Mumbai: Jet Airways (India) Ltd will wet-lease an Airbus A330-200 plane to Etihad Airways, its chief executive said Tuesday, ahead of a planned deal with the Abu Dhabi-based carrier.
Airlines lease out planes to other airlines as a means of earning cash.
A wet lease is a lease agreement under which an airline gives its plane and aircraft staff to the lessee. In a dry lease agreement, only the plane is given.
Jet will give 60 of its cabin crew staff to Etihad as part of the agreement, Nikos Kardassis told The Wall Street Journal.
The agreement comes days after Jet sold three slots at London’s busy Heathrow airport to the carrier for $70 million and leased them back.
The deals are seen by analysts as part of a bigger transaction under which Jet will sell up to 24% of its shares to Etihad, for close to $300 million, according to officials in the ministry of civil aviation.
The deal, in its last stages for more than a month, has been pending completion due to discussions on shareholding, board representation and regulatory issues.
The sale will give Jet much-needed cash to retire debt and expand operations as well as access to Etihad’s wide global network.
For Etihad, it will mean access to India’s growing international air traffic, which it can divert on its international routes.
Kardassis also said the airline will wet-lease three more Boeing 777 planes to Turkish Airlines. The planes are currently leased to Thai Airways and the contract ends in June.
