After IndiGo, Tata Group-owned Air India signed purchase agreements to buy 470 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing. The agreement was signed on the second day of on-going Paris Air Show.
The order is a testament on the economic boom and growing middle class who is expected to spur demand for domestic air travel. The number of domestic air passengers in India is expected to surge to 700 million by 2030, up from 144 million in 2019, with international air travelers up to 160 million from 70 million in 2019, according to aviation consultancy CAPA India. The number of airports in India is also set to climb to 200 over the next five years from 150 today, as the government looks to connect the country’s remotest areas by air.
The official statement by Air India said that the airline company has ordered 250 Airbus aircraft and 220 new Boeing jets worth $70 billion at list prices. The Tata-owned airline signed separate purchase agreements with the two planemakers at the Paris Airshow for the jets and some services.
N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons and Air India, said “This landmark step further positions Air India for long-term growth and success that, we have every hope, will come together to represent the best of modern aviation to the world.”
The deal comes a day after Indian civil airline company IndiGo sealed a historic deal buying 500 aircraft from Airbus.
Air India’s deal that had in drafted in February 2023, made it the then biggest order ever placed. However, IndiGo’s 19 June order seems to have upped the ante.
“Our ambitious fleet renewal and expansion programme will see Air India operate the most advanced and fuel-efficient aircraft across our route network within five years,” Reuters quoted Air India Chief Executive Campbell Wilson said in the statement.
Air India’s firm orders include 70 widebody planes, comprising 34 A350-1000s and six A350-900s from Airbus, and 20 787 Dreamliners and 10 777Xs from Boeing. It also includes 140 Airbus A320neo, 70 Airbus A321neo and 190 Boeing 737 MAX narrowbody aircraft.
The airline has also signed options to buy an additional 70 planes from Boeing including 50 737 MAXs and 20 787 Dreamliners, the US planemaker said in a separate statement, making this its biggest order in South Asia.
The deal by Air India kept India at the centre stage in the Paris Air Show for a second day in a row. The agreement, when sketched out in February, was the largest ever plane deal by number of aircraft. But it was surpassed on day one of the Paris show by rival IndiGo’s order for 500 Airbus narrowbody jets.
Finalising the deal puts it in the aerospace industry’s order backlogs as firm orders. Until now, it was only a preliminary deal.
According to a Reuters report, the airline industry manufacturers have been unable to meet output goals owing to severe supply chain snag. At such a juncture, experts have also warned that the airline companies in order to parlay with the global aviation industry might be ‘over-ordering’ even to cater to the same population.
