IndiGo orders 300 Airbus A320 Neo planes worth $33 bn
30 Oct 2019
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Budget carrier IndiGo, currently India’s largest airline, is buying 300 Airbus A320 Neo family aircraft worth about $33 billion (about Rs2,34,000 crore) at list price, in what could be the largest order ever from a single operator for the European aerospace major.
IndiGo on Tuesday announced it has placed a firm order for 300 A320neo family aircraft, comprising A320neos, A321neos and A321XLRs.
The airline, however, did not disclose the value of the order.
IndiGo has a current fleet of 247 aircraft, including 89 new generation A320 NEOs, 129 A320 CEOs, 22 ATRs and 7 A321 NEO. With the new order, IndiGo’s total number of A320neo family aircraft order stands at 730, the airline said in a statement.
"This order is an important milestone. India is expected to continue with its strong aviation growth and we are well on our way to serve more customers and deliver on our promise of providing low fares, among others," said Ronojoy Dutta, chief executive officer, IndiGo.
IndiGo had, in October 2019, placed orders for 300 A320 Neo family planes worth $33 billion after placing orders for 250 A320 Neo family planes worth $26.5 billion in August 2015; orders for 180 A320s, including 150 Neos, worth $15 billion in January 2011; and orders for 100 A320 planes worth $6 billion in June 2005.
The latest order takes IndiGo's total number of A320 Neo family order to 730 planes, comprising a mix of A320 Neo,
While all the old-gen A320s have been received and will be phased out, 335 aircraft from the earlier orders are yet to be delivered. With 300 more ordered, the total number of IndiGo's yet-to-be-delivered planes now stand at 635.
This means that the airline will get one plane a week till the completion of this order over the next 12 years.
"We have a very strong balance sheet, which allows us to remain committed to our strategy of growth and expansion… We have more growth opportunities than we can meet with our existing fleet of aircraft. The Airbus 320neo family is ideally suited to our needs… As we spread our wings and add more destinations, we need to extend the range of our operations and that is why we have added the A321XLR aircraft to our aircraft order," IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta told employees in an email.
"We are delighted that IndiGo, one of our early launch customers for the A320 Neo, continues to build its future with Airbus, making IndiGo the world's biggest customer for the A320 Neo family. We are grateful for this strong vote of confidence as this order confirms the A320 Neo family as the aircraft of choice in the most dynamic aviation growth markets. We are pleased to see our aircraft allowing IndiGo to take full advantage of the predicted growth in Indian air travel," Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said.
At the end of September 2019, Airbus has received over 6,650 firm orders for the A320 Neo family from 110 customers worldwide with IndiGo being the biggest customer.
The record-breaking order for Airbus comes at a time when main rival, US major Boeing, is struggling to make its grounded B737 Max fly again after two deadly crashes.
IndiGo is India’s largest passenger airline with a market share of 48.2% as of September, 2019.
The airline primarily operates in India’s domestic air travel market as a low-cost carrier.
IndiGo flies to 83 destinations, including 60 domestic destinations and 23 International. It also has codeshare arrangements for destinations beyond Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. The destinations include, Athens, Budapest, Brussels, Tel Aviv, Malta, Paris, Dublin, Copenhagen, Prague, Vienna, Zurich, Amsterdam, London Gatwick and London Heathrow.
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