Airbus inching closer to 500 jets order from IndiGo after historic Air India deal: Report  

European planemaker Airbus is inching towards a potential record deal to sell 500 narrow-body A320 family jets to low-cost carrier IndiGo. Airbus has emerged as a front-runner for this order after Air India’s historical provisional purchase of 470 Airbus jets in February this year, Reuters reported citing industry sources speaking at the sidelines of an industry meet in Istanbul.  

Aircraft experts told Reuters that the deal could well be worth over $50 billion at the recent Airbus list prices but would be worth less than half this price after factoring in airline industry discounts for bulk deals. IndiGo is one of Airbus’ largest customers and has ordered total 830 Airbus A320-family jets so far, of which nearly 500 are still to be delivered.   

Also read: Air India’s historic aircraft order may turn it into aviation sector's growth agent: Scindia

Airbus is competing with its US-based counterpart Boeing in separate talks to sell 25 A320neo or Boeing 787 wide-body jets to the same airline. IndiGo was in talks with Airbus and Boeing for the multi-billion jets order, which, if confirmed, will be the largest aircraft deal by a single airline. IndiGo has a 56 per cent share of the Indian aviation market.  

Through this order, IndiGo is looking to double its capacity by the end of the decade and expand its network especially in international markets. The air carrier also has a codeshare partnership with seven carriers including American Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and KLM.  

The recent IndiGo order with Airbus comes at a time when India, world’s third largest aviation market, is seeing a strong rebound in travel post-COVID and surging passenger numbers despite high fares.  IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, however, refused to comment on commercial matters at the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual meeting in Istanbul.  

(With Reuters inputs) 

Also read: Nairobi, Kenya, Jakarta, Indonesia and more: IndiGo set to expand international connectivity with 6 new destinations

Watch: WTC Final 2023: Rohit Sharma-led India vs Pat Cummins-led Australia in ICC World Test Championship, Playing XI, Squad, Venue, Dates, Timing, Live Streaming, Pitch, Weather, india new cricket jersey