Air India Plans to Acquire 300 Aircraft "Largest Purchase Ever if Successful"

Asiana A380

Indian airline Air India is reportedly considering purchasing up to 300 aircraft, Bloomberg reported on the 20th.

Bloomberg cited sources saying that Air India, acquired by the Tata Group earlier this year, is planning a complete overhaul of its fleet.

Air India is considering purchasing single-aisle narrow-body aircraft, and if an order for 300 planes is finalized, it would be the largest purchase deal in the history of the civil aviation industry, Bloomberg said. It is possible that Air India will select either Airbus's A320neo family or Boeing's 737 Max exclusively, or place a mixed order of both models.

The cost of acquiring 300 aircraft is approximately $40.5 billion (about 52.3 trillion KRW) based on the Boeing 737 Max price, but typically, large volume purchases receive price discounts. The delivery period is expected to take at least several years to over 10 years. Currently, Airbus's production capacity for narrow-body aircraft is about 50 units per month.

Air India was formerly a state-owned airline of India but was sold to the Tata Group earlier this year under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state-owned enterprise privatization policy.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg also reported that the world's largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, which saw reduced demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is making a comeback with the recovery of travel demand. According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, the number of A380 flights worldwide, which was 43 in June 2020 during the early stages of COVID-19, is expected to recover to 60% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year. Airlines around the world are expected to operate nearly 4,000 A380 flights this month, with plans for close to 6,000 flights in January next year.

Airbus initially expected to sell over 1,000 A380s when it launched the aircraft, but due to the 2008 global financial crisis and a shift in industry trends toward many medium-sized direct routes, only about 250 units were produced before the model was discontinued in December 2021.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.