Air India to buy 250 planes from Airbus

Tata Group-owned Air India will buy 250 aircraft, including 40 wide-body planes, from Airbus as the airline expands its fleet and operations. This is the first time in more than 17 years that Air India has placed an aircraft order. It is also the first order placed by the carrier under the ownership of Tata Group.

On Tuesday, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said Air India has signed a letter of intent to acquire 250 aircraft from Airbus. It will include 40 wide-body A350 planes and 210 narrow-body aircraft. During a virtual event being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, among others, Chandrasekaran said the wide-body planes will be used for ultra-long haul flights. Generally, flights that have a duration of a little over 16 hours are called ultra-long haul flights.

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Since acquiring loss-making Air India from the government in January 2022, Tata Group has been taking various measures to revive the carrier. Air India, earlier under the ownership of the government, had acquired new aircraft more than 17 years ago. The airline’s last order was for 111 planes — 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus — and that deal was worth USD 10.8 billion. The order was placed in 2005. On January 27, when the Tata Group completed the first year of taking over Air India, the airline said it was “finalising a historic order of new aircraft to power future growth.

The airline has put in place a roadmap under Vihaan.AI for transformation over the next five years and has taken various measures, including committing USD 400 million to refurbish the interiors of its entire wide-body fleet.