India’s IndiGo airline has ordered 500 passenger planes from European planemaker Airbus, the two firms announced Monday, in a record-breaking deal that highlights the country’s increasing desire for air travel, spurred by economic growth. IndiGo, India’s major carrier, is purchasing the A320 in what the businesses described as the largest single purchase agreement in commercial aviation history. Both firms’ executives announced the agreement on the first day of the Paris Air Show, the world’s largest show devoted to the aviation and space industries. They did not say how much the order was worth, but it was most certainly in the tens of billions of dollars. The acquisition exemplifies how the two firms are “democratising affordable air travel for millions of people in the world’s fastest-growing aviation market,” according to Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer.
Based in New Delhi IndiGo’s order dwarfs another massive contract struck months earlier by Air India for 470 aircraft from both Airbus and rival Boeing in the United States. Indian airlines are scrambling to meet soaring travel demand from the country’s growing middle-class consumers. Airbus prefers to reveal large jet orders during its home country’s air show every other year. Airbus is one of France’s — and Europe’s — largest corporations and its success at the Paris air show is viewed as critical to the company’s public image in France.
