Toulouse (France), Sept. 26 :    Toulouse (France), Sept. 26:  Jet Airways today added a new dimension to the growing competition among India?s domestic airlines by acquiring five new ATR 72-500 short haul aircraft from here that will be pressed into service on the country?s neglected regional and feeder routes. The first of the five aircraft is scheduled to reach Mumbai airport at 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 3 followed by another one within a week. They will be put into commercial operation on Jet Airways? regional network from October 15. The third aircraft is scheduled to join the fleet in November. The other two will be inducted into the fleet by February next year. This is the first time that an Indian airline will operate brand new aircraft of this size and efficiency on marginal-to-low yield regional routes. To begin with, Jet Airways plans to fly these aircraft for air travellers from the western, southern and northern regions. Built by Toulouse-based Franco-Italian joint venture Avion de Transport Regionale (ATR), the 64-seat turbo-prop aircraft costs $ 14.5 million (over Rs 63 crore). Jet Airways has struck a five-year operating lease deal, along with service and maintenance contract, through a French leasing firm, Aircraft International Renting Limited (AIR), to ensure a low initial acquisition cost. Since the aircraft is new, the maintenance and operational costs will also be low. This will help the domestic airline maintain a fleet that remains young like the one owned by Singapore Airlines. ATR has sold the five aircraft to AIR. The latter has leased them out to Jet Airways. Jet?s present fleet strength is 25. All of them are Boeing 737 aircraft ? 15 belonging to the new generation 400 series and the rest from the next generation 700 series. The acquisition of new ATR 72-500 ?work horse? is also seen as a major fleet diversification effort by Jet Airways supremo Naresh Goyal. He is believed to have struck an ?excellent financial deal? with ATR which has been trying to enter the Indian civil aviation market for quite some time. ?He (Goyal) is a tough bargainer,? confessed a senior ATR executive. ATR has sold 600 aircraft the world over. This is the first deal with an Indian airline. The acquisition of these mid-sized highly fuel-efficient aircraft, offering greater operational flexibility than Boeing 737s flown by Indian Airlines, the company?s principal rival, on the high-traffic, low-profit regional routes will give Goyal, the Jet Airways? promoter-chairman, a big advantage over all its competitors. These aircraft are expected to boost Jet Airways? operating profit in the coming years while offering regional air travellers best value for money in terms of both security and comfort. Explaining the virtues of the two lately upgraded ATR aircraft ? 72-500 and smaller 50-seater 42-500 ? ATR?s chief executive officer Antoine Bouvier told a group of visiting journalists that the fuel cost of an ATR flight on full load from Delhi to Chandigarh will be only Rs 9,823 for 500 kg of aviation turbine fuel as against Rs 39,000 by a Boeing 737-400 with a carrying capacity of around 120 passengers. Senior members of ATR?s international sales team, including Alain Brodin, Luciano Fava and Jerome Charieras, said the company was in talks with several Indian aviation firms to sell the newly updated aircraft. ?ATR 42-500 series are the best suited aircraft for the eastern and the north-eastern regions. We have several advantages over jet aircraft which require a runway length of over 1,600 metres for the take-off and landing. Our requirement is only 1,500 metres,? Fava added.