The Brazilian airline, Trip Linhas Aéreas will seek funds from Brazil’s national development bank, BNDES, in addition to international leasing companies, in order to add some 10 aircraft to its fleet in 2011, said CEO Jose Mario Caprioli this week.

“We’ll use mostly BNDES for the Embraer aircraft, and we’re studying proposals from two American leasing companies,” Caprioli said in a telephone interview from Campinas, Brazil.

According to the Brazilian national civil aviation agency, Trip is the fourth-largest Brazilian airline by market share. The company intends to buy five E-190 jets, made by Embraer, and five ATR-72 turboprops made by ATR Regional Aircraft in 2011. The total value of the aircraft is $305m.

Caprioli says that he prefers leasing from abroad because of lower cost and a reduced initial investment. Interest rates on contracts with BNDES range from between 6% and 9% a year, while the cost in leasing transactions in foreign markets varies between 4%and 6% annually. This year, the company will receive nine aircraft, five of which are financed by BNDES and four bought with operational leasing.

Caprioli said that he wants to make the company public in the future, but doesn’t foresee a favourable climate for an initial public offering for at least two years.

GoAirlines seeks to advance delivery of 10 airbus planes

Meanwhile the Indian airline, GoAirlines wants to speed up the delivery of 10 planes from Airbus by about a year.

Chief Executive Kaushik Khona told a news conference that he can improve his operations and bottom line if he can advance the delivery.

Airlines in India have reported increasing traffic since the middle of last year as the economy emerged out of a slowdown. GoAirlines and its local rivals carried 29.8m passengers during January-July this year, up 21% from a year earlier, according to the civil aviation ministry.

India's market for air travel is expected to grow further and local carriers, especially the low-cost ones, are expanding fleet size to meet the demand.

GoAirlines ordered 20 Airbus planes in 2007 for $1.2bn. About half of the aircraft have been delivered.

Khona said the company is in talks with Airbus to advance the delivery of the remaining aircraft to March 2013 from the earlier planned April 2014. "We are asking Airbus and we are hopeful we will get the delivery early."

Khona said he is "very bullish" about future growth in the Indian air travel market, which will likely be boosted by the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October and the festival season that starts around the same time.

"We will achieve a complete breakeven by one-and-a-half years from now," Khona said. "We are improving aircraft utilisation, costs are in control."

GoAirlines is yet to decide on funding for the 10 aircraft it is going to get from Airbus, he said. "The pre-delivery payment funding is being made from our books. Near the delivery time, we will decide whether we want to go for sale and lease plan or we want to go for export credit agencies."

He said GoAirlines is yet to decide on an initial public offering.

GoAirlines currently isn't considering flying overseas as it doesn't fulfill the requirement of at least 20 aircraft. It is meanwhile looking to expand in the local market as "there is lot to be exploited here," Khona added.

Egyptair receives its first Airbus A330-300 aircraft

This week Airbus delivered an Airbus A330-300 to Egyptair

“This delivery is an important milestone in the history of Egyptair. We will continue to bring the latest to our customers who deserve this premium and highly competitive product” said Eng. Hussein Massoud, chairman and CEO of Egyptair Holding Company. He added “we are determined on the ambitious plan for fleet expansion and modernisation.”

Captain Alaa Ashour, the chairman and CEO of Egyptair Airlines, who flew the new aircraft himself from Toulouse to Cairo said “the delivery of the first Airbus A330-300 will add value to our customers and launches new services for the first time in Egyptair.”

“We are proud to be partnering with Egyptair as they launch their new onboard communications offering on the A330,” said John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer. “Passengers can now use these innovative services from the unparalleled comfort of the A330 cabin whilst the airline will benefit from the excellent reliability and economics offered by the aircraft.”

Airbus aircraft share a unique cockpit and operational commonality, allowing airlines to use the same pool of pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers, bringing operational flexibility and resulting in significant cost savings.

In the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), Airbus has sold around 1000 aircraft and has a backlog of over 500. More than 500 Airbus aircraft are flying with 48 MENA operators, representing around 40% percent of the fleet in service in the region.

The A330 is one of the most widely used wide-body aircraft in service today. To date, Airbus has won more than 1,000 firm orders for the various versions of the aircraft. Over 700 A330s have already been delivered and the aircraft is currently flying with over 80 operators worldwide.