IndiGo Places Order of 500 Aircraft With Airbus; Largest In Aviation History

New Delhi, June 19: India’s largest airline IndiGo on Monday said it has placed orders for 500 A320 aircraft, making it the largest deal in the aviation history. 

The airline has the largest fleet of  planes in the country and operates to maximum number of destinations, cornering more than 54 per cent of the domestic market share.

IndiGo’s order is worth about USD 50 billion, said some media reports, adding, it is the largest aircraft order placed with Airbus. The deal with Airbus was announced at the ongoing Paris Air Show.

“IndiGo’s order book comprises a mix of A320neo, A321neo and A321XLRs, has almost 1000 aircraft to be delivered well into the next decade. The evaluation of the offers was shared and discussed with IndiGo’s board, and consequently endorsed. This new order will bring the strategic relationship between IndiGo and Airbus to an unprecedented depth and breadth,” the airline said in a statement.

“It is difficult to overstate the significance of IndiGo’s new historic order for 500 Airbus A320 Family aircraft. An orderbook now of almost 1000 aircraft well into the next decade, enables IndiGo to fulfil its mission to continue to boost economic growth, social cohesion and mobility in India", Pieter Elbers, IndiGo CEO said in a statement.

In February this year, Air India had also announced placing an order of 470 aircraft with Boeing and Airbus. The developments reinforces the potential of the Indian aviation industry and growing appetite among the aspirational class for air travel.

“India is going to be the world’s third-largest market in the aviation sector,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said when the deal was finalised.

According to Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the six major airports in the country alone is expected to see passenger carrying capacity go up to 420 million in the next four years from 192 million at present. The size of the Indian fleet is also expected to grow from the current level of 700 aircraft to 2000 aircraft.