Air India seeks more wide-body jets and expects a return to profit soon

what happened

Air India wants to increase its order for wide-body aircraft to grow international passenger traffic, Chief Executive Tewolde Gebremariam said on Tuesday. He added that the Tata Group-owned carrier would return to profitability very soon. According to Reuters, an industry source who asked not to be named said the airline has held talks with both Boeing and Airbus while weighing the cost of running its older wide-body jets.

The source said newer aircraft would help the airline connect more cities and deal with the impact of Pakistan's ban on use of its airspace. Since Tata took back ownership in 2022, the airline has been running a multi-billion-dollar transformation covering fleet renewal, cabin upgrades and network expansion.

why it matters

For markets, the main relevance is to aircraft makers: Boeing and Airbus are potential suppliers, but no order has been placed. Air India is not publicly traded, so direct investor exposure is limited, though the signal of demand for long-haul jets may interest aerospace market participants.

market impact

Boeing and Airbus: a possible new wide-body order would support aircraft makers, but no deal has been confirmed yet

tags

instruments