Air India's historic order for 470 aircraft, signed on February 14 and shared between Airbus and Boeing, could quickly be surpassed. According to Reuters, another Indian airline, the low-cost IndiGo and its 50% market share in the subcontinent, is finalizing negotiations for the order of 500 aircraft. Never seen before.
According to the agency, the lucky winner would be the European manufacturer Airbus, which is already the sole supplier of IndiGo, with a total of 820 medium-haul A 320, of which 488 still have to be delivered. The discussions would again concern A320s.
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The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, had evoked last February negotiations between the two parties on "several hundred aircraft", "exceptional contracts, as there are nowhere else in the world". In March, Reuters unveiled other discussions for aircraft, this time long-haul, where Airbus (A330 Neo) and Boeing (Dreamliner 787) would compete.
These massive fleet renewals illustrate the prospects for the Indian aviation market. If the latter had 166 million passengers last year, three-quarters for domestic flights, this figure should reach 641 million travelers by 2041, according to an Airbus study. Another study by the Centre for Aviation mentions 1500 to 1,700 aircraft orders over two years for Indian companies. At the same time, the country is improving its infrastructure with the construction of new airports and the expansion of the New Delhi hub. Its capacity will increase from 70 million to 100 million passengers per year by the end of the year. The French group ADP acquired in 2020 a 49% stake in this airport, as well as those of Goa and Hyderabad.
