India’s largest carrier Air India is considering a large order for 300 narrow-body passenger aircraft, industry sources familiar with the matter told India’s daily newspaper Business Standard on June 20, 2022.
The airline currently operates a fleet of a total of 115 narrow-body and wide-body planes.
The acquisition, which is yet to be confirmed by the New Delhi-based airline, could become one of the largest aircraft orders in India’s commercial aviation history.
Airbus or Boeing could win the huge order for the A320neo family or Boeing 737 MAX family planes, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are confidential. The new jets are expected to significantly increase Air India’s capacity in both domestic and short-haul flight operations.
Tata Group, which now owns Air India, is looking to overhaul the former debt-laden carrier and hinted at fleet renewal and expansion plans back in February 2022 when the company was assessing the right fleet size for future operations and began discussions with Airbus, Boeing, and aircraft leasing companies over purchasing wide-body passenger planes. At the time, Tata Sons had been mulling the acquisition of Airbus A350-900s or Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners capable of operating long-haul routes to the United States.