Airbus Wins Largest Commercial Aircraft Order In History With IndiGo’s 500-Plane Order

Forbes ^ | 19 Jun 23 | Molly Bohannon

[Erik Latranyi]

Airbus, a European aerospace company, announced a deal Monday to sell 500 single-aisle planes to IndiGo, India’s largest airline, in what is now the biggest plane deal in history.

The agreement will make IndiGo the world’s biggest A320 Family—the Airbus aircraft line that is one of the best-selling in the world—customer, bringing the total number of Airbus aircraft IndiGo has ordered to 1,330.

Neither of the two companies released financial details of the sale when announcing it at the Paris Air Show, though Reuters reported it’s a “multibillion-dollar deal” and the aircraft will be received between 2030 and 2035.

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said in a press release the order will enable the company to fulfill “its mission to continue to boost economic growth, social cohesion and mobility in India,” which just recently surpassed China as the most populous country in the world.

“This landmark order … is democratising affordable air travel for millions of people in the world’s fastest growing aviation market,” said Christian Scherer, chief commercial officer and head of international at Airbus.

[Erik Latranyi]

Another example of India's rise as a new economic power on the world stage.

[Rummyfan]

How did Boeing miss out on this?!

[Vaquero]

Boeing is toxic after 737 Max and failed space launch system

[ealgeone]

Boeing has Indians working for them. Their quality is slipping.

[ealgeone]

I’d argue the 18,000 B-24s ordered for WW2 would be a bigger contract.

[nwrep]

Congrats to them for going for a superior company instead of a garbage, accident-prone Boeing.

[Yo-Yo]

Indian "value" airlines have a long history of making huge airplane deals then going bankrupt.

India's Go First filed for bankruptcy in May of this year after placing an order for 54 aircraft in 2021.

[chajin]

Airbus, a European aerospace company, announced a deal Monday to sell 500 single-aisle planes to IndiGo, India’s largest airline, in what is now the biggest plane deal in history.

Well, as long as they aren't built with a bomb bay.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Air India purchased 470 aircraft in February.

[McCarthysGhost]

Something tells me that Airbus doesn’t do all of that affirmative action/DEI hiring. Boeing on the other hand...

[Erik Latranyi]

Boeing only offers 2 versions of the 737 Max that are not as efficient nor as reliable as the Airbus 320 Neo series.

Boeing has sacrificed the single aisle aircraft market to Airbus.

[rdcbn1]

Yup. How many of those 500 that actually get built is an open question. How many actually get paid for is an even bigger question

[PGR88]

Indian "value" airlines have a long history of making huge airplane deals then going bankrupt.

Indeed, also this "contract" may be mostly a letter of intent, buying a very few planes upfront, with grand sounding clauses to actually be confirmed at a later date. The fluff and PR benefits both the manufacturer and especially the airline itself

[lefty-lie-spy]

Someone is getting a nice sales commission.

[null and void]

*groan*

[SamAdams76]

I'm a big of an airplane geek and the international flight path out of JFK usually goes over my Connecticut home (about 15,000 feet up and climbing by that time), either on their way to Europe or to Asia.

I like to sit in my yard and track the planes going overhead with my PlaneFinder app. The Airbus outnumber the Boeing planes by at least a 2-1 ratio.

[rdcbn1]

A bid issue is automation and pilot workloads. The Airbus 320 is more highly automated than the Boeing and the 320 pilot workload is much lower. This is a big advantage when dealing with third world pilots a the controls. - until something goes wrong. Airbus piloting is more akin to autopilot management and manipulation than flying an airplane.

[libh8er]

“ How did Boeing miss out on this?‘

Indian company with a Dutch CEO, ‘Pieter Elbers’

[Yo-Yo]

How many actually get paid for is an even bigger question

Often, like with Kingfisher Airlines which was the largest Indian carrier to go bankrupt, the "purchase" is really a lease for the aircraft and the leasing company actually buys the planes. So the airline defaults on the lease payments, leaving the leasing company holding the bag.

Airbus is building 30-ish A320 NEOs per month, and already have a backlog of 1,500 aircraft. Adding another 500 to that backlog means that deliveries will be pushed way out.

[redfreedom]

In addition to your comments

“the aircraft will be received between 2030 and 2035”

That is long term planning leaving room for so much to go wrong in terms of wars, world wide depression, man made depopulation programs (more pandemics) to name a few possibilities.