Air India is all set to sign a 'historic' deal with aircraft manufacturer companies, Airbus and Boeing, sources in the airline said, adding that never before in India's aviation history has such a mega order of aircraft including wide body and narrow body aircraft been done.
Air India is all set to announce its mega deal with Airbus and Boeing likely in the next week.
These include 400 single aisles — 210 Airbus A320 neo family and 190 Boeing 737 Max. Then there are 70 twin aisles — 40 A350s, 20 B787s and 10 B777X.
But according to sources, they are not sure about the exact number of orders.
Boeing and Airbus
According to agency sources, a senior Air India official recently stated that discussions over the engines that Air India is seeking are currently taking place with Boeing and Airbus.
Airbus is moving forward with Rolls-Royce engines for a number of its aircraft, but related negotiations have not yet come to a conclusion for other aircraft powered by GE and CFM engines. GE and Safran Aircraft Engines have a 50/50 joint venture called CFM International.
The Airline was finalising a historic order of new aircraft, according to Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Air India, earlier on January 27. More than 16 years ago, Air India purchased brand-new aircraft. The airline has not made an aircraft acquisition since 2005, and its most recent order was for 111 aircraft, at a cost of USD 10.8 billion.
According to sources, Air India is looking for a new mix of aircraft to expand their domestic and international network. Following the airline's divestiture, CEO Campbell told the AI staff in a speech that the company is aiming for a historic order.
In next five years
Air India announced its transformation over the next five years to become one of the top airlines in the world with an Indian heart on the occasion of its first anniversary on January 27 of this year.
Ongoing integrated service between three different airlines of one Tata group is already underway and today on the anniversary day, AI said, "Announced merger with Vistara with the combined entity having a share-holding of Singapore Airlines and acquisition of AirAsia India and its merger with subsidiary Air India Express."
On January 27, Air India (AI) completed a year of its return with Air India under Tata. When the Tata group took charge last year, the public perception was that it wanted to take the airline back to the glory days under the legendary JRD Tata.
Soon after winning the bid for Air India, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said that, "We are excited to bring Air India back to the Tata group and are committed to making it a world-class airline."
With inputs from Agencies.
