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New Delhi: Air India has announced the purchase of a total of 470 large and small size aircraft from Airbus and Boeing. Air India will supply Airbus 250 and Boeing 220 aircraft. Airbus will also start delivery of aircraft by the end of this year. This is the first time in 17 years that Air India has placed an order for the purchase of aircraft. This will be Air India’s first order after coming under the ownership of the Tata group.
Air India will buy 220 aircraft for $34 billion. Apart from this, the option of buying 70 more aircraft has also been kept. This will bring the total deal to close to $45.9 billion. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi spoke to US President Joe Biden on the phone and discussed this historic agreement.
Air India said in an official statement, “The order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s wide-body 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.”
After airline’s historic deals with Boeing and Airbus , Air India chief Campbell Wilson said, “In the meantime, our capacity growth will continue to be supported by the previously announced lease-in of additional narrow-body and wide-body aircraft and the restoration-to-service of the remainder of our grounded fleet.”he said, “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.”
The Air India chief said, “Besides this deal being of unprecedented size, it was also incredibly complex, with two airframers and six engine suppliers all jostling for position.” He added, “When finalised, this will be the largest Boeing order in South Asia and a historic milestone in the aerospace company’s nearly 90-year partnership with the carrier.”
Airbus’s long-range aircraft can fly non-stop up to 17 thousand kilometers. In this, 300 to 410 passengers can travel at a time. Narrow body planes are such planes, in which there is only an aisle in the middle of the seat. Wide body planes can have more than one aisle between the seats. Air India will be able to provide short-haul destination service of 4-5 hours with the narrowbody plane. With this, it will be able to give a tough competition to Indigo, which currently occupies more than 50% of the domestic market. The wide body aircraft will help Tata expand its footprint in North America, Europe and Australia.
Prime Minister Modi said that I congratulate Air India-Airbus for this landmark agreement. I especially thank my friend Emmanuel Macron for joining this program. This important deal reflects the deep ties between India and France as well as the successes of India’s civil aviation. The French President said that this achievement shows that Airbus and all French partners are working to enhance the partnership with India. We have achieved a lot with India. We have a historic opportunity to take it further.
US President Joe Biden has expressed happiness over the deal. The total cost of 220 aircraft will be 34 billion US dollars. Large size aircraft will be used for long distance flights. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch have welcomed a significant deal for Airbus and Rolls-Royce to provide new aircraft to Air India, the British High Commission said.
