- Tuesday, March 04, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
While the Tata-owned Air India stormed the headlines recently after entering mega deals with aircraft-manufacturing giants Boeing and Airbus, it seems the carrier’s record could be eclipsed soon.
If industry sources are to be believed, IndiGo, India’s budget carrier, is in talks with both the companies to order more than 500 passenger jets, Reuters said in an exclusive report.
Till now, IndiGo, India’s largest airline, has now been buying narrow-body jets from Airbus and Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister of France, said in February that the airline was about to order several planes from the European maker.
However, talks to keep renewing the carrier’s fleet from the end of the decade have expanded to include mid-sized wide-body jets, the sources add. This has triggered a contest between Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and the upgraded Airbus A330neo.
IndiGo was also comparing the A320neo with Boeing 737 MAX as it considered a major order for narrow-body planes, the Reuters report cited the sources as saying.
The divide between the wide- and narrow-body jets was although not clear immediately.
A representative of Indigo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, told Reuters that the carrier is constantly in negotiations with the manufacturers as it plans the next stage of growth. The official added that no final decision had been taken yet.
Neither Airbus nor Boeing clarified the matter, according to the news outlet.
IndiGo counts a 55 per cent share of the domestic market and is widely expected to stick with Airbus as its narrow-body jet provider to extract more advantage. The carrier is already one of Airbus’s biggest customers and has so far sought 830 Airbus A320-family jets of which 488 are yet to be delivered.
Indian experts, however, believe that Airbus will meet a tougher challenge for the wide-body order, the Reuters report added.
Overall, efforts by Indian carriers to meet the demand of the world’s fastest-growing aviation market have seen many industry records tumbling even though the manufacturers are having a tough time to meet output goals.
Last month, Air India sealed deals for a record 470 jets from both Airbus and Boeing and has plans to lease another 25 for immediate requirements, bringing the acquisition to 495 planes.
Top sources in budget airline Akasa Air told Reuters last month it would place a “substantially” large order for new narrow-body jets this year.
Industry publication CAPA recently reported that IndiGo was looking at around 500 jets as Air India made its own deal.
Indian aviation has been plagued in the past by factors such as airline failures and weak infrastructure and while analysts have cautioned against market overheating again, major aircraft-leasing company Avolon has said consolidation and airport upgrades have bettered the outlook and India is set to remain a major source of growth.
