TATA’s historic aviation deal opens another box! Air India will buy 470 not 840 aircraft, the company itself told the details of the deal

New Delhi. Air India’s historic 470-plane deal with USA’s Boeing and France’s Airbus could get even bigger as the Tata group-owned airline has an option to buy an additional 370 jets over the course of 10 years.Air India has placed orders for 840 aircraft with Airbus and Boeing. A senior company official said on Thursday that the deal also includes an option to buy 370 aircraft. Air India’s Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer Nipun Agarwal said in a LinkedIn post that the airline is humbled by the enthusiasm the airline is seeing around the world for the order to buy the aircraft. He told that this order of 840 aircraft has been placed under the process that started with the privatization of Air India two years ago.

The order will buy 470 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing over the next decade, he said, while it includes an option to buy 370 aircraft. This will be one of the largest aircraft orders placed by an airline in modern aviation history. The official said that this order is a historic moment for the Indian aviation industry. A day earlier, the airline had said it had awarded a contract for 470 aircraft, of which 250 would be procured from Airbus and 220 from Boeing.

We have also tied up with CFM International (CFM), Rolls-Royce and GE Aerospace for long term maintenance of engines, he added. Agarwal said the contract reflects the Tata Group’s aspiration to transform Air India into a world-class airline and connect India directly to every major city in the world. The Tata Group-owned airline will buy 40 widebody A350s and 210 smallbody aircraft from Airbus.

In an ‘online’ meeting, Chandrasekaran said that a letter of intent has been signed with Airbus for the purchase of these aircraft. The meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, among others. Tata group had acquired Air India in January last year. After this acquisition, Tata Group is taking various measures to grow this airline.