Air India under Tata Group to order around 500 planes

As the airline industry recovery takes hold following the pandemic, Air India is set to order around 500 planes.

"As a result of this recovery, there is now more momentum for large orders from airlines who have sort of sat back and watched the movie, and now they're seeing there's going to be a positive trend," said Steven Udvar-Hazy, executive chairman of AirLease Corp.

"We have this 500-aircraft order coming out of India, which is going to be about 400 narrow-body aircraft, probably a mix of (Airbus) A320neos, A321neos and (Boeing) 737 MAXs, and 100 wide-bodies which will include (Boeing) 787s, 777X, potentially some 777 freighters and (Airbus) A350s,” he further added.

As Air India carves out a renaissance under the Tata Group conglomerate, industry sources say finalising the proposed deal depends on ongoing negotiations with engine makers.

"We do expect a number of airlines will place large orders and again most of these orders will be for replacement," Udvar-Hazy said. "We expect that both OEMs will be under pressure in the next couple of years to increase production rates, not necessarily back to the levels they were in 2018, but certainly well above current production."

United Airlines recently ordered 200 large and small aircraft. China last year placed a block order for Airbus jets.