BENGALURU (Reuters) -Tata group-owned Air India has confirmed an order for 100 Airbus aircraft, the two companies said on Monday, as part of a multi-billion-dollar plan to turn itself into a leading global airline.
In October, Airbus announced an order for 75 A320 jets and 10 A350s by an unnamed customer, which sources said was likely to be Air India.
The Indian carrier has now confirmed that it placed an order for 100 planes, including 90 A320-family jets and 10 A350 widebodies, topping up its mega order for 470 Airbus and Boeing planes last year.
The deal is worth some $6.4 billion after typical industry discounts, according to estimated delivery prices from UK-based Cirium Ascend.
Since taking control of the carrier in 2022, Tata Group has spent billions on ordering hundreds of new jets, changing the carrier’s logo and upgrading interiors for over half its fleet to take on rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways.
The former state-owned airline had in February last year ordered 250 jets from Airbus and 220 from Boeing, and had also negotiated a total of 370 options and purchase rights from the two planemakers on top of the main order.
Air India had said then that it had options for ordering 70 more Boeing jets but did not publish a breakdown for Airbus.Â
Last month, the airline merged with Vistara, a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and the Tatas. Singapore Airlines holds a 25% stake in the merged carrier and has agreed to invest up to an additional $600 million in Air India’s turnaround.
Earlier in the year, Air India kicked off a $400 million plan to refit old planes as part of its transformation into “a world class airline.”
(Reporting by Nishit Navin and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru, Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Anil D’Silva)
