Air India will buy over 450 planes from Airbus and Boeing
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:
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The airline, which Tata group bought from the government in October 2021, will buy 250 aircraft from Airbus and 220 from Boeing.
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“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.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr Biden spoke over the landmark agreement between Air India and Boeing. Both welcomed the deal as a “shining example of mutually beneficial cooperation”.
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There is an option for Air India to buy 70 more aircraft from Boeing, taking the total deal value to $45.9 billion.
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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. This deal will cost over $100 billion.
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“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.
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“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.
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The A350 family has two versions – the A350-900, and the longer fuselage A350-1000. Airbus’ narrow-body aircraft include the A320 and A220 family of planes. Many airlines in India already fly the A320 family.
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The shopping list given to the American company comprises 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s wide-body aircraft, and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft.
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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.”
