• Indian airlines have built up an order book of over 1,100 aircraft. It is a series of developments in the world's fastest growing aviation market. Air India and Indigo account for the majority of the total orders.
Tata Group-backed Air India's mega order of 470 aircraft has become the frontrunner for growth in the Indian aviation market. This has raised many hopes with large orders from other domestic carriers. Orders for more than 1,100 aircraft are in line. This is expected to reduce the dependence on international carriers and increase the number of passengers on domestic carriers, which will increase the demand.
Air India has signed letter of intent with two major aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing. Under the deal, Air India will acquire around 250 fleets from Airbus and 220 fleets from Boeing.
According to the statement, the A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines and the B777/787s by GE Aerospace's engines. All single-aisle aircraft will be powered by CFM International's engines.
Following the order, GE Aerospace's country head, South Asia and Indonesia, Vikram Rai told PTI that India has the potential to grow on both wide-body and narrow-body lines.
Additionally, the country's largest airline in terms of market share, IndiGo is already set to take delivery of around 500 aircraft, while GoFirst will add 72 aircraft to its fleet size. New entrant Akasa Air is also in line to receive 56 aircraft, and Air India owner Vistara, another carrier, also has orders for 17 aircraft. SpiceJet also has aircraft on order. These are narrow body aircraft.
Considering the above, Indian carriers are set to receive 1,115 aircraft including the latest huge order from Air India.
Rai highlighted that, in India, pre-Covid traffic brought in around 75 million international passengers. And out of this total, around 60-65% passengers used foreign carriers.
He believes that with India's economy growing and disposable income increasing, there is a huge potential for Indians to travel abroad---and this 75 million travelers is expected to go up to 120-125 million in the next 7-10 years. There is a possibility.
V Thulasidas, who was the chief of Air India from December 2003 to March 2008, said in relation to Air India's order that the country which now has world-class airports can serve as a hub. He believes that Air India has secured its growth plans for at least the next 10 years.
Talking about the dependence on foreign carriers, Ajay Sawhney, partner at law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas told the news agency, "From a connectivity point of view, Indians have been relying heavily on Emirates, Etihad and Qatar for the last few years, and Air India's latest order is meant to strengthen the Star Alliance community, which in turn will give Indian as well as Southeast Asian travelers more choice in Europe and the US, and perhaps at better pricing points.
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