Air India, India's national carrier, has recently invited
bids for putting its recently acquired Boeing 787 aircrafts,
commonly called Dreamliners. Till December 2012, Air India had
received 6 Dreamliners and had issued RFP's inviting bids for
sale and leaseback for 7 as it expects another Dreamliner aircraft
in February. This decision has been approved by the government as
part of the plan to turn around Air India's finances since sale
and leaseback of the aircrafts allows the carrier to free up its
capital tied up in the aircrafts. The national carrier has ordered
approximately 27 Dreamliners aircrafts and intends to put all of
these on sale and leaseback.
PSA View – Putting aircrafts on sale and
leaseback is quite beneficial for Air India as not only will it
free up the capital tied in the aircraft, it will also help the
ailing carrier manage finances better by allowing tax deductions
for a leased asset. However, with the recent grounding of all
Dreamliner
