With renewed mojo under Tata' stewardship, Air India, is bombing close to $10 billion to acquire nearly 500 new aircrafts from Boeing and Airbus, says Reuters.
Basics: the Tata Group acquired the debt-laden business from the government barely a year ago, and since has been in the process of consolidating its aviation empire in India spread across 3 other brands.
Historically, given its proximity to the government, Air India has enjoyed premium access to airport infrastructure and routes worldwide, but was crippled by aging planes and a demotivated staff. Tata's first act is to fix that.
This particular order includes a mix of assets – about 400 narrow body jets, most likely used for domestic routes, and about 100 wide body jets including Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s and 777s.
Bottomline: given the rise of the middle class and a relatively stronger consumer, India's aviation market is currently one of the strongest worldwide. 400M+ people will be frequent flyers by 2030.
