For years, airlines from the Gulf poached Indian customers and flew them to Europe or America through their hubs. Now Air India is going on the offensive and is ordering hundreds of planes.
The airline Air India wants to expand and buy hundreds of jets from Airbus and Boeing. A letter of intent has been signed with Airbus for 210 machines from the A320neo medium-haul jet family and 40 A350 wide-body aircraft, said the head of Air India’s parent Tata Group, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, at an online briefing with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron.
According to US President Joe Biden, Air India has also agreed to purchase a total of 220 aircraft with Boeing: 190 medium-haul 737 Max aircraft and 30 long-haul jets, divided into 20 787s and 10 of the larger 777Xs. The order is worth $34 billion at list prices. However, large customers receive discounts that are not published. There are also options for 70 more Boeing aircraft, bringing the total to 290.
More economical machines
With the bulk purchase, Air India wants to renew its fleet with more economical machines and benefit from the recovery of air traffic from the Corona crisis. “The time is ripe to make India an international hub,” said Airbus boss Guillaume Faury. Air India wants to win back passengers from Arab airlines Emirates and Qatar Airways. These have been transporting passengers from India to the USA and Europe for years – via their hubs in Dubai and Doha.
Air India was founded by the Tata family in the 1930’s as Tata Airlines and was nationalized in the 1950’s. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly suffered from cheap competition. About a year ago, Tata bought back the indebted company.
Parts are always missing
Tata and Air India say they have been negotiating with Airbus for two years. According to Tata boss Chandrasekaran, Air India has also secured options with Airbus to expand the order. Especially with the jets from the A320neo family, Airbus is fully booked for years. Anyone who orders a model from this family today will have to wait until 2029 for delivery, sales manager Christian Scherer said in January.
Like other companies, the European manufacturer is struggling with shortages of suppliers and labour. Important parts are always missing. In the past year, management had to cut its target for aircraft deliveries twice. Airbus plans to publish its annual financial figures on Thursday. At this appointment, the management usually also names its goals for the new year – including a forecast of how many machines the manufacturer will deliver.
Source: Stern
