Tata Group-owned Air India places an order with Airbus for 100 planes

Tata-run Air India Group on Monday stated that it has placed an order for 100 planes — 90 narrow-body A320 family aircraft and 10 wide-body A350 aircraft — with European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

 

This is in addition to the order for 470 planes that the group had placed last year.

 

In February 2023, Air India placed the world's second-largest aircraft order — 250 planes with Airbus and 220 with Boeing.

 

At the time, the airline's chief commercial and transformation officer (CCTO) Nipun Aggarwal revealed that the airline had secured “options” to expand the order by an additional 370 planes. This brought the total potential orders to 840 planes, with 470 firm orders and 370 as options.

 

  The airline has now exercised some of its Airbus options, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons and Air India, said in a statement. 

 

He said, “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.”

 

“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,” he added.

 

In a statement, the Air India Group stated: “With the order for 100 additional aircraft, Air India currently has a total of 344 new aircraft coming from Airbus, having received six A350s so far. Air India, in 2023, had also placed orders for 220 wide-body and narrow-body aircraft with Boeing, of which 185 aircraft remain to be delivered.”

 

Full-service carrier Air India and its low-cost airline subsidiary Air India Express currently have a fleet of about 210 and 90 planes, respectively.

 

Air India chief executive officer (CEO) & managing director (MD) Campbell Wilson had told reporters last month that the fleet size of Air India Group is expected to increase from 300 to about 400 by 2027.

 

On Monday, the group said it has signed a “Flight Hour Services-Component” contract with Airbus to provide on-side stock in Delhi and support the maintenance requirements of its growing fleet of A350 planes.

 

Air India's expansion is coming at a time when Airbus has been forced to cut annual production targets due to supply chain issues.

 

Owing to shortage of engines and other components, Airbus had in June reduced its 2024 delivery target from about 800 to 770 airplanes. Moreover, the company had in June postponed its goal of producing 75 narrow-body aircraft per month from 2026 to 2027.

  Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, who was in Delhi in October, had stated that the main challenge Airbus faces today is scaling up aircraft production. He added that India can help “debottleneck” this process by becoming a more integral part of the supply chain.

Asked about his plans to set up a final assembly line (FAL) for commercial planes in India, Faury added that FAL is just the tip of the iceberg and it is not a “limiting factor.”

 

He said the “limiting factor” is the supply of large equipment, which has been affected due to fragile supply chains at the lower end of the pyramid.