Air India Wants More Boeing Aircraft

Air India has emerged as another airline seeking to leverage rejected Boeing aircraft destined for China to enhance its fleet.

The Indian flag-carrier is now looking to take on planes that were rejected, according to reporting led by the Economic Times through their sources.

Air India has already committed to hefty numbers of new commercial aircraft from Boeing. However, this figure will never be truly deemed enough.

Moreover, Air India never feels that it can get the planes it requires fast enough, as it continues to invest heavily in significant turnaround efforts.

As a result, with China rejecting all new commercial airplane deliveries from Boeing, Air India sees itself primed to take on these planes and essentially benefit from ongoing trade tensions between China and the United States.

A Boeing 737 MAX operates its first flight

While focus rests on acquiring aircraft that are in production currently or awaiting delivery as a mere short-term capacity rise, there could be opportunities to take slots across the next 12 months, too.

Air India believes this would be significantly beneficial for their day-to-day operations.

Not Just Air India That Wants Planes

Air India will face competition, however, in its attempts to secure more aircraft from Boeing, driven by China’s retaliation.

Malaysia Airlines is reportedly keen on securing additional 737 MAX jets sooner than it would have initially expected, thanks to picking up units that China has rejected.

The Kuala Lumpur carrier has been aggressively expanding and also renewing its fleet; however, in a similar sense to Air India, it feels it could benefit from having more jets at its disposal sooner.

Therefore, when Boeing 737 MAX jets that were destined for companies in China did not eventuate as planned and now headed back to the United States, Malaysia Airlines saw an opportunity it couldn’t pass up.

Izham Ismail, the group’s managing Director and CEO of Malaysia Airlines, said that it would now engage in communication with Boeing over the possible acquisition. Still, like the Indian carrier, nothing is set in stone yet.