The airline industry was terribly hit by the COVID pandemic, but things are looking positive. As the air traffic reaches its peak, another proof of the recovering aviation sector is the mega order of 500 jets coming to India. Air Lease, one of the world's largest aircraft lessors, on Monday revealed that a mega order of 500 jets is coming out of India and the order in all certainty belongs to Air India.
"As a result of this recovery, there is now more momentum for large orders from airlines who have sort of sat back and watched the movie, and now they're seeing there's going to be a positive trend," Steven Udvar-Hazy, executive chairman of AirLease Corp, told the Airline Economics conference.
Udvar-Hazy also revealed that the majority of the jets are going to be narrow-body aircraft, including Airbus A320neos, A321neos, and Boeing 737 MAXs. The order also consists of 100 wide-body aircraft.
"We have this 500-aircraft order coming out of India, which is going to be about 400 narrow-body aircraft, probably a mix of (Airbus) A320neos, A321neos and (Boeing) 737 MAXs, and 100 wide-bodies which will include (Boeing) 787s, 777X, potentially some 777 freighters and (Airbus) A350s," Udvar-Hazy added.
Air India, Boeing and Airbus haven't confirmed the development. But industry sources have revealed to Reuters that finalising the proposed deal depends on ongoing negotiations with engine makers.
With this mega order, Air India's fleet will more than double from the current 173 narrow-body and 47 wide-body aircraft. With 500 jets, Air India will have the largest order by an airline group in the aviation history, overshadowing American Airlines' order of 460 Airbus and Boeing jets over a decade ago. These jets will be delivered over at least a decade, both replacing and expanding the AI fleets.
In December last year, it was reported that Air India was in talks for acquiring 500 aircraft worth a few billions dollars from two major manufacturers Boeing and Airbus. The deal was part of Tata Group's efforts to revive Air India, media reports said.
Air India revival by Tata
As part of Air India's revival, the Tata group has unveiled "Vihaan.AI", a transformation plan. The new plan is a comprehensive multi-stage revival roadmap to catapult Air India into a world-class airline and claim at least 30 percent market share in the domestic market in the next five years.
Vihaan.AI has been developed after extensive feedback from Air India employees and focusses on five key pillars - exceptional customer experience, robust operations, industry-best talent, industry leadership and commercial efficiency and profitability.
As part of its medium to long-term strategy, Air India will focus on building for excellence and establishing scale.
Barring the COVID period, aviation traffic has witnessed consistent growth. The all-India passenger growth as projected by the Airports Authority of India for the next few years is 371 million passengers in 2023-24 and 412 million in 2024-25. Civil Aviation Ministry officials said that there were about 400 aircraft in 2013 and in 2021-22, the number increased to 700. Airlines in India are going to add 15 percent capacity or 100 to 110 aircraft per year and the aviation sector is looking at close to 1,200 aircraft by 2027.
