Introducing Air India’s First Airbus A321neo Aircraft
In 2023, the airline will add a few of aircraft.
The Airbus A321neo, Air India’s newest narrowbody plane, recently joined the fleet. Intriguingly, despite the fact that the airline’s single-aisle fleet is entirely made up of Airbus A320 family aircraft, including A321s, this is the first A321neo of the most recent generation to join the fleet.
a first A321neo for Air India
A day after revealing that the aircraft had left Airbus’ base in Hamburg, Air India stated on March 26 that an Airbus A321neo had been inducted. This is the first A321neo to join Air India’s fleet with CFM LEAP 1A engines. Christian Scherer, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International at Airbus, is quoted by Business Today as saying,
Both Airbus and Air India are experiencing a historic moment. We are honored that our relationship with the Tatas and our aircraft solutions will pen this new chapter for the nation’s air connectivity as India stands on the cusp of a revolution in international air travel.
The A321neo that is headed for Air India has been under close observation by Simple Flying. The plane reportedly completed its first test flight last month, taking off from Hamburg and flying across northern Germany for more than two hours.
Air India currently operates 70 narrowbody aircraft, including 14 A321ceos, all of which are Airbus A320 family aircraft. The newest aircraft, which will be its 71st narrowbody, will join the other members of the A320 family, which conducts the majority of AI’s domestic operations.
Unincluded in the most recent Airbus purchase
Yet the recent order Air India placed with Airbus does not include the new A321neo. Last month, the airline made sizable orders with Boeing and Airbus totaling 470 aircraft. 250 of these, including 140 A320neos and 70 A320neos, made up Airbus’ portion.
At the end of January, there were more than 7,000 A320neo aircraft on backorder. By the summer of this year, Airbus hopes to produce 65 aircraft each month, but the climate is still complicated. Air India can therefore reasonably anticipate that the jets from its order will be ready in a few more years. But, the most recent A321neo is a part of its intentions to lease more than 35 aircraft to meet its urgent operational needs.
The most recent plane was previously intended for Russia’s Smartavia, but because to the country’s sanctions, numerous other planes with a destination in Russia ended up with alternative carriers.
rapid growth
The Tatas moved quickly to expand Air India’s fleet by bringing back some of its grounded aircraft and adding new aircraft. The Tata Group also fixed dozens of AI’s grounded aircraft that had been sitting idle for years due to a lack of funding, in addition to the addition of long-range Boeing 777s that were once owned by Delta Air Lines.
Also, the airline and CDB Aviation agreed to a lease for six A320neos, which will be delivered in the second part of 2023. Obviously, as the year goes on, we can anticipate the airline making a lot more announcements of this nature.
