The head of Polet Airlines (Voronezh, Russia), Anatoly Karpov, said that the carrier intends to take delivery of at least five 150-seat Airbus or Boeing aircraft by April 2014 under conditions of operational leasing, Kommersant-Voronezh reports.
The businessman plans to satisfy the market demand in the charter flights segment on routes from Voronezh to European resorts. Polet Airlines believes that amount of investments will be $7,5 million or more. The carrier is “looking for” funds and suppliers.
According to Anatoly Karpov, the company is considering the possibility of purchasing at least five 150-seat medium-haul Airbus or Boeing aircraft. It is obvious that this refers to Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 Family aircraft. Karpov said that the carrier intends to put its new jets into operation in April 2014. «We must purchase the jets, train our crews and prepare the maintenance facilities by the time», — the businessman noted.
The amount of investments for each jet is assessed at $1,5 million. Anatoly Karpov noted that the airline intends to acquire the jets under conditions of operational leasing. «The financial leasing is more expensive», — he noted. The owner of Polet Airlines justified the company’s plans by the growing demand for charter flights from Voronezh to European resorts. «The new jets will help us increase the capacity on popular routes to Turkey, Greece and Spain. The demand on these destiantions is increasing and we do not have enough aircraft to satisfy it», — he noted. He did not unveil the project’s sources of financing and potential suppliers of the vehicles saying that “the negotiations are in progress”.
The company confirmed that the Karpov’s plans will be implemented as soon as the Voronezh airport will receive the certificate allowing it to service jets of the type. Voronezhavia, which manages the Voronezh airport, said that “all the necessary documentation is being considered by the Federal Air Transport Agency”: «We hope to have all the official documents by the end of August». Polet Airlines operates five Saab-2000 aircraft, five Saab-340Bs, two An-148-100Es and four cargo An-124-100s.
According to SPARK-Interfax, the airline’s revenues were 3.12 billion rubles in 2012, the net profit - 16,15 million rubles. The list price of Boeing 737 varies from $50 to $85 million; the price of Airbus A320 starts from $50 million.
