Air India Aircraft Acquisition: Air India has informed about the acquisition of its first A350-900 aircraft. The company has finalized the deal for this aircraft through GIFT City.
Tata Group’s aviation company Air India created a new history on Friday. This once government-owned airline has completed the acquisition of its first A350-900 aircraft. The special thing about this deal is that it has been finalized through GIFT City based in Gujarat. Air India has become the first airline to do so.
This is how Air India made history
The airline said it has acquired its first A350-900 aircraft through a finance lease with HSBC. The specialty of A350-900 aircraft is that their body is wider than other aircraft. The company has recently ordered 470 new aircraft, which also includes A350-900 aircraft. Under the deal with HSBC, payment has been made for the first aircraft of the same order.
The deal is also important for Gift City
This lease deal between Air India and HSBC is important in many ways. This is the first time that an aviation company has finalized a finance deal on the premises of GIFT City. In this way, the doors of the aviation sector have been opened for the country’s first International Financial Services Centre. Air India said that it has completed this deal through its wholly owned subsidiary AI Fleet Services Limited.
Air India’s transformation taking place
Air India used to be a part of the Tata Group earlier also, but it was later nationalized. After decades, Air India has returned to Tata again. After that, Tata Group is trying to turn around Air India. That is why the company had ordered a record 470 wide-body aircraft at the beginning of the year. Now after the finance deal is finalized, Air India is expected to receive the first aircraft of that order by the end of this year.
The company ordered these aircraft
Air India’s record order of 470 new aircraft includes 6 A350-900 aircraft. After delivery of one aircraft by the end of this year, the remaining 5 aircraft are expected to be delivered by March 2024. Apart from these, the company’s order includes 34 A350-1000 aircraft, 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 10 Boeing 777X, 140 A320 Neo and 190 Boeing 737 Max.
