Air India is on the verge of announcing a series of record aircraft orders, including an order for 235 Airbus A320neo family jets. According to Reuters sources, the announcement is expected to take place on January 27 and will also include 40 A350-900 widebodies.
The giant purchase by Air India will not be restricted to Airbus. Its rival, Boeing, should be awarded an order for 190 737 MAX, 20 787 Dreamliner and ten 777X, the new variant of the largest twin-engine passenger aircraft in production.
In all, Air India is expected to receive 425 new aircraft in an aggressive step taken by its partners, the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines.
The plan is to resume the protagonism of the traditional carrier, which was once the most important in the country when it was state-owned, but which ended up being swallowed up by low-cost companies such as IndiGo and SpiceJet.
If confirmed, the orders will boost the backlog of Airbus and Boeing in times when the recovery of air travel is still quite irregular and production suffers from a problem with the supply chain.
The repercussions on the order book should also be felt by other airlines, as production positions will be filled for a long time, complicating the fleet renewal of those who are still in the process of closing deals.
