[Aljazeera] Air India has announced orders for a total of 470 Boeing and Airbus passenger jets as it races to tap surging demand for affordable air travel from the nation’s growing ranks of middle-class consumers.
India’s largest international airline and second-largest domestic carrier is buying 220 Boeing aircraft valued at $34bn and 250 passenger jets from European plane manufacturer Airbus.
The Boeing purchase is the United States plane maker’s third-largest sale of all time, in dollar value, and its second of all time in quantity.
US President Joe Biden called the agreement "historic" and discussed it by telephone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The call was part of a flurry of high-level reactions as the scale of India’s needs provided a rare bonanza for the competing plane giants in an industry where the winner usually takes all.
Air India is seeking to reinvent itself by expanding its operations and modernising its fleet. The new jets will help the airline’s owner, Tata Sons, compete against upstart discount rivals including India’s dominant carrier, IndiGo.
"India is going to be the world’s third-largest market in the aviation sector," Modi said in a videoconference with Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Over the next 15 years, it is estimated India will need more than 2,000 aircraft and "today’s historic announcement will help in meeting this growing demand", he said. |