Air India orders 470 Boeing, Airbus jetliners

As part of a 5-year modernization plan advancing its fleet strategy to sustainably address South Asia's rapidly growing market for domestic and international air travel, Tata Group-owned Air India is expanding its fleet with record orders for Boeing and Airbus jetliners. Initial plans call for 470 airliners: 220 from Boeing, 250 from Airbus. Options for an additional 70 Boeing airliners bring the order to 540 total aircraft. The market-price value of the airplanes Air India’s ordered is estimated to top $84 billion.

GE Aerospace, CFM International, and Rolls-Royce also announced engine and service orders for the new airplanes.

By type, Air India has selected:

When finalized, this will be the largest Boeing order in South Asia and a historic milestone in the aerospace company's nearly 90-year partnership with the carrier. The order will post to Boeing's Orders and Deliveries website when final.

"Air India's … decision will support engineering and manufacturing jobs at Boeing factories in Washington state, South Carolina, and across our supply base," said Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Air India has also contracted with Boeing Global Services for lifecycle support services, including digital solutions, spare parts and landing gear exchange programs, pilot and maintenance technician training, aircraft modifications, and other services.

Airbus officials say their deliveries are set to commence with the first A350-900 arriving by late-2023. They note that during the next decade, India will grow to have the largest population in the world, its economy will expand the fastest among the G20 nations, and a burgeoning middle class will spend more on air travel. As a result, passenger traffic in India will grow fast, including on the long-range markets in the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

The acquisition of narrow-body and widebody jets is a core element of Vihaan.AI, the comprehensive transformation and growth strategy Air India is pursuing, according to Campbell Wilson, CEO and managing director, Air India. "These new airplanes will enable us to dramatically expand our network, both domestically and internationally, and will come with a completely new, world-class onboard product enabling passengers to travel in the highest levels of comfort and safety."

All the aircraft ordered offer greater efficiency, less noise, and lower CO₂ emissions.

From GE Aerospace, Air India placed a firm order for 40 GEnx-1B engines to power 20 Boeing 787 and 20 GE9X engines for 10 Boeing 777X aircraft, plus a multi-year TrueChoice engine services agreement.

Air India also placed an order to GE and Safran Aircraft Engines 50/50 joint business CFM International for more than 800 LEAP engines, the largest LEAP order ever, to power its entire narrowbody purchase of 210 Airbus A320/A321neo aircraft and 190 Boeing 737 MAX-family aircraft. The announcement includes a multi-year CFM services agreement.

Rolls-Royce received an order from Air India for 68 Trent XWB-97 engines, plus options for 20 more. This is the biggest ever order for the Trent XWB-97, which exclusively powers the Airbus A350-1000. Air India also ordered 12 Trent XWB-84 engines, the sole engine option for the Airbus A350-900.

Founded by JRD Tata, Air India pioneered India's aviation sector with its first flight on October 15, 1932. After 69 years as a government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were welcomed back into the Tata group in January 2022.

Headquartered in India, the Tata group comprises 30 companies across 10 verticals, operating in more than 100 countries, with 935,000 employees, and total revenue of $128 billion in 2021-2022. Businesses include Tata Motors (Tata, Jaguar, Range Rover), airlines (Air India, Air India Express, AirAsia India, Vistara), hotels, chemicals, communications, online shopping, power, investment and consultancy, steel, food and beverages, IT/AI services, and consumer goods (household appliances, clothing, jewelry, and watches).