Air India Will Add 30 New Aircraft To Its Fleet

In what would be its first major expansion since being acquired by Tata Group less than eight months ago, Air India announced on Monday that it will add 30 new aircraft in the coming months, increasing its fleet by more than 25%. The airline has agreed to lease or sign letters of intent for 25 Airbus narrow-body planes and five Boeing wide-body planes. These will go into service in late 2022. Its current fleet consists of 113 planes, 87 of which are operational (77%).

There are 21 Airbus A320neos, four Airbus A321neos, and five Boeing B777-200LRs being leased. This fleet addition will assist Air India in meeting its capacity needs in the short term, as its plans to purchase 200 new planes will take time because both Boeing and Airbus have full order books.

Air India has not purchased a single aircraft since 2006, when it placed orders for 68 Boeing and 43 Airbus planes. According to the company, ten long-grounded narrow-body and six wide-body aircraft have been returned to service and will join the operational fleet in early 2023.

Air India also stated that the B777-200LRs will join the fleet between December 2022 and March 2023, and will be used on routes connecting Indian cities to the United States. There has been a significant increase in demand for the US-India sector since the resumption of regular flights following the relaxation of the Covid-19 restrictions, but no route expansion has occurred because Air India, the largest international carrier, is in the process of being sold.