Air India makes short-term fleet decisions

According to the Economy Times of India, Air India has made short-term fleet decisions to cope with the increase of passenger demand as well as replacing older and inefficient aircraft in the fleet.

The airline is set to lease 25 Airbus A320neos from various lessors, the first of which is set to arrive in the first half of next year. Next to that, Air India is planning to lease six B777-200(ER or LR)s for a period of two years until new widebodies can be delivered. The six B777s should all be former Delta Air Lines-aircraft and the first is set to arrive in October this year. The airline will utilize the B777s mainly on its routes to the United States.

Subsidiary Air India Express will expand the fleet with five B737-800s, which are being transferred from Vistara, the other airline owned by Tata. With this transfer, Vistara will return to being an Airbus-only operator for its narrowbody-fleet.

While these leases will cover Air India's short-term needs, the airline is still in negotiations for a 200 aircraft-strong order for both narrowbodies and widebodies. Last June, we reported that the airline was close to a large order for the Airbus A350 but this order has not materialized (yet).

Photo by Airbus.