Air India’s chief executive officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson announced on Monday that the record-breaking order of 470 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing will be at a list price of $70 billion. As per the CEO, the deal will be financed using internal cash flow, equity and sale and leaseback, Bloomberg reported.
Aircraft from the new order will join Air India’s existing fleet at the end of this year and this will continue through the end of this decade. The Tata-owned airline expects the order to aid in transformation of its fleet and power major network and capacity growth, as per its CEO. Additionally, Wilson also said that Air India has ‘enormous’ potential and that the airline is working towards becoming a significant international player.
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When asked about the integration of Air India with Vistara, Wilson stated that the procedure is in motion and is currently seeking approval of Competition Commission of India (CCI). He added that the merger of Air India Express and AIX Connect, formerly known as AirAsia India, is also in the pipeline.
On February 14, Air India had announced its historic deals of acquiring 470 planes, including 70 wide-body aircraft. This consisted of an order of 250 aircraft from European manufacturer Airbus and another 220 planes from American plane maker Boeing.
The deal also included an option to purchase an additional 370 aircraft at a later point in time. Regarding this, Wilson said that the company does not have a fixed timeline and that it will evaluate the market condition before arriving at a decision.
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