NICHOLAS IONIDES / SINGAPORE
But rival Airbus tries to thwart Mongolian carrier's bid to revamp ageing fleet with GATX deal
MIAT-Mongolian Airlines, badly in need of fleet modernisation, is working to finalise a deal with GATX covering the lease of Boeing 737-800s, as Airbus attempts to overturn any agreement, and persuade the airline to switch to the A320.
Industry sources say the carrier has tentatively agreed to lease one 737-800 from the second quarter of 2002, and plans to add a second of the type from around 2005. But the deal is not yet finalised, and could be overturned.
The carrier already operates an Airbus A310-300 leased from Airbus on international routes, and the European manufacturer is trying to engineer an A320 deal at the airline. MIAT confirms it has been approached by other lessors.
MIAT's Ulan Bator-based foreign relations executive, SH Altantsetseg, says the carrier intends to use the new narrowbodies on its international routes to replace its two ageing Boeing 727-200Advs.
MIAT is planning for short-term leases as the carrier is being prepared for privatisation, he adds.
The government decided around a year ago that MIAT should be partially privatised, and Altantsetseg says work is progressing in the hope that new investors can be found within 12-18 months. The carrier has been in financial difficulty for years, and is suffering huge losses on its domestic network, which it operates using five ageing Antonov An-24 passenger aircraft and An-26 freighters.
The carrier's international network extends to Berlin, Beijing, Huhhot, Irkutsk, Osaka, Moscow and Seoul.
Altantsetseg says the airline has finally secured rights to operate to Tokyo's Narita airport once a second runway opens in April 2002, after which Osaka services will be dropped.
Source: Flight International
