Airbus is set to close a deal of selling 500 narrow-body A320-family jets to IndiGo, India's largest airline, industry sources said on June 4.
During an airline industry conference in Istanbul, sources said the European planemaker has emerged as the leading candidate for a large order eclipsing Air India's historic provisional purchase of 470 jets in February.
It is estimated that such a deal would be worth around $50 billion at Airbus' most recent list prices, but would probably be worth less than half that after widespread airline industry discounts for bulk orders.The industry sources said Airbus and Boeing are also still in separate talks about selling 25 A330neo or 787 wide-body jets to the same airline.
Pieter Elbers, IndiGo's Chief Executive Officer, declined to comment on commercial matters while attending the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association in Istanbul.
There were no comments from Airbus or Boeing as well.
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According to Reuters, IndiGo had been in discussions with Airbus and Boeing over their order, which if confirmed would be the largest by a single carrier.
The airline has already ordered 830 Airbus A320 planes from Airbus, of which almost 500 are yet to be delivered. IndiGo is one of Airbus's largest customers.
As airlines lock in supplies ahead of looming shortages, Airbus and Boeing are racking up billions of dollars in new orders beyond 2030.
Prior to the IATA meeting, Turkish Airlines announced it would order 600 jets, but delegates said there was no immediate progress.
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According to a June 1 Barclays report, Indian carriers have the second-largest backlog in the industry, behind only the United States.
It has been suggested, however, that airlines may overorder jets to pursue the same passengers.
Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa Group, told reporters on Sunday that supply is greater than demand globally.
In spite of high fares, IndiGo's drive comes as travel in the world's third-largest aviation market is rebounding.
In addition to expanding its network, IndiGo hopes to double its capacity by the end of the decade.
It has codeshare agreements with seven airlines, including Turkish Airlines, American Airlines, and KLM.
Through its alliance with Turkish Airlines, IndiGo has expanded into Europe, a popular destination among Indian tourists. The budget carrier now flies to 33 European airports.
IndiGo has begun international operations to Istanbul with its first wide-body aircraft, a Boeing 777, taken from codeshare partner Turkish Airlines which provides the pilots.
In an interview in March, Elbers told Reuters that IndiGo is taking on the two widebodies as a stop-gap arrangement until it receives the longer-range Airbus A321XLR planes in 2025-ish.
(With agency inputs)
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