Indian Airlines has big orders for Airbus

Indian Airlines has big orders for Airbus

Government owned Indian Airlines in India finally has the go ahead for the purchase of 43 Airbus SAS planes from Airbus based in Europe. The deal would be worth around USD 2.2 Billion after the discounts, which are estimated to be around 29%. The Indian government has approved the deal after much consideration and the plans were announced by the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

This would be the first order for the airline company in India in nearly 13 years, which has been dragging along its old feet for so many years. Indian Airlines is the India’s second largest domestic carrier and faces big competition from the recently launched cheap aviation companies like Deccan and Kingfisher. Some other players to enter the market providing cheap air travel include Indigo Airlines and SpiceJet.

More than 10 other players are in the process of entering the widening Indian aviation market with the goal of making air travel so cheap that people starts using it instead of railways. The Indian government took its own time to settle the order as it wanted the assurance that the aircrafts being sold to it would not be expensive than those bought by Southeast Asia’s carriers.

Some of the planes being used to carry passengers around by this domestic airline in India are more than 20 years old. This makes them vulnerable to more safety problems. Most airlines around the world do not operate such old planes on their routes. It was important for Indian Airlines to get these new planes to stay competitive in this growing market.