According to the sources, Airbus is in line to get roughly 250 orders and commitments total, made up of 210 aircraft from the A320 single-aisle family and 40 wide-body A350s. According to the sources, Boeing has secured roughly 290 potential acquisitions, including 190 737 Max aircraft and the option for 50 more, 20 787 Dreamliners and the same number as a potential top-up, and 10 777x aircraft.
The deal’s complex structure, which consists of firm orders, memorandums of understanding, and letters of intentu2014both of which are less binding than an outright purchase agreementu2014could lead the final total to vary, according to the sources. Airbus, Boeing, and Air India representatives declined to comment.
The significant acquisition, which Air India and its parent company, Tata Group, spent months negotiating, should enable the airline to improve service and dependability while reducing fuel costs. Additionally, it’s an effort by the illustrious airline, which was established in the 1930s by Tata, to reclaim customers from rival Gulf carriers like Emirates or Qatar Airways, which have built a business model around transporting Indians to the US and Europe via their massive hubs in Dubai and Doha. To take advantage of the quick recovery in travel following the Covid outbreak, carriers all over the world have been updating and renewing their fleets. As the availability of recently constructed jetliners became more limited, Air India felt a pressing need to secure new aircraft contracts.
Video Courtesy: One India News
The increase in travel has only accelerated after China abruptly lifted many of its stringent coronavirus controls in December and opened its international borders last month. The possibility of the world’s largest outbound tourism market reopening for business and the belief that demand would generally recover to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 are luring airlines to increase their long-haul capacity.
In the most publicised privatisation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tata acquired Air India last year. The deal put an end to decades of attempts to sell the insolvent, heavily indebted carrier that had relied on taxpayer subsidies for years to survive.
The group is consolidating its aviation division, which consists of four airline brands, as part of the acquisition. Last year, Tata said that it would combine Air India with Vistara, a company it owns in a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Ltd. Singapore Air will receive a 25.1% interest in the united airline as a result of that deal.
Airbus and Boeing, who both have local partnerships with the Tata Group, India’s largest company, benefit greatly from the agreement as well. The expansion of low-cost carriers in India, which had made large orders in previous years, has been advantageous for the manufacturers. With the sale of 300 narrowbody aircraft to Indian budget airline IndiGo in 2019, Airbus closed one of its largest-ever agreements. The aircraft were valued at more than $33 billion at list prices.
While Air India’s most recent order further solidifies Airbus’s dominance in narrowbody aircraft, it also offers the European manufacturer a significant victory in the widebody market, which has traditionally been dominated by Boeing.
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