Airbus agrees on 250 plane deal with Air India as part of jumbo order -sources

By Aditi Shah and Tim Hepher

BENGALURU/PARIS, Feb 10 (Reuters) – French planemaker Airbus AIR.PA on Friday signed an agreement with Air India for 250 jets, as part of the Indian carrier’s jumbo deal under its new owners, Tata Group, industry sources told Reuters.

The deal, which includes 210 single-aisle A320neo family planes and 40 widebody A350s, could be announced as early as next week, the sources said.

This is part of a potentially record order for close to 500 jets split equally between Airbus and rival planemaker Boeing BA.N, which was first reported by Reuters in December. At list prices, the deal could easily top $100 billion.

Airbus declined to comment. Air India did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment outside of regular business hours.

It was not immediately clear to what extent the numbers in the agreement included options which could change the total tally when the final orders are in.

While the Airbus figure is slightly lower than the 275 originally envisaged, sources did not rule out a provision by Air India for top-up acquisitions or leases at a later point.

Boeing signed agreements for its 220-plane share of the deal on Jan. 27, a date that marks a year since Tata regained ownership of the former state-run carrier, sources told Reuters. The deal includes 190 narrowbody 737 MAX jets, and 30 widebodies split between 20 787s and 10 777Xs.

The order reflects Air India’s strategy to re-capture a solid share of trips between India’s large overseas diaspora and cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, dominated mainly by Gulf rivals such as Emirates with its young, modern fleet.

Air India also wants to win a bigger share of regional international traffic and the domestic market, setting up a battle on both fronts with IndiGo.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah and Tim Hepher; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)

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