New Delhi: Air India has an option to buy an additional 370 aircraft as part of its deals with aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing, said Nipun Agarwal, chief commercial and transformation officer.
Current orders include 840 aircraft, of which 470 are firm orders, including 250 from Airbus and 220 from Boeing. A firm order is confirmed while there are no substitutes, and airlines may decline to buy them.
“This order for 840 aircraft is the culmination of a fascinating journey that began nearly two years ago, beginning with the privatization process of Air India,” Agarwal said in a LinkedIn post.
“The Airbus firm’s order includes 210 A-320/321 Neo/XLR and 40 A350-900/1000. The Boeing firm’s order includes 190 737-MAXs, 20 787s and 10 777s,” he said.
The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and the B777/787s will be powered by GE Aerospace’s engines. All single-aisle aircraft will be powered by CFM International’s engines.
The first aircraft to arrive will be 25 brand-new Boeing B737-800s and 6 Airbus A350-900s in the second half of 2023, with deliveries really ramping up in 2025 and beyond.
“Wide-body A350 aircraft will be used to fly all ultra-long distances and 210 narrow-body A320neo family jets around the world. Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran said on Tuesday, the group also has a significant option to increase fleet orders as the airline grows.
He added that the Tata group is looking at bringing commercial aircraft manufacturing to India at some point. “We are working on a larger partnership, and one of our ambitions is to manufacture commercial aircraft at some point in the future. We have teams on both sides, and we are looking forward to this moment to make Tata Group Air India, Indian aviation and the manufacturing sector in India We see this as the most important moment for India,” Chandrasekaran said.
With the bulk order, Air India intends to make India the hub of international flights and provide direct connectivity to Indians from different parts of the world, in line with the government’s objective of making India the hub of international flights. Currently, a large percentage of Indian passengers fly to various parts of Europe and the Americas through airports in West Asia, Europe and South East Asia.
As part of the government-led disinvestment process, the Tata group will acquire full-service carrier Air India and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express in January 2022. Since then, AirAsia India, which was earlier a venture between AirAsia and the Tata Group, became a 100% subsidiary of Air India.
In November, the Tata group also announced that Vistara, a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, would be merged with Air India, with Singapore Airlines owning 25.1% of the merged entity.
Tata Sons-owned Air India currently has a fleet of 113 aircraft. The group’s total fleet size is 219, which includes AirAsia India with 28 aircraft, Vistara with 54 aircraft and Air India Express with 24 jets.
The group is looking to build the Air India brand umbrella, which will have a low-cost platform and a full-service platform by the end of 2023. The former will be a merged entity between AirAsia India and Air India Express. The full-service carrier will be a merged entity between Air India and Vistara.
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