Air India completes the acquisition of the first A350 aircraft through GIFT City, know why it is special

Air India on Friday said it has completed the acquisition of the first A350-900 aircraft through GIFT City. The acquisition has been made through a finance lease transaction with HSBC. The first wide-body aircraft is leased through GIFT City. Air India issued a statement saying that the transaction was done by AI Fleet Services Limited, a subsidiary of Air India. This is also the first financial transaction of the deal for 470 aircraft of Air India.

Tata Group-owned Air India expects the first A350-900 aircraft under the deal to reach India by the end of this year. Nipun Agarwal, Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer, Air India, said, “This historic transaction marks the beginning of our aircraft leasing business from GIFT City. AI Fleet Services Limited is the first Air India company to finance wide-body aircraft. This will help us formulate future aircraft financing strategies for ourselves and our partners.

Deepesh Shah, executive director of the country's first international financial services center authority, i.e. GIFT City, said that he is working with other stakeholders to develop a regulatory framework for leasing and financing of aircraft. He said that setting up a finance company by Air India at GIFT City for aircraft financing and leasing will go a long way in making GIFT City an important destination for aircraft leasing and financing across the world.

Air India has ordered six A350-900 aircraft, out of which five are to be delivered by March 2024. Apart from this, the company has also ordered 470 new aircraft, which include 34 A350-1000, 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 10 Boeing 777XS, 140 A320 Neos, 70 A321 Neos, and 190 Boeing 737Max aircraft. Air India signed the purchase agreement for the purchase of these aircraft from Airbus and Boeing in June. At present, Air India has 116 aircraft, of which 49 are wide-body aircraft.