Air India finalises order for around 250 aircraft with Airbus: Report

As per sources, the the deal is expected to be announced next week where the aviation firm signed a deal with Boeing for about 200 planes.

Earlier on 27 January, Air India chief Campbell Wilson said the airline is finalising a historic order of new aircraft. Air India had acquired new aircraft more than 16 years ago.

Since 2005, Air India has not purchased any aircraft and the last order was for 111 aircraft whose deal was worth $10.8 billion.

ALSO READ: Indian airlines to place order for 1,500-1,700 aircraft over next 2 years: CAPA India

According to report by news agency PTI, the deal is likely to include 40 wide-body Airbus A350s and Air India will be the first Indian carrier to operate the aircraft.

Air India had operated wide-body A330s in the past.

On Wednesday, aviation consultancy CAPA said Indian carriers are likely to place orders for up to 1,700 planes by 2024 and Air India may make the first move with some 500 planes order.

Currently, Indian carriers operate less than 50 wide-body aircraft, an insignificant number for such a significant market. In contrast, Emirates alone has a fleet of over 260 wide-bodies, CAPA had said.

Recently, IndiGo started wide-body operations on India-Turkey route with a wet-leased B777 and plans to induct two more such planes.

With PTI inputs.