Not just Air India, Akasa and IndiGo, more Indian airlines set to bag mega plane orders

According to Nipun Aggarwal, the Chief Commercial & Transformation Officer at Air India, the airline has factored in the purchase of aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. However, only 470 aircraft are on firm order and 370 would be purchased on an optional basis.

Interestingly, this is Air India’s first order in more than 17 years, is also the largest so far by an Indian carrier as well as one of the largest single aircraft orders in the world. Air India with the new planes in its fleet is looking to expand its operations in both domestic and overseas markets.

India's largest carrier IndiGo, on the other hand, is expected to lead with an order of around 500 planes. IndiGo recently stated that in the December quarter of FY22, the airline added 22 passenger aircraft (net of deliveries) to reach the 300 aircraft mark.

"It is indeed a great milestone in our journey, and we will continue to take further deliveries from our large order book of 500 aircraft,” it added.

The newly launched Akasa Air, which has taken delivery of 17 Boeing 737 MAX planes out of a total order of 72 jets, has revealed its plans to place a substantially large order for new narrow-body jets by the end of 2023.

Vinay Dube, CEO of Akasa Air, said, “Before the end of this year we are going to place another aircraft order that is going to be substantially larger than the 72 aircraft order we have placed.”

Go First, earlier known as Go Air, has 72 planes on order while Vistara is to receive 17 more Boeing planes.

According to the aircraft maker Boeing’s latest projection, India is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world and will require around 2,210 new planes in the next two decades. It also said that the annual domestic air traffic is likely to grow nearly 7 per cent through 2041.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on February 14, said the country's growing aviation sector would need over 2,000 aircraft in the next 15 years. Aviation consultancy CAPA had also hinted that the Indian carriers are likely to place orders for 1,500 to 1,700 planes in the next one to two years.

CAPA, in its report, highlighted that the total commercial Indian fleet of around 700 aircraft is smaller than some of the world's largest individual airlines and that given the immense potential that exists, it stands to reason that there is a need to induct more aircraft.