Indian Airlines has become synonymous with a number of aviation industry themes over the past few decades.
Unfortunately for the airline, those are mostly for things like Unequal serviceHuge financial loss and a mediocre product.
Now, however, India’s national airline can claim a new superfood: the largest aircraft order ever made.
Air India rocked the aviation industry on Tuesday with massive aircraft orders combined with a whopping 470 new planes.
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The Wall Street Journal estimates that – given the previously announced list prices for the aircraft – the deals – split between Boeing and Airbus – will be worth a staggering $85 billion.
It appears that Air India negotiated a much lower price than that, but nonetheless the scope of the order was huge — and one that the Journal said surpasses the 2013 order. Emirates for more than 100 Boeing 777X aircraft.
Of Air India’s order of 470 planes, 220 will come from Boeing: 190 737 MAXs, 20 787 Dreamliners and 10 of the plane’s delayed new 777X series. The deal also includes options to purchase an additional 50 aircraft.
The order is a huge boost for Boeing amid its recent struggles, ranking as the company’s third-biggest sale ever by value and second-biggest of all time if sorted by number of aircraft, by Related press.
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From Airbus, Air India plans to receive 210 Airbus A320neo narrow-body aircraft – which are used by many domestic airlines – as well as 40 Airbus A350 wide-body aircraft commonly used for flights. international long distance.
The deal is also seen as a win for Airbus, which in addition to the large order won a deal from an airline that has long favored Boeing planes.
“Today is a historic moment for India, for Air India and for Airbus,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury was quoted by AP as saying on a call to discuss the order. It added that the number of aircraft the airline has purchased “represents a desire to grow. in the Indian aviation industry. It’s growing the fastest in the world.”
For Air India, the blockbuster orders come as it hopes to succeed with the turnaround after countless other orders at the airline have failed.
Air India was finally privatized last year, bought by Indian conglomerate Tata Group after the Indian government struggled for years to find a private buyer for the long-lost company.
Both orders announced Tuesday are uncertain and it remains unclear when the new planes could be delivered. But it appears to mark a determined attempt by the airline’s new owners to take Air India down a different path from the one it has taken since the turn of the century.
Reuters describes it as part of a strategy to “regain a solid market share of trips between the Indian diaspora and cities like New Delhi and Mumbai currently dominated by foreign rivals like Emirates.” “.
For now, there’s at least a glimmer of hope that Air India can make the turning point it hasn’t reached for a long time.
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