MUMBAI: Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani held preliminary talks with his State Bank counterpart Rajnish Kumar in the Capital Friday on the national carrier's interest in leasing five Boeing 777s from the now-grounded Jet Airways, sources close to the development said. "During the meeting with Kumar, Lohani discussed his proposal on leasing five B777s of Jet Airways," the sources told PTI. Weighed down by a mountain of debt and falling revenue, Jet Airways announced suspension of its entire operations from Wednesday night. The AI chairman had written to SBI chief Wednesday expressing interest in taking on lease five of the Boeing 777s from Jet and deploy them in key international routes. Air India is keen to launch more international routes and enhance frequencies on the existing ones.

Source: Mint April 19, 2019 14:26 UTC