Air India on Tuesday announced that it has successfully sealed the world’s biggest ever commercial aviation deal by purchasing 470 passenger aircraft which includes 250 aircraft from France’s Airbus and 220 planes from American plane-maker Boeing at an estimated cost of Rs 6.4 lakh crore.

According to the press release, the order comprises 40 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777-9s widebody aircraft, as well as 210 Airbus A320/321 Neos and 190 Boeing 737 MAX single-aisle aircraft. The A350 aircraft will be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and the B777/787s by engines from GE Aeroscape. All single-aisle aircraft will be powered by engines from CFM International, said the release.

Speaking on the occasion, Tata Sons and Air India Chairman, Mr N Chandrasekaran, said: “Air India is on a large transformation journey across safety, customer service, technology, engineering, network and human resources. Modern, efficient fleet is a fundamental component of this transformation. This order is an important step in realising Air India’s ambition, articulated in its Vihaan.AI transformation program, to offer a world class proposition serving global travellers with an Indian heart. These new aircraft will modernise the Airline’s fleet and onboard product, and dramatically expand its global network. The growth enabled by this order will also provide unparalleled career opportunities for Indian aviation professionals and catalyse accelerated development of the Indian aviation ecosystem.”

According to the press release, the first of the new aircraft will enter service in late-2023, with the bulk to arrive from mid-2025 onwards.

Furthermore, Air India said it has already started taking delivery of 11 leased B777 and 25 A320 aircraft to accelerate its fleet and network expansion.

“The acquisition of new aircraft, which will come with an entirely new cabin interior, complements Air India’s previously announced plan to refit its existing widebody B787 and B777 aircraft with new seats and inflight entertainment systems. The first of these refitted aircraft will enter service in mid-2024,” stated the release.

The aviation deal is so big that even the US President Joe Biden commented on the deal and claimed it as “historic” and had a telephonic discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Biden said the deal will create upto 1 million jobs across 44 states in the US.

The historic deal was hailed by other global leaders as well, such as President of France, UK Prime Minister.

While PM Modi congratulated the companies on the historical deal and also emphasized the deepening relationship between India and France and thanked French President Emmanuel Macron stating the day is not only important day for deep India-France relations but also talked about India’s successes and ambition in the field of civil aviation.