Air India Express (AIE), the budget subsidiary of national carrier Air India, plans to acquire 14 additional aircraft from Boeing by 2017, an airline official says. “Air India Express will acquire 14 Boeing 737-800 aircraft over next four-five years,” Chief Operating Officer Ansbert D’souza says. The decision was made recently by India’s civil aviation ministry as part of the turnaround plan for Air India. The airline will soon decide whether “to go in for leasing or buy the aircraft,” D’souza adds.

NEW DELHI — An Indian navy Chetak helicopter crashed Oct. 15 in the western state of Goa, killing three people on board, a defense official says. The navy has been planning to replace its vintage Chetaks and released a global tender in August for roughly 60 utility helicopters. Sikorsky, Eurocopter, Kamov and AgustaWestland are among the likely respondents.

NEW DELHI — Indian state-run defense manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) gave the go-ahead Oct. 12 to their long-delayed project to develop a Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA). “With this HAL and UAC-TA will start the preliminary design work immediately at Moscow,” HAL Chairman R.K. Tyagi says.