Air India has today officially disclosed a previously placed order for 10 Airbus A350s and 90 Airbus A320 Family aircraft. Additionally, the Tata Group-owned airline has selected Airbus’ Flight Hour Services-Component (FHS-C) for their growing A350 fleet.
On Monday (December 9, 2024), Airbus announced that Air India has officially disclosed an earlier order for 10 widebody Airbus A350s and 90 single-aisle Airbus A320 Family jets. In Addition, Air India has selected Airbus’ Flight Hour Services-Component (FHS-C) for their growing A350 fleet. The Tata Group-owned airline’s latest order has already been included in Airbus’ 2024 orderbook, and follows a previous order for 40 A350s and 210 A320 Family aircraft placed by Air India in 2023. In total, Air India’s orderbook with Airbus now stands at 344, with six A350-900s having already been delivered.
In Monday’s announcement, Tata Sons and Air India’s Chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, said,
“With India’s passenger growth outpacing the rest of the world, its significantly improving infrastructure and an aspirational young population increasingly going global, we see a clear case for Air India to expand its future fleet beyond the firm orders of the 470 aircraft placed last year. These additional 100 Airbus aircraft will help to position Air India on the path to greater growth and contribute to our mission of building Air India into a world-class airline that connects India to every corner of the world.”
Also commenting on the large incremental aircraft order, Airbus’ CEO, Guillaume Faury, added,
“Having personally witnessed the formidable growth of the Indian aviation sector in recent months, I am glad to see Air India renew its trust in Airbus with this additional order for both our A320 Family and A350 aircraft. Through this continued partnership, we are committed to supporting the success of Air India's ‘Vihaan.AI’ transformation plan under Tata's vision and leadership.”
Air India started A350 operations in January 2024, marking the entry-into-service of the type in the Indian market. The long-range leader in the 300-410 seat category, the A350 can operate efficiently on any sector from short-haul to ultra-long-haul routes up to 9,700 nautical miles. The aircraft’s clean sheet design features state-of-the-art technologies, aerodynamics, lightweight materials and the latest generation engines, which combine to deliver a 35 percent reduction in fuel burn, operating costs and CO2 emissions. Additionally, the aircraft offers a 50 percent noise footprint reduction compared to previous generation competitor aircraft.
The largest member of the Airbus A320neo Family, the A321neo offers unparalleled range and performance. With new generation engines and advanced Sharklets, the A321neo brings a 50 percent noise footprint reduction and more than a 20 percent savings in fuel use and CO2 emissions compared to previous generation single-aisle aircraft.
Source: Airbus