Air Côte d'Ivoire (HF, Abidjan) CEO Rene Decurey says his airline is in talks with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) and Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) over its fleet renewal plans which, he said, should be finalized by the end of this month.

"We have retained the two companies with whom we continue the discussions, and at the end of October we'll take a decision on our future fleet," he told Reuters in Abidjan.

The Ivorian carrier operates a largely outsourced fleet consisting of three A319-100s (two of which are leased from Air France (AF, Paris CDG)), one A320-200 (leased from Global Aviation Operations (GE, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo)), and one E170 (leased from HOP!-Régional (Clermont-Ferrand)). It is expected to deploy its first of two Dash 8-400s into service on domestic routes later this month.

According to Decurey, Air Cote d'Ivoire plans to add three more aircraft to its fleet by 2016 with Boeing (BOE, Washington National) and Embraer (EMB, Sao Jose dos Campos) aircraft having also been considered in the initial phases.

"All four manufacturers propose new generation aircraft...For us it was important to know what these new generations could offer us in terms of fuel consumption, reliability and regarding the comfort of our passengers," Decurey said.

Air Cote d'Ivoire is 65% owned by the Ivorian state with Air France (AF, Paris CDG) holding a 20% stake. Local private investment consortium, Goldenroad, holds 15% acquired last year from the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development's (AKFED) for XOF3.75billion (USD7.725million). The West African Development Bank (BOAD) is also set to enter the airline's shareholding following its announcement that it would increase the carrier's share capital by 160% to XOF65billion (USD124.7million), in the process taking a XOF2billion (USD3.8million) stake in the company.