NEW DELHI, June 19: India’s largest airline IndiGo has announced a 500-aircraft deal with French aerospace manufacturer Airbus, a record in aviation history. The agreement has topped the 470-aircraft deal recently signed by Air India and sparks a race to capitalise on India’ growing base of fliers and vast expat population.
The deal was signed on Monday at the Paris Air Show in the presence of Chairman of the Board of IndiGo V Sumantran, CEO of IndiGo Pieter Elbers, CEO of Airbus Guillaume Faury, and, Airbus’ Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International Christian Scherer.
The order for 500 A320 Family aircraft sets the “record for the biggest single purchase agreement in the history of commercial aviation,” Airbus said in a statement. “The latest agreement takes the total number of Airbus aircraft on order by IndiGo to 1,330, establishing its position as the world’s biggest A320 Family customer,” added the statement from Airbus.
“It is difficult to overstate the significance of IndiGo’s new historic order for 500 Airbus A320 Family aircraft. An order book now of almost 1000 aircraft well into the next decade, enables IndiGo to fulfill its mission to continue to boost economic growth, social cohesion and mobility in India,” Airbus quoted IndiGo chief Pieter Elbers as saying.
This will provide IndiGo a further steady stream of deliveries between 2030 and 2035. The airline did not specify the exact mix of A320 and A321 aircraft that comprise the A320 family but said that the order book consists of A320 New Engine Options (NEO), A321NEO and A321XLR aircraft.
This 500 aircraft order is not only IndiGo’s largest order but also the largest-ever single aircraft purchase by any airline with Airbus,” a statement from IndiGo said.
In February, after its acquisition by the Tata Group, Air India had signed a 470-aircraft deal with Boeing at a price of $70 billion. At the time, its chief Campbell Wilson had said it was a move meant to “transform the fleet and power significant network and capacity expansion.”
With its fleet of over 300 aircraft, IndiGo is currently operating over 1.800 flights a day and connects 78 domestic destinations and over 20 international destinations. It also has orders that are yet to be delivered, taking up the current strength of its fleet to 480.
(Manas Dasgupta)