Air India Likely To Acquire 30 Wide-Body Jets Worth $10 Billion, Says Rolls-Royce

Airbus and Boeing both have started talks with Tata Group for Air India about an order for a raft of new jet planes

Both A350-900s and 787-9 Dreamliners could be on the anvil for Air India. Image: Getty

New Delhi: Air India, which is now owned by the Tatas, is looking at buying as many as 30 wide-body aircraft, said Rolls-Royce Holdings.  

According to a report in Bloomberg, Rolls-Royce Holdings, the enginemaker for Airbus SE’s A350 jets, said this order will allow the Air India to aggressively pursue international growth.

Chris Davie, a senior vice president in Asia Pacific for Rolls-Royce Holdings, told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the airshow in Hyderabad, “I think they are looking at something up to 30 aircraft, could be as big as that, which is a big order. A really big order.”

According to the report, an order for 30 A350-100 jets could be valued at $9.5 billion at 2018 sticker prices, although large discounts are common in big plane purchases. Based on prices provided by aircraft appraiser Avitas Inc., the market value of 30 such jets in 2021 was $4.5 billion.

However, Davie declined to comment on a timeline for any potential order, but said his team has accompanied Airbus officials when the planemaker flew an A350 to multiple Indian cities showcasing the jet.

The European jet manufacturer has doubled down on efforts to sell its A350 jets to local carriers in recent days, with a specific eye on Air India. The airline, which under its new owners, the country’s largest conglomerate, needs to revamp its fleet of Boeing 777 jets to take on its profitable local rivals such as Indigo and Spicejet.

Airbus and Boeing both have started talks with Tata Group for Air India about an order for a raft of new jets planes.

Those discussions involved both A350-900s and 787-9 Dreamliners. Boeing dominates the wide-body fleet in India while Airbus doesn’t have a single active customer.

Singapore-based Davie’s visit to India was aimed at meeting key players in the Indian market and to hold discussions with Air India and Tata Sons that bought the chronically unprofitable airline from the government earlier this year.