People aware of the company’s functioning said that the airline, over a period of one year, held tough negotiations with aircraft and engine manufacturers at London. The Air India team was led by Air India Chief Commercial Officer Nipun Aggarwal, head of aircraft acquisition Yogesh Agarwal and Tata Sons executive Pranay Todi- all investment banking professional and part of past marquee Tata Sons acquisitions
The airline has opted for multiple types of wide body aircraft. The reason being an availability of multiple types will help it be more versatile in its network planning.
The Airbus order is for 210 narrow-body planes, including 120 A320 Neos and 40 A321 Neos, as well as 40 wide-body A350-1000 and A350-900 aircraft. The Boeing order includes 190 737 Max aircraft, 20 787-900s and 10 777s with an option to buy an additional 50 737 Max planes and 20 787s. The aircraft will be delivered over a period of eight to 10 years.
The new aircraft will be used to replace the current fleet of 27 787-8s, 13 777-300 ERs which have been used for the last nine and 13 years.
AgenciesTata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, Chief Commercial Officer Nipun Aggarwal with Jason Tonich, Vice President and General Manager of Global Sales & Marketing GE Aviation and Vikram Rai, Country Head of GE Aviation in South Asia
While the rationale in the aviation industry has been to maintain commonality between aircraft types, Air India has opted for four variants in the wide body category like A350-900, A350-1000, 787-9 and 777-9. The 70 wide body aircraft will fly with Air India while the 400 narrow body will be divided between Air India and its low cost arm Air India Express The medium haul 787-9 will cater for Air India’s expansion to Europe and the A350 will be used for increasing footprint in US and Australia.Having sub-fleet types will make network optimisation easy for the airline. For instance, the ultra-long haul A350-1000 will also allow the airline to launch direct flights to West coast from Bengaluru and Mumbai which the airline currently operates with the older ex-Delta 777-200 LR. “The decision to lease the ex-Delta aircraft on short term was to capitalise on the high yield prevailing on US routes. These are fuel guzzlers and hence will be replaced by the A350-900 as they start arriving by second half of 2023,” the source said.
Similarly having the A350-900 and the 787-9 can alternate on long haul routes depending on traffic potential. The A350-900 compared to the Boeing 787-9 is a larger machine and has higher capacity. “ The A350-900 can be used on hub to hub destinations like Delhi to New York while the 787-9 can be used to open routes which has less traffic potential. “ The A350-900 due to its high capacity can be used for slot constrained airports like London or New York,” a person involved in the airline’s network planning said.
The airline also hedged its bet for the 777-9 as the aircraft faces issue with certification with option for 20 more A350-1000s
“A lot of thinking went behind the selection of aircraft keeping in mind the destinations the airline intends to operate, the traffic potential. The airline also has the option to tweak types of the aircraft and looking at the performance will decide future deliveries,” the person quoted above said.
The 400 narrow body A320, A321 and 737 Max on the other hand will be used to increase the group’s market share on the domestic routes where it intends to be a close second to current market leader IndiGo.
While 50 Boeing 737 Max will be delivered within 18 months, the A320Neo will start only from 2026. Altogether, Tata Group airlines have a fleet of 220 aircraft, compared with IndiGo which has an active fleet of 308 aircraft and will grow to almost 400 aircraft by then.
“To close the gap with IndiGo, it is necessary to have a substantial aircraft delivery pipeline. Airbus A320 Neos were not available before 2026 while Boeing was ready to supply immediately,” the person quoted above said.
