“Historic” deal between Airbus and India | Air India buys 250 Airbus aircraft

Indian airline Air India signed a letter of intent to buy 210 A320neo single-aisle jets and 40 A350 long-haul jets from Airbus at a webcast ceremony at the AeroIndia Lounge in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The deal, which the parties had been working on for “nearly two years”, was signed by Air India’s Tata Group Chairman Sri N. According to Chandrasekaran, another huge order for Boeing is about to come along. Newspaper.

The planned order, which will be finalized soon with initial payments as a firm order, also includes a “significant number of options” for additional aircraft as Air India becomes a “world-class airline”. Chandrasekaran.

The amount of activity at stake was not disclosed, but the last list price published by Airbus in 2018 was never used due to discounts. Worth over $70 billion.

The aviation sector is “an important aspect of our national infrastructure strategy”, which has grown from 74 to 147 airports, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended the ceremony, recalled alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.

“India is at the dawn of a revolution in international aviation,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. The aircraft manufacturer already has an engineering center in the country and buys some aircraft components from Indian suppliers.

“France is deeply committed to providing highly efficient technologies to India and to be part of its +Made in India+ strategy,” the French President asserted.

Since its privatization and absorption by the Tata Group in January 2022, Air India has been looking to revamp its fleet to counter the expected growth of the Indian market and capture a slice of long-haul traffic, to the detriment of its Gulf affiliates. between the large Indian diaspora and their country of origin.

India is the world’s third largest aviation market and according to Airbus forecasts, its air traffic will grow at an average annual rate of 6.6% over the next two decades, double the global average.