Air India buys 85 Airbus jets, may add Boeing jets, sources say

By Tim Hepher and Aditi Shah

PARIS/DELHI (Reuters) -Air India is continuing a dramatic turnaround by placing a new order for 85 Airbus planes and could buy more Boeing (NYSE:) jets on top of an historic order for European and U.S. jets last year, industry sources said.

The Airbus order emerged in a routine industry update as the national carrier mourned the death of the former chairman of parent Tata Group, business and aviation pioneer Ratan Tata.

Airbus said late on Wednesday an unnamed customer had placed an order for 75 A320-family jets and 10 long-haul A350s.

Three sources said that Air India was the airline behind the order. Two of the sources said Air India was also in talks for a potential top-up order from Boeing.

Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Airbus deal, first reported by Bloomberg News.

Airbus, whose routine monthly bulletin was published shortly before Tata announced the death of its former chairman at the age of 86, declined comment on any talks with customers.

Boeing did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Ratan Tata took over from the Tata conglomerate’s former chairman and founder of Air India, J.R.D. Tata in 1991 and served as chairman for over 20 years.

The trained pilot was involved in the development of Vistara, a joint venture with Singapore Airlines (OTC:), and AirAsia India. Following his retirement, Tata Group took back ownership of Air India after nearly 70 years of public control.

“While admittedly it will take considerable effort to rebuild Air India, it will hopefully provide a very strong market opportunity to the Tata Group’s presence in the aviation industry,” Ratan Tata said on X in 2021.

Air India is now in the midst of a multi-billion-dollar revamp to restore a once prestigious brand.

Last year, it agreed to buy 470 jets as part of the project to restore its fortunes under its founding Tata Group, which regained control in 2022 after decades of public ownership.

The order, the largest at the time by a single airline, was split between 250 planes from Airbus and 220 from Boeing, with neither planemaker having the capacity to sweep the whole order.

Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer Nipun Aggarwal, who led the secret London negotiations, was later quoted as saying Air India had also negotiated a total of 370 options and purchase rights from Airbus and Boeing on top of the main order.

Air India said last year that it had options for 70 Boeing jets but did not publish a breakdown for Airbus.