IndiGo, which is a popular budget airline in India, just finalized an order with Airbus worth $26.5 billion for a whopping 250 new A320neo airliners. While the deal was first announced last October, the confirmation makes it the largest order in Airbus’ history in terms of the quantity of aircraft.
It is also the second largest order for Airbus in terms of total value. But what’s really telling about the order is that there could be others of similar scale in the future. Based on demand forecasts from the Indian aviation industry, there appears to be plenty of room for growth in the market. In the next 20 years, Indian carriers are expected to order around 1,700 additional jets.
IndiGo is expected to take delivery of the new batch of Airbus A320neo airliners between 2018 and 2026. In total, the airline has ordered 530 jets from the A320 family. Currently, the airline operates 97 Airbus A320-200 aircraft in a single-class configuration of 180 economy seats.
First flight of the A320neo in Toulouse, France on September 25th, 2014.
The A320neo (neo stands for “new engine option”) is an upgraded version of the popular short- and medium-haul narrow-body airliner. The aircraft features “sharklets” on the wingtips and improved fuel efficient engines which contribute towards a claimed fuel efficiency gain of 15 percent over A320ceo (“current engine option”) legacy aircraft.
Photo credit: Top shot IndiGo A320 in flight - Laurent Errera/Wikicommons, A320neo in flight - Frederic Lancelot/AP
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