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.
The price for the entire 470-aircraft deal would be between $70 and $80 billion. 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.
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 state-of-art inflight entertainment systems.”
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”. There is an option for Air India to buy 70 more aircraft from Boeing.
“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,” said US President Joe Biden.
