Over the past few decades, a number of aviation industry themes have come to be associated with Air India.
Unfortunately for the airline, the majority of those have been due to issues like inconsistent service, significant financial losses, and mediocre products.
The largest aircraft order ever placed can now be credited to the national airline of India.
Tuesday, Air India shocked the aviation sector with huge aircraft orders totaling an astounding 470 brand-new aircraft.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the transactions between Boeing and Airbus would be worth an astounding $85 billion at the previously disclosed list prices for the planes.
The size of the purchase is enormous, and according to the Journal, it exceeds Emirates' 2013 order for more than 100 Boeing 777X aircraft by monetary value. It's possible that Air India negotiated a price much lower than that number.
220 of the 470 planes Air India has ordered are expected to arrive from Boeing: 190 737 MAX aircraft, 20 787 Dreamliners, and 10 aircraft from the delayed new 777X line.
Additionally, the agreement has options for an additional 50 aircraft.
The purchase, which ranks as Boeing's third-largest sale ever in terms of value and second-largest of all time if evaluated by the number of planes, is a significant lift for the business amid its recent troubles, according to The Associated Press.
Air India aims to acquire 40 Airbus A350 wide-body jets, which are normally used for long-haul international flights, as well as 210 Airbus A320neo narrow-body aircraft from the manufacturer.
The purchase is also seen as a success for Airbus since, in addition to the large order, it secured a deal with an airline that has traditionally preferred Boeing aircraft.
Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, was quoted by AP as saying on a conference call discussing the order that "today is a historic moment for India, for Air India, and for Airbus." He also said that the quantity of planes purchased by the carrier "demonstrates the appetite for growth in the Indian aviation industry."
The world's fastest expanding economy is it.
In regards to Air India, the airline aspires to achieve success with a turnaround after numerous previous attempts at the airline have failed.
After the Indian government struggled for years to find a private buyer for the continuously losing business, Air India was finally privatized last year and purchased by Indian giant Tata Group.
It's not yet apparent whether either of the orders made public on Tuesday would really be fulfilled, and a delivery date for the new aircraft was not immediately known.
However, it seems to represent a determined effort on the part of the airline's new owners to diverge from the course it has taken up to this point in the century.
According to Reuters, this is all a part of a plan to "recapture a solid proportion of travel between India's diaspora and cities like New Delhi and Mumbai that are currently dominated by international rivals like Emirates."
Currently, there is at least a glimmer of hope that Air India will finally be able to make the turnaround that has eluded it for so long.
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