Paris air show: India centre stage as another big jet deal looms

Indian carriers continue to steal the spotlight at the Paris Air Show where around 3,000 jet orders are up for grabs in a fast rebounding commercial airline market.

Following the historic 500-plane deal Airbus announced with Indian airline IndiGo on day one, Air India is close to finalise a massive order for 470 planes from the European manufacturer and its transatlantic rival Boeing.

Indian carriers now have the second-largest order book, with an over 6.0 per cent share of the industry backlog, behind only the United States, according to a June 1 report by Barclays.

Air India's provisional deal included 250 planes from Airbus and 220 from Boeing. The Airbus part comprised 210 A320neo narrow-bodies and 40 A350 wide bodies, while the Boeing deal was for 190 737 MAX, 20 787 Dreamliners and 10 mini-jumbo 777X.

On Monday, IndiGo co-founder Rahul Bhatia made history by placing the largest order ever by an Indian airline — for 500 Airbus A320 family single aisle aircraft worth almost $50 billion at list price — at the show where he had ordered the airline’s first 100 A320s 18 years ago. The order is also the largest-ever single aircraft purchase by any airline globally with Airbus.

IndiGo, India’s largest budget airline, has 480 planes yet to be delivered from previous orders which will be delivered at the end of this decade. The latest order for another 500 on top of them “will provide a further steady stream of deliveries between 2030 and 2035,” says the airline. Since its inception in 2006, IndiGo has so far ordered a total of 1,330 Airbus aircraft.

(From left) Celeris Technologies Chairman Venkataramani Sumantran, InterGlobe Enterprises chief executive officer Rahul Bhatia, Airbus chief executive officer Guillaume Faury, IndiGo chief executive officer Pieter Elbers, Airbus chief commercial officer Christian Scherer posing with model aeroplanes during a contract signing ceremony on the opening day of the International Paris Air Show on Monday. — AFP

UK-based consultancy IBA predicts orders for between 2,100 and 3,000 aircraft at the airshow this year.

“Over the past few weeks, we have been focusing heavily on supply chain, order rumors, regional growth, ESG, rising costs, failures pointing the blame at reliability, and strengthening airline results,” said Stuart Hatcher, chief economist at IBA. However, the uncertainty created by “unfeasibly long backlogs and lead times” made it difficult for airlines to place orders if they did not know what their competitors were doing, he said.

Besides the IndiGo order, IBA highlighted commitments already announced by Air India for 470 aircraft plus 70 options, a mix of 78 Boeing 787s with 43 on option for new Saudi flag carrier Riyadh Air and incumbent Saudia, and Ryanair’s MoU for 150 Boeing 737 Max 10s and 150 on option.

Boeing in its latest projection -- released on Sunday ahead of the airshow -slightly raised its annual 20-year forecast for new jetliner deliveries. The US plane-maker expects airlines will need to buy 42,595 jets from now until 2042, up from 41,170 planes in its previous 20-year forecast in 2022, but still lower than the 43,610 new jets that were predicted as part of the market outlook in 2021, when Russian aircraft demand was factored in.

Airbus raised its 20-year forecast for new airplane deliveries, but tempered its predictions for growth in the global airline fleet as carriers focus on replacing older jets. The planemaker predicted 40,850 deliveries, up from 39,490 in its previous 20-year forecast issued last year. It lifted its forecast for freighter deliveries to 920 from 890 jets. That implies 39,930 passenger plane deliveries, of which Airbus said 80 per cent would typically be served by single-aisle jets.

• Business