NEW DELHI: Air India on Tuesday announced two mega deals to buy 470 passenger planes from the world’s top two aircraft manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing.
The importance of the deal, which is estimated to be around $100 billion, for the economically strapped western economies was apparent when the deal was hailed by US President Joe Biden, UK PM Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron who appeared at a video-conference along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Hailing the deal for the purchase of 250 aircraft from Airbus, PM Modi, during the video conversation with Macron, said India would become the third-largest player in the aviation sector and would need 2,500 aircraft over the next 15 years.
Air India will purchase 220 planes from Boeing for $34 billion, with an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to $45.9 billion, which Biden described as a “historic agreement”. Announcing the deal, Biden said together with Prime Minister Modi, he was looking forward to deepening bilateral ties. The White House said Air India would purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787 and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm orders.
The Tata Group will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus in the world’s largest aviation deal in history. The deal includes 40 A350 wide-body long-range aircraft and 210 narrow-body ones, believed to be variants of the A320neo family of jetliners for Air India, owned by the Tata Group.
“This important deal reflects the deepening ties between India and France as well as the successes and aspirations of India’s civil aviation sector.” The virtual meet was also attended by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Tata Group patriarch Ratan Tata, Air India CEO Wilson Campbell and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. Through our regional connectivity scheme (UDAN), remote parts of the country are being connected through air connectivity, which is boosting the economic and social development of people. Many new opportunities are opening up in aerospace manufacturing under India’s ‘Make in India-Make for the World’ vision,” observed PM Modi.
“We have achieved so much with India in a wide range of sectors from space to cyber, defence to culture and from health to energy transition. We now have the historic opportunity to go much further given the potential of India and Indian people,” said Macron.
The French President also touched on the Ukraine issue, stating that India under PM Modi’s leadership “clearly can be the one to mobilise the whole world and help us address the tremendous issue we have in front of us”. Rishi Sunak hailed the order as Rolls Royce engines made in the UK will power the Airbus planes.
Airbus said it would deliver the first A350 aircraft to Air India by the end of this year and that the deal with the airline also marked the European aviation major’s “emphatic return” to the wide-body segment in India, which was the fastest growing aviation market.