Air India is buying 10 Airbus A350 widebody aircraft and 90 A320 series narrow-body jets. The order – which one source estimated will be worth $6.4 billion to Airbus – follows a 250-aircraft booking by Air India in 2023.
The jet builder reported Air India has a total of 344 orders for new aircraft in place now as it pursues a fleet-modernization program. Six of the A350s booked last year have already been delivered.
In 2022 the onetime state-owned airline was taken over by Tata Group, one of the major conglomerates of the Indian and global economy, which initiated an aggressive program to expand and modernize the operation for both domestic and international service.
“With India’s passenger growth outpacing the rest of the world, its significantly improving infrastructure and an aspirational young population increasingly going global, we see a clear case for Air India to expand its future fleet beyond the firm orders of the 470 aircraft placed last year,” according to Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons and Air India. “These additional 100 Airbus aircraft will help to position Air India on the path to greater growth and contribute to our mission of building Air India into a world-class airline that connects India to every corner of the world.”
Air India also signed on for the Airbus Flight Hour Services-Component program for its A350 aircraft, a material and maintenance service based on a contractual fixed hourly-rate payment.
