Air India on Tuesday signed purchase agreements worth $70-billion for its 470 aircraft-order from Airbus and Boeing on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show. The orders were announced earlier this year in February.
The Tata Group-owned carrier said the Airbus A350 will lead the deliveries of the new aircraft starting later this year. A major chunk of the orders will start getting delivered from mid-2025 onwards.
What does the Air India aircraft order include?
Air India’s order includes 140 Airbus A321neo and 190 Boeing 737 MAX narrow-body aircraft. Besides this, the carrier also booked orders for 34 A350-1000 and six A350-900, along with 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 10 Boeing 777X wide-body aircraft.
Up until Monday, Air India’s order was the largest aircraft order ever globally. The deal also allows the airline options to purchase another 370 planes from the two global giants.
IndiGo’s mega aircraft order
Surpassing Air India’s largest-ever aircraft order, IndiGo on Monday placed a mega aircraft order of 500 Airbus A320neo family planes at the Paris Air Show. The order’s value is estimated to be at over $50 billion, based on list price assessments. With the new deal, the total number of Airbus aircraft on order by IndiGo has been pushed to 1,330, making IndiGo “the world’s biggest A320 Family customer”, Airbus said earlier.
Air India after Tata Group takeover
Air India was returned to the Tata Group a little over a year ago. The group is currently merging its four airlines, namely Air India, Vistara, Air India Express and AIX Connect. A full service carrier called Air India will be formed after the merger of Air India and Vistara, while the merger of the other two will result in a no-frills carrier retaining the Air India Express brand.
Besides its gigantic order, Air India is also leasing aircraft for the expansion of its network. It has started taking deliveries of the leased aircraft already, which include 11 Boeing 777 planes and 25 Airbus A320 aircraft.