Indonesia's Mandala Airlines to switch to Airbus

JAKARTA: Indonesia's Mandala Airlines has rented Airbus planes as it begins switching from Boeing 737s to a full fleet from the European manufacturer, a company spokesman said on Thursday.

Mandala ordered 25 single-aisled Airbus A320s in June at the Paris Air Show in a deal worth 1.9 billion dollars at catalogue prices.

Mandala spokesman Alexius Wijoyo Tjundo said the first orders would arrive in 2011 with the rest expected to be delivered by 2014.

"We are switching to a fleet of Airbus airplanes... In the meantime, we are already renting several Airbus aircraft," he told AFP.

Two rented Airbus A320s – small aircraft used on short-haul flights – joined the fleet in December, while the first of four rented A319s arrived earlier this month, he added.

Mandala currently has a fleet of 12 Boeing 737-200s and two Boeing 737-400s to serve its 20 domestic routes.

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