Air India, the Tata Group-owned airline recently placed a massive order of 470 aircraft with plane makers Airbus and Boeing in a deal value of $68 billion. While initially it was reported that apart from 470 firm orders, 220 with Boeing and 250 with Airbus, there’s a deal of 70 options as well, Air India’s Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer Nipun Aggarwal in a Linkedin post confirmed that the deal comprises 840 aircraft in total, 470 firm and 370 option and purchase rights to be procured from Airbus and Boeing over the next decade.
Terming the order as a “landmark moment” in the Indian aviation history, Nipun Aggarwal said: “This order of 840 aircraft has been a culmination of a fascinating journey that began almost two years ago with the Air India privatisation process.” In a social media post, Aggarwal said the airline is humbled by the excitement generated across the world by the airline’s aircraft order.
This will be one of the largest aircraft orders by an airline in the modern aviation history. Earlier, on Tuesday, Air India, announced that it has signed letters of intent with Airbus and Boeing to acquire both widebody and single-aisle aircraft.
The order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s widebody aircraft, as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and the B777/787s by engines from GE Aerospace.
All single-aisle aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International. The first of the new aircraft will enter service in late-2023, with the bulk to arrive from mid-2025 onwards. In the interim, Air India has already started taking delivery of 11 leased B777 and 25 A320 aircraft to accelerate its fleet and network expansion.
In addition to the 470 aircraft on firm order, Air India has secured a number of options and purchase rights. These give us the option, but not the obligation, to take additional aircraft at already-negotiated production slots and/or prices so that we can nimbly accommodate further growth and manage risk, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson had informed his employees.
With IANS inputs