Explained: Air India's historic deal

Tata owned airline Air India sealed a deal for 470 aircraft - 250 from Airbus and 220 from Boeing.

This ia the biggest order ever placed by any airline in one go. Air India’s order even beats American Airlines 2011 order of 460 aircraft – which was the largest order size up until now.

As per reports, the deal size could be anywhere between 70 to 80 billion dollars and that an order of this size would also come with huge discounts.

But that’s not all, Air India also has the option to buy another 370 jets over the next 10 years.
Which means, that this deal has the potential to get even bigger.

This decision is important both economically as well geopolitically. From U.S President Joe Biden, to U.K Prime Minister and the French President, all have hailed the deal as a landmark one that would create jobs. In fact the U.S President announced that this would support over 1 million jobs in the U.S.

A reuters report says that months of secret talks were held at St. James court, a luxury hotel, near Buckingham palace in London, before this deal was finally sealed.

Tatas acquired the airline just last year. As the national carrier, Air India had been struggling for several years with a huge debt burden. Air India had not ordered new planes since 2006.

Experts say that while this deal can completely reset the Indian aviation industry and shows Air India’s intention to dominate the market and restore the airline to its days of glory , it will also be important to see how well Air India’s turnaround plan is executed.