Jet to lease planes for long-haul routes

Jet Airways, India's top private carrier, says it is in talks to lease two or three wide-bodied aircraft from Boeing or Airbus for its long-haul international routes starting in April.

The company would lease Boeing 747 and 777 or the Airbus A330 and A340 for seven weekly flights to London, as it requires the aircraft at short notice, a company official said on Wednesday.

Jet, whose $445 million initial public offering opens on Friday, has already leased seven Boeing 737-800 aircrafts and entered an agreement to buy 10 737s, it said in its IPO document.

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The company expects delivery of the leased aircraft this year and of the 10 planes between Jan 2006 and October 2007.

Jet has 42 aircraft, of which 34 are Boeing 737s and the rest are smaller ATRs, made by Avions de Transport Regional -- owned by Franco-German group European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV and the Alenia unit of Italy's Finmeccanica.

EADS and Britain's BAE Systems are the parent firms of Airbus.

In its IPO, Jet is offering 20 per cent of its expanded equity, or 17.27 million shares, at 950-1,125 rupees a share. At its upper end, the offering will value Jet at $2.2 billion.