Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Air India's Mega Plane Shopping: 250 From Airbus, 220 From Boeing - 10 Points

New Delhi: Tata group's Air India has signed multi-billion dollar deals with France's Airbus and American plane-maker Boeing to buy 470 passenger aircraft in the largest shopping event in commercial aviation history.

Here's your 10-point cheatsheet to this big story:

The airline, which Tata group bought from the government in October 2021, will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus and 220 from Boeing.

"I am proud to announce today the purchase of over 200 American-made aircraft through a historic agreement between Air India and Boeing. This purchase will support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree," US President Joe Biden said in a statement today. There is an option for Air India to buy 70 more aircraft from Boeing.

The price for the entire 470-aircraft deal would be between $70 and $80 billion, people with direct knowledge of the matter told NDTV.

Tata group's 250-plane deal with Airbus is for 40 A350 wide-body long-range aircraft and 210 narrow-body ones, believed to be variants of the A320neo family of jetliners.

"It is a historic moment for Airbus to help script Air India's revival," Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said in a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ratan Tata, French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders.

"This contract is a milestone in the friendly relations between India and France," said Mr Macron at the conference, where Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Jyotiraditya Scindia and Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran also participated.

The A350 family has two versions - the A350-900, and the longer fuselage A350-1000.

Airbus says A350s fly efficiently on any sector from short-haul to ultra-long-haul routes up to 17,000 km, carrying 300 to 410 passengers in typical three-class configurations, and up to 480 passengers in a single-class layout.

Airbus' narrow-body aircraft include the A320 and A220 family of planes. Many airlines in India already fly the A320 family.

Air India is also likely to revamp its livery. Last month, it committed $400 million to refurbish the interiors of its entire wide-body fleet. Air India said these will incorporate the "latest generation seats and best-in-class inflight entertainment systems."

14/02/23 NDTV

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