Indian airline on record buying spree

March 28, 2002 Posted: 6:00 AM EST

Indian Airlines has ordered 43 Airbus aircraft, including the 320 model

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) - For Indian Airlines it is a case of waiting thirteen years for an airbus, only to have 43 of them arrive together.

State-run Indian Airlines has ordered 43 aircraft worth $2.2 billion from Airbus Industries, to be delivered over five years, as it moves to upgrade its ageing fleet and take advantage of discount prices.

The order -- one of the biggest aircraft purchases in the history of Indian aviation -- is for 319, 320 and 321 models. They will replace the airline's older fleet of eight Airbus 300s and 11 Boeing 737s.

French-based Airbus, the world's second largest passenger jet maker, is 80 percent owned by the European Aeronautics, Defence and Space Company (EADS), which owns 80 percent of Airbus.

A technical evaluation committee of the airline gave the nod to Europe's Airbus over aircraft from U.S.-based Boeing. The deal must still gain the approval of the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Indian Airlines, which purchased its last aircraft in 1989, plans to take delivery of the new planes in the period from 2004 to 2008.

Its main rival, Jet Airlines, has 27 new Boeing 737-400s, 737-700s and 737-800s.

The price of jetliners has come down about 15 percent, since the Sept. 11 attacks, due to a decline in air travel after hijackers crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

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