India's Jet Airways signs deal to buy 20 planes

MUMBAI (AFP) - India's biggest private carrier Jet Airways said on Friday it had signed a deal to buy 20 Boeing 737-800 aircraft with an option to buy 10 more, to boost its fleet in the fast-growing aviation market.

The aircraft were slated to be delivered between October 2012 and December 2014 subject to regulatory approvals, the company said in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Jet gave no value for the deal but the planes are worth up to 1.6 billion dollars at list prices.

The agreement is aimed at maintaining and expanding Jet's international and domestic operations, the aircraft maker said.

The company, under the purchase agreement, has also taken an option to acquire an additional 10 Boeing 737-800 series aircraft that would be delivered between August 2013 and February 2015.

The last of 10 B737NG aircraft, ordered earlier by the company, are due to be delivered on October 11, 2007.

Jet operates a fleet of more than 60 aircraft and last April clinched a deal to take over domestic rival Air Sahara for nearly 340 million dollars after an earlier proposed agreement collapsed.

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/071005/8/p/1xz7.html