- Tata Group-owned Air India Ltd. is looking at buying approximately 30 widebody aircrafts.
- The order for 30 A350-100 jets’ estimated value is about $9.5 billion at 2018 sticker prices. The market value of 30 such jets in the year 2021 was approximately $4.5 billion.
Tata Group-owned Air India Ltd. is looking at buying approximately 30 widebody aircrafts, the enginemaker for Airbus SE’s A350 jets said. The order will allow the airline to pursue international growth strongly.
The valuation of 30 A350-100 jets
The order for 30 A350-100 jets is estimated to be valued at about $9.5 billion at 2018 sticker prices, but big discounts are very common in huge plane purchases. According to prices given by aircraft appraiser Avitas Inc, the market value of 30 such jets in the year 2021 was approximately $4.5 billion.
Davie refused to comment on a timeline for any prospective order although he did say that his team had accompanied Airbus officials when the planemaker flew an A350 to multiple Indian cities showcasing the jet. The planemaker is significantly increasing its efforts to sell the A350 jets to local carriers in recent days, with a specific interest in Air India. The airline under its new owners has become India’s largest conglomerate and the company needs to revamp its fleet of Boeing 777 jets to compete with its profitable local rivals such as Indigo and Spicejet Ltd.
Airbus and Boeing Co. are talking to Air India’s new owners
Airbus and Boeing Co. are currently talking with the new owners of Air India about an order for a raft of new jets, according to reports from last month. The discussions are about both A350-900s and 787-9 Dreamliners. Boeing dominates the widebody fleet in India and on the other hand Airbus doesn’t have a single active customer.
Singapore-based Davie’s visit to India was with the goal of meeting key players in the Indian market, and to have discussions with Air India and Tata Sons Pvt., the $103 billion salt-to-software conglomerate that bought the airline that had been unprofitable since a long time from the government earlier this year.