We have this 500-aircraft order coming out of India, which is going to be about 400 narrow-body aircraft, probably a mix of (Airbus) A320neos, A321neos and (Boeing) 737 MAXs, and 100 wide-bodies which will include (Boeing) 787s, 777X, potentially some 777 freighters and (Airbus) A350s,"said Steven Udvar-Hazy, executive chairman, Airlease Corp while speaking at the Airline Economics conference currently underway in Dublin.
Air India has been planning fleet expansion since its take-over by the Tata-Group and the comments from Udvar-Hazy have come in a first public statement confirming the airline’s plans.
"As a result of this recovery, there is now more momentum for large orders from airlines who have sort of sat back and watched the movie, and now they're seeing there's going to positive trend.
Going ahead, he went on to predict that medium-seat aircraft will take a back seat with Boeing’s delays in development of its 400-seat 777X model.
"We do expect a number of airlines will place large orders and again most of these orders will be for replacement," Udvar-Hazy added.
"We expect that both OEMs will be under pressure in the next couple of years to increase production rates, not necessarily back to the levels they were in 2018, but certainly well above current production," he said.