IndiGo and Air India have together placed orders for a total of 970 planes in less than five months this year, a reflection of the two airlines’ ambitious expansion plans and the growth potential of the Indian aviation market.

The orders for planes from Indian carriers are set to rise further as Akasa Air is expected to place a three-digit aircraft order by the end of this year.

In one of the biggest aircraft orders by an airline, IndiGo on Monday announced placing a firm order for 500 narrow-body planes with Airbus.

Currently, IndiGo operates more than 300 aircraft. It has previous orders totalling 480 aircraft, which are to be delivered between today and the end of this decade.

“With this additional firm order of 500 aircraft for 2030-2035, IndiGo’s order book has almost 1,000 aircraft yet to be delivered well into the next decade,” the airline said in a release.

In February, Tata Group-owned Air India placed a firm order for 470 planes with Airbus and Boeing.

Out of them, 250 will be supplied by Airbus and 220 by Boeing, while there is also the option to buy another 370 planes from the two plane makers. The firm order includes 70 wide-body aircraft.

Earlier this month, Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube told PTI that the airline will place a “triple-digit order” for narrow-body planes.

The airline, which started flying in August last year, has 19 aircraft and the 20th plane is to join the fleet in July.

In February, aviation consultancy CAPA said Indian carriers are likely to place orders for 1,500 to 1,700 planes in the next one to two years.

At present, Indian airlines have placed orders for more than 1,100 aircraft that are to be delivered in the coming years. IndiGo is to take deliveries of around 500 planes, Go First is to receive 72 aircraft, Akasa Air is to get 56 planes and Vistara is to take 17 aircraft. Besides, SpiceJet has aircraft on order. All of them are narrow-body planes.

Together with the latest IndiGo order, domestic carriers now have more than 1,600 planes on order.

Crisis-hit Go First remains grounded since May 3.

Around 700 commercial aircraft are flying in India and the majority of them are narrow-body planes.

SOURCE (PTI)