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Air India’s aircraft order could go up to a whopping 840, said Nipun Aggarwal, the airline’s Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer. After firming up an order for 470 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, Air India has negotiated options to buy 370 more aircraft, he said on Thursday.
Aggarwal, who was instrumental in negotiating watertight deals with the European aircraft maker Airbus and USA-based Boeing, posted in LinkedIn on Thursday to say how chuffed he was with the excitement generated across the world by the aircraft orders.
“It is indeed a landmark moment in the history of Air India and Indian aviation. This order of 840 aircrafts has been a culmination of a fascinating journey that began almost two years ago starting with the Air India privatisation process,” he said.
The order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9 widebody aircraft, as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 MAX narrowbodies. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and the B777/787s by engines from GE Aerospace. All 400 narrowbody aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International
Sharing details about the complete possible order, Aggarwal said, “The order comprises of 470 firm aircraft, 370 options and purchase rights to be procured from Airbus and Boeing over the next decade. The Airbus firm order comprises 210 A-320/321 Neo/XLR and 40 A350-900/1000. The Boeing firm order comprises 190 737-Max, 20 787s and 10 777s. We have also signed up for long-term maintenance of the engines with CFM International, Rolls-Royce and GE Aerospace.”
‘Non-stop connection’
Aggarwal pointed out that this order demonstrates the vision and aspiration of Tata Group to transform Air India into a world class airline and connect India “non-stop” to every major city in the world.
“This order is also a testament to the tremendous economic potential unleashed by the Air India privatisation,” he said.
Earlier this week, Tata Sons and Air India Chairman, N Chandrasekaran, said that Air India is on a large transformation journey across safety, customer service, technology, engineering, network and human resources. Modern, efficient fleet is a fundamental component of this transformation.
“This order is an important step in realising Air India’s ambition, articulated in its Vihaan. AI transformation program, to offer a world-class proposition serving global travellers with an Indian heart. These new aircraft will modernise the Airline’s fleet and onboard product, and dramatically expand its global network. The growth enabled by this order will also provide unparalleled career opportunities for Indian aviation professionals and catalyse accelerated development of the Indian aviation ecosystem,” Chandrasekaran noted.
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