Air India to buy 470 jets in one of world’s biggest aviation orders

Air India will buy 470 planes from Airbus and Boeing in one of the biggest aviation orders globally, as the country’s air passenger market rebounds from the depths of the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier plans to buy 40 long-distance wide-body A350 jets, as well as 140 A320neo and 70 A321neo single-aisle aircraft from Airbus. From rival Boeing it said it would buy 190 of the narrow-body 737 Max jets, 20 twin-aisle 787s and 10 777Xs, with the option to purchase another 70 jets. The deal is part of an overhaul by owner Tata Sons of the recently privatised carrier and eclipses previous records for a single airline. Airbus did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. The list price for the planes from Boeing totals $34b, although airlines typically receive discounts as high as 50%. Still, the price tag makes it the third largest sale in the US company’s history. Tata Sons chair Natarajan Chandrasekaran announced the Airbus purchase on Tuesday at a virtual event attended by India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, French President Emmanuel Macron and Tata patriarch Ratan Tata. The family conglomerate bought Air India from the government last year, returning the airline to its original owners. The airline had been nationalised in 1953. Tata has promised to modernise the once glamorous carrier, whose reputation frayed as its finances deteriorated. “Air India is not yet another project,” said Chandrasekaran, adding that it was akin to a “national” project. “A lot of emotions are involved in this project, there are huge expectations.” He said Air India had options to “increase the fleet size” as the carrier grew, and the company is expected to announce it is buying more planes from Boeing. Airbus CE Guillaume Faury hailed the deal as “historic”, and said the A350 and A320neo planes had been chosen “to script Air India’s revival”. “The time is right for India to turn into an international hub,” he added.<br/>