"India is largest global purchaser of aircraft after US, China": Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia at Wings India

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced on Thursday that India has emerged as the largest global purchaser of aircraft after the United States and China. Scindia inaugurated the Wings India event in Hyderabad today in which he unveiled the Air India Airbus A350.

Speaking at the event, Scindia provided an overview of the aircraft orders placed by the Indian companies, both Boeing and Airbus.

IndiGo has placed orders for a whopping 500 aircraft and Air India follows closely with orders for 470 aircraft, Scindia said.

He further said that the recently launched Akasa airline has entered the scene with a substantial order of 200-plus aircraft.

Image Source: twitter.com/JM_Scindia

Minister Scindia also outlined the government's ambitious plans for the aviation sector, with a vision to increase the number of airports in the country to 200 by 2030.

Simultaneously, the goal is to achieve a remarkable milestone of 300 million passenger traffic by the same year.

Highlighting the recovery of the aviation sector, the Aviation Minister said that recent months have witnessed a robust growth in passenger traffic.

In a bid to boost its expansion plans, Air India last year ordered 540 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, the firm's order is for 470 planes and the remaining 70 are options.

The Airbus firm order comprises 210 A-320/321 Neo/XLR and 40 A350-900/1000. The Boeing firm order shall consist of 190 737-Max, 20 787s and 10 777s.

The agreement between Boeing and Air India includes options for 50 additional 737 MAXs and 20 787-9s. When finalised, this will be the most significant Boeing order in South Asia and a historic milestone in the aerospace company's nearly 90-year partnership with the carrier.

While IndiGo partnered with Turkish airlines to expand its reach to Europe and ordered nearly 500 more aircraft earlier in February last year as part of its expansion plan.

As per the airline officials, IndiGo has ordered flights from European giant Airbus and US Boeing.