Air India, the former national air carrier will soon receive its first-ever Airbus A321 Neo aircraft fitted with CFM LEAP 1A engines. The Tata Group owned airline will receive the first of its type of aircraft as the plane has left Hamburg, Germany to arrive in India. In a tweet, Air India stated, "All set to welcome the newest entrant to our AI Family- Airbus A321 Neo (VT-RTD). It’s taken off from Hamburg & we can’t wait to see her land here! This is the 1st A321 Neo (fitted with CFM LEAP 1A Engines) type of aircraft to be inducted by AI."


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The narrow body aircraft will be deployed on the domestic routes and will join the existing fleet of Airbus A320, A320neo and A321neo, all from the house of European planemaker. Air India and Airbus recently signed an order for about 250 aircraft, and the deal is anticipated to be fulfilled by 2030. Air India will be adding both narrow and wide body planes from Airbus. 



Air India, earlier under the ownership of the government, had not any acquired new aircrafts for more than 16 years. It purchased its last aircraft in 2005 and bought 111 aircraft -- 68 with Boeing and the remaining 43 with Airbus -- and that deal was worth USD 10.8 billion. The new deal includes 210 narrow body and 40 wide-body Airbus A350s planes. 


Simultaneously, Air India also placed an order of 220 planes with Boeing, including both wide and narrow body planes. This effectively takes the total order book to 470 units, and 370 more planes can be bought as an option. The overall order value of the Airbus and Boeing planes is worth $68 billion, highest for any plane maker globally.