The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Air India orders 470 jets, including 220 from Boeing
Record sale will help airline reinvent itself, become international carrier, officials say
Air India announced a 470-plane order with Airbus SE and Boeing Co. in what stands to be the largest purchase in commercial aviation history, underscoring the industry’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the airline’s ambition to become a global force after years of contraction.
The carrier will purchase 250 Airbus jets, 210 A320neos, 40 A350s and 220 Boeing models comprising of 190 737 Max, 20 787s and 10 of its largest 777X, according to announcements Tuesday. The previous single largest jet order was a 460-plane deal by American Airlines in 2011.
The Airbus part of the deal was announced in an online briefing that also was attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, while U.S. President Joe Biden announced the Boeing commitment a few hours later.
Air India has “significant options” to increase its Airbus order as the carrier grows, Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said, while Boeing said the carrier may eventually add 50 more 737 Maxes and 20 787s.
The long-awaited transaction, the final contours of which were reported by Bloomberg last week, will help Air India reinvent itself by stocking its ranks with a fuel-efficient fleet that can take on domestic low-cost rivals and powerful Gulf airlines. Airbus no longer publishes list prices while Boeing claimed the order was valued at $34 billion at list price.
“The time is right for India to turn into an international hub,” Guillaume Faury, the Airbus chief executive officer said in the briefing with Modi. “India is well on its way.”
Air India will begin receiving the A350s before the end of this year, Christian Scherer, Airbus’s sales chief, said in an interview Tuesday. The initial batch of six planes were being built for Russia’s Aeroflot PJSC, which is no longer able to take aircraft due to sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. It also is ordering 34 of the larger A350-1000 model that Scherer says will give it the ability to offer nonstop services “deep into all the continents of the world.”
According to Biden, the Air India order is Boeing’s third biggest sale of all time in dollar value and second of all time in quantity.
The U.S. manufacturer projects that India will need 2,210 new planes over the next two decades, a number that’s broadly in line with Airbus’s forecast for the country. By comparison, China remains a far bigger market for Boeing — it expects the country will need 8,485 new aircraft through 2041.
Boeing’s win in India contrasts with its performance in China, where the company has essentially been frozen out of new orders amid recent geopolitical turmoil and the grounding of the 737 after two deadly accidents in rapid succession. China used to take a quarter of Boeing’s 737 output and it’s been more 3 1/2 years since a mainland Chinese airline took delivery of a new jet from the company.