion following its order for 30 Airbus A320 aircraft last year. The airlines plans are based on the rapidly expanding growth of aviation in India, which recently saw the merger of Air Sahara and Kingfisher.

It has been announced that Jet Airways is to aqquire Air Sahara, subject to approval from the Indian government. The merger of the two airlines will create the largest airline in India based on current fleet size. The deal is valued at US$500 million.

Air Sahara starte operations on the 6th January 2006 to London (Heathrow) from Delhi

Following on from similar investment deals in India in the IT industry from Microsoft and Oracle. Boeing will be putting up to $2 billion dollars into the Indian economy in the coming years via the Aerospace sector. The investment is part of a counter trade agreement between the US and India following a $11 billion order for Boeing aircraft placed by the Air India the national carrier. The majority of the investment will come from outsourcing of aerospace work to Indian companies but Boeing will also be setting up maintenance/overhaul facilities and pilot training centre in India.

Source: Boeing confirm Air India Order

Jet Aiways has already gone for an IPO and although the share price has not shown massive gains for investors other Indian arlines will be looking to go for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) during 2006. Potential candidates are:

• Air Deccan
• Air India
• Indian Airlines
• Kingfisher Airlines

All of these airlines placed massive orders for aircraft during 2005 and the Indian air market is still growing amid fierce competition. With more orders for new aircraft expected during 2006. The airlines will therfore me looking to IPO as a source of investment into business operations.