IndiGo makes record 500 aircraft purchase order at Paris Airshow
Dhaka: Indian airline IndiGo made a record order for 500 Airbus A320 aircraft through a deal announced on the first day of the Paris Airshow.
It makes the order the largest single purchase agreement by any airline in the history of commercial aviation, worth roughly USD 55 billion before any bulk-order discounts.
With this, IndiGo now has an order book of 1,330 aircraft with Airbus. The airline expects to welcome a stream of deliveries between 2030 and 2035.
The new deliveries will help the budget airline IndiGo lower its operating costs and improve fuel efficiency, the company said, as per reports.
India is a burgeoning aviation market, with some analysts claiming, it is on track to replace China as the aerospace industry's next growth frontier.
The country is expected to be the fastest-growing G20 economy over the next few years and has seen a significant increase in the number of first-time flyers since the pandemic.
Moreover, there is still a large runway for growth. Under 5 per cent of the country's 1.4 billion people are estimated to have ever taken a flight and air traffic in India has been growing hugely as disposable incomes rise.
The latest move shows that confidence is returning to the airline industry in the wake of the pandemic and the low-cost carrier continues to be one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world.
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