Air India Ltd. ordered 470 jets from Boeing Co. BA 1.30%increase; green up pointing triangleAirbus EADSY 0.87%increase; green up pointing triangle
The airline said it has agreed to purchase 250 Airbus jets and 220 Boeing
The Boeing orders, based on the planes’ list prices, came in at $45.9 billion, including options. Airbus no longer quotes list prices for its jets. Based on analysts’ estimates, the deal’s total value was around $85 billion before discounts. The previous record—a 2013 order for Boeing 777X jets by Emirates Airline—was valued at about $75 billion. Airlines don’t typically pay list price, instead benefiting from large, undisclosed discounts.
The Boeing order was first announced by the White House, with the Airbus deal unveiled by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron at a joint press conference. President Biden later discussed the deal with Mr. Modi, according to the White House.
Airbus, buoyed by the Air India deal, is planning to boost production rates of its two biggest models as it tries to capitalize on resurgent demand for long-haul travel, The Wall Street Journal separately reported. Boeing has pushed back planned production increases because of supplier shortages, though it still hopes to raise output this year.
The airline industry went into near hibernation during stretches of the pandemic, only to emerge unable to cope with all the customers clamoring for seats once travel restrictions eased.
Airlines and airports had to boost hiring as they struggled through a tumultuous summer of long lines, delays, cancellations and lost luggage. At the same time, carriers have been bingeing on new jets, taxing the assembly lines of Airbus and Boeing.
Both plane makers increased their number of deliveries in 2022 from the prior year. Airbus handed over 661 aircraft to customers, up 8%, while Boeing boosted deliveries by 41% to 480 commercial jets.
It marked the fourth consecutive year that Airbus handed over more planes, a streak that came after decades of Boeing leading the commercial-aircraft market. Airbus has been steadily building market share, and Boeing was upended after the twin crashes of its 737 MAX jets, which pushed the company into the biggest crisis in its history.
In its statement announcing the deal, the White House broke down the Boeing order: 190 of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets; 20 787 Dreamliners; and 10 of its 777X planes. The deal includes options for 50 MAX jets and 20 Dreamliners.
Airbus’s order came in at 210 A320 narrow-body jets and 40 of the plane maker’s largest airliner in production, the A350 wide-body.
Air India was privatized last year and has a fleet of around 100 jets, most of them leased. While both plane makers took a broadly even share of the order, it marked the first time Airbus broke into Air India’s fleet of wide-body jets. Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer billed the wide-body component as a coup.
“This is not a foot in the door,” Mr. Scherer said. “This is our full body in the door at Air India.”
Air India’s first batch of A350s will arrive later this year, Mr. Scherer said. Those models had originally been earmarked for Russia’s Aeroflot-Russian Airlines PJSC before the start of the war in Ukraine and sanctions on aircraft sales.
Boeing didn’t give details on when its planes would start to be delivered, and said its order had yet to be completed.
Airbus is planning to increase its so-called build rate for its currently produced wide-body aircraft, the A350 and the A330neo, according to people familiar with the matter. An announcement could come as early as this week, the people said, cautioning that a decision has yet to be made final.
Airbus and Boeing cut jet production at the onset of the pandemic, when travel restrictions and border closures brought international traffic to a near standstill and airlines were clamoring to cancel and defer aircraft orders.
Boeing shares rose 1.3% Tuesday, while Airbus’s stock added 0.3% in Paris trading.
Air India, owned by India’s Tata Group, has been negotiating its twin deals with Airbus and Boeing for months as it looks to secure delivery slots from both companies. The carrier wants to win back some of the traffic it has lost—in particular to Gulf rivals, including Qatar Airways and Emirates, which have dominated routes ferrying Indian passengers across the globe.
Boeing has forecast India to be the fastest-growing aviation market in the world over the next two decades, with the country’s carriers expanding rapidly to meet a surge in demand. The plane maker expects India to require about 2,210 new aircraft over the next 20 years. That will be driven predominantly by demand for smaller aircraft to feed a domestic market that Boeing forecasts will double by the end of the decade.
Indian carriers have expanded internationally with the help of their continued operation through Russian airspace, cutting travel times. Chinese carriers also continue to fly through Russia. Airlines from many other countries stopped following last year’s invasion of Ukraine.
Comments