In 2023, Air India confirmed an order for 470 jets with Airbus and Boeing. As a part of the Airbus share of these aircraft, there were 210 A320family aircraft on order (140 A321neos and 70 A320s), 20 A350-900s and 20 A350-1000 aircraft. Airbus delivered six A350-900 aircraft, initially designated for Aeroflot, to Air India along with the original product selected. Air India will now receive 34 A350-900/1000 aircraft, factory-fresh and manufactured to Air India’s specifications. At the time of the order, Air India was the first and only customer of the A350 widebody in India. IndiGo has subsequently placed an order for A350 aircraft as well.
Air India’s first A350-900 aircraft being prepared for delivery in Toulouse. Picture Credit: Nuno Seletti (@NunoSeletti on Twitter)
Air India orders more A320family and A350 aircraft.
As part of its monthly reporting about orders and deliveries, Airbus had reported that on September 5, 2024, a customer placed an order for 85 aircraft with Airbus. “Undisclosed”, as these orders turn up, is when the airline does not want to reveal its orders as there may be internal processes ongoing, or the airline might just be looking for a suitable time to disclose the orders. At the time, it was speculated that these orders were for Air India.
Per Airbus’s disclosures in October, the airline ordered 55 A321neo aircraft, 20 A320neo aircraft, and five additional A350-900s and -1000s each. Today, Airbus and Air India disclosed that the airline has ordered another 100 Airbus aircraft, comprising ten widebody A350 and 90 narrowbody A320 Family aircraft, including the A321neo. These 100 new aircraft are in addition to the firm orders of 470 aircraft that Air India had placed with Airbus and Boeing last year.
The latest order takes the total number of aircraft Air India ordered with Airbus in 2023 from 250 aircraft, comprising 40 A350 and 210 A320 Family aircraft, to 350.
The supplementary order might look like a small change compared to the earlier order. Still, the airline is absorbing as much capacity as it can avail of itself in a rush to undo the undercapacity of the past. Air India already has a fleet of 140 aircraft (including 60 widebodies – 777, 787 and A350s) and has also absorbed Vistara, which has a fleet of 70 aircraft, including 6 787-9 aircraft of its own and one on lease. Most likely, these are options being converted into firm orders, so it would also mean that the airline might have a steady flow of aircraft rather than see these aircraft being delivered a decade from now or so.
The airline faces competition from IndiGo, which currently has over 375 aircraft in its fleet (including those grounded for engine issues) and 950 aircraft on order (including 30 A350-900 planes).
Bottomline
Air India, which had 470 aircraft on order from Boeing and Airbus, has signed another order of 100 aircraft with Airbus. The new order consists of 90 A320neo family aircraft and 10 Airbus A350 aircraft (five of the -900 variant and five of the -1000 variant).
What do you make of these additions to the Air India order book?
Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.
(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)
We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.
What remains to be seen is how many of the new A321neos on order get a new business-class product like what ex-Vistara A321neos do, or even better. I’m sure AI will not skimp on that as much as it has done on the IFE-less A320neo, with its tight 28” of pitch. It may take a few more years for that to be revealed, but with over half of the orders being A321neos (including A321XLRs), AI knows only too well the value of a premium narrowbody product.