BENGALURU, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Air India has agreed to buy 250 planes from Airbus, in a mammoth 470-unit deal, as the airline seeks to transform under its new owners, the Tata Group.
The order includes 210 narrow-body jets and 40 wide-body jets, which Air India will use to “fly ultra-long routes around the world”, Tata Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Tuesday.
The deal is also expected to include an order for 220 planes from Airbus rival Boeing, Reuters reported.
“We are committed to building a world-class airline (…) one of the most important things is a modern, efficient and high-performance fleet on all routes,” Chandrasekaran told a press briefing in line.
The online event brought together Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, highlighting the political and economic significance of the deal.
Industry sources say India has repeatedly pressured Airbus to add a final assembly line in the country, comparable to a factory in northern China, but the aircraft maker continues to reject the idea for financial and industrial reasons.
However, the aeronautical activity is expected to have other industrial repercussions, as Macron has promised that France will work with India in other areas.
Chandrasekaran said Airbus and Tata were working on broader partnerships, including an ambition “to add commercial aircraft manufacturing at some point in the future”.
“We see this as the most important moment for Air India, Indian Aviation and Tata Group’s manufacturing sector in India,” he said.
Air India’s order is expected to surpass that of American Airlines, which bought 460 Airbus and Boeing planes more than a decade ago, making it the largest contract ever for an airline.
In December, Reuters reported that Air India was negotiating a contract for nearly 500 aircraft. (Reporting by Aditi Shah in Bengaluru and Tim Hepher in Paris Additional reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar Editing in Spanish by Javier López de Lérida)