By In June, Air India was negotiating with Airbus and Boeing for a major new aircraft purchase, which could include around 200 additional narrow-body planes
Air India is in talks with Airbus and Boeing to buy 300 more wide-body jets as part of its plan to expand its fleet under the Tata Group, Reuters reported. According to the report, the discussions include 80 to 100 wide-body aircraft, in addition to earlier talks for 200 narrow-body jets and 25-30 wide-body planes.
In June, Air India was negotiating with Airbus and Boeing for a major new aircraft purchase, which could include around 200 additional narrow-body planes, adding to a large deal made in 2023. This followed earlier discussions in March regarding 25-30 wide-body jets, according to Reuters.
ISources told Reuters that as part of its plan to rebrand itself as a modern global airline under the Tata Group, Air India is now considering acquiring around 300 more aircraft. It is not yet clear how many of these would be firm orders versus options.
The potential order would likely be divided between Airbus and Boeing, though the final allocation has not been decided, one source added. The talks come as Air India is working to recover from the Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad in June, which claimed 260 lives.
Air India’s AIFS secures $215 mn loan
Meanwhile, Air India’s aircraft leasing subsidiary AI Fleet Services IFSC (AIFS) on Wednesday secured a $215 million seven-year term loan from Standard Chartered and Bank of India to finance six Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which will be leased to Air India.
The loan marks the first commercial aircraft finance transaction with a GIFT City borrower. Standard Chartered acted as the structuring bank, while both banks jointly served as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.
The funding will support Air India’s fleet renewal and expansion programme.
