9.4% Of Airbus Deliveries Came To India, 7.6% To Indigo Alone

(MENAFN- Live Mint) IndiGo, India's largest carrier by fleet, has helped propel Airbus to its best-ever year yet in terms of deliveries. The airline took deliveries of 58 planes in 2024, making it the single largest customer to take deliveries. IndiGo's deliveries accounted for 7.6 per cent of the total deliveries of Airbus last year. This also marked the highest number of deliveries IndiGo has taken since it had taken 41 in 2023, 49 in 2022, 42 in 2021 and 44 in 2020 - the peak pandemic year.

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This comes a year after the airline placed an order for 500 planes with Airbus, making it the single largest order. Air India took deliveries of 14 (including Vistara) planes, all of which are from the order book of lessors with its own order set to be delivered soon. Airbus missed its target of 770 deliveries by a whisker as it delivered 766 planes in 2024, amidst the continuing Supply Chain challenges. As of December-end, IndiGo's undelivered aircraft count with Airbus stood at 930 planes comprising 241 A320neo, 659 A321neo and 30 A350-900s. For Air India, this count stands at 344 planes comprising 210 A321neo, 90 A320neo, 19 A350-900 and 25 A350-1000. This includes the additional order that Air India placed in September for 100 aircraft.

IndiGo took deliveries of 41 aircraft from Airbus in 2023, which comprised 5.6 per cent of total deliveries from Airbus in 2023. However, the airline was second in 2023 with Delta accepting more deliveries than IndiGo. In 2022, IndiGo took deliveries of 49 aircraft which was the highest by any airline with Airbus and was 7.4 per cent of all Airbus deliveries that year. In 2021, IndiGo again was on top with 6.9 per cent of all Airbus deliveries which stood at 611 for the Toulouse-headquartered manufacturer, 42 of which joined IndiGo.

IndiGo had a rough start to 2024, realising that anywhere between 80 and 90 A320neo family aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney would be grounded. The airline relied on a mix of wet-lease operations, extending leases and new deliveries to tide over the crisis.

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However, deliveries cannot be accelerated at the last minute and the induction plan is in place a few quarters in advance. IndiGo's planning has overlapped with Air India's expansion and merger plans and is indicative of how far ahead IndiGo plans to take on competition. Airbus has not been able to increase the production of its best-selling A320 family. However, production slots free up at periodic intervals due to airlines shutting down, like is the case with Go FIRST or airlines delaying deliveries like Spirit Airlines of the US.

As Pratt & Whitney-powered planes come back to life, IndiGo is redelivering some planes in its quest to have a CFM-powered fleet and get over the Pratt & Whitney-powered fleet. This is a huge loss for Pratt & Whitney, which has gone from one problem to another since induction in 2016, a fairly long period to get the engine right. The Air India group has all its orders powered by CFM. Airbus' smaller offering, the A220 and Embraers E2 series, have not been able to make inroads in India, with one of the possible reasons being that they are exclusively powered by the Pratt & Whitney GTF (Geared Turbo Fan) engines.

As the year turns to 2025, Air India will join the party of taking deliveries. Additionally, IndiGo will induct its first A321XLR. This will still be an Airbus year from Indian aviation's point of view with Boeing's struggle continuing. At a loss will be Akasa Air, whose order book is exclusively with Boeing. Air India Express, the low- cost arm of Air India, has been inducting Airbus from within the group to tide over the crisis and take over routes from Air India as well as start new ones.

Also Read: IndiGo, a longtime Airbus customer, is now adding Boeing planes

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