ISAS Briefs

The announcement by Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on the purchase of aircrafts by Indian Airlines worth US$2.2 billion from Airbus Industries, was timed to add value to the important Indian-European Union (EU) summit in New Delhi on 7 September 2005. Other private airlines had already announced their purchase intentions at the Paris show a few months ago, and this announcement was important only because the buyer was a government airline. Dr Singh was underscoring the importance of trade with the EU and the need to ramp up relations with the bloc.