Hyderabad: India's top airlines IndiGo, Air India and Akasa Air may together add 240 aircraft in the next two years, expanding their fleet size by a combined 30%. Currently, the three carriers have a combined strength of 804, a number which may swell to 1,044 by the end of 2027.
Airlines in the country are expected to get an average of 10 aircraft every month over the next few years, with 80% of them delivered by Airbus and Boeing, top executives of the two companies said. The new planes will help Indian airlines expand their fleets, after months of delay and slowdown in route expansion plans, both at domestic and international levels.
India pivot
“India is our fastest-growing market, even faster than China. In Europe, it is now a replacement market. So, India is where the growth is. And we project deliveries of two aircraft a week on an average for the next 10 years,” Jürgen Westermeier, president and MD-India & South Asia, Airbus said on Thursday at Wings India 2026, Asia's largest civil aviation event, held in Hyderabad.
Airbus has a delivery backlog of 1,250 aircraft over a 10-year period in India, led by IndiGo and Air India. The IndiGo order is nearly 900, while that of Air India Group is around 350.
In 2025, Airbus delivered 55 aircraft in India, all of which went to IndiGo. Nearly 7% of its global deliveries were to IndiGo.
“We expect peak deliveries to be at 150 a year,” Westermeir said, likely around 2032.
Boeing, on the other hand, said is targeting 25 India deliveries in 2026, after an expansion at its US facilities.
“On an average, you can expect, over the next couple years, roughly two aircraft a month. And in some months, it’ll be more, and some months it’ll be less, and some months there’ll be a wide-body aircraft in there as well,” Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India and South Asia told Mint.
“It’ll mostly be narrow-bodies. Every few months, you’ll have a wide-body in there as well,” he said. He clarified that this is not a fixed monthly target.
The Air India Group—which includes full-service carrier Air India, and no-frills airline Air India Express—and Akasa Air are Boeing’s largest buyers in India.
The Air India Group has placed orders for 190 Boeing jets (both narrow and wide body aircraft). The group took delivery of a Dreamliner (wide-body) and Air India Express took delivery of a narrow body earlier this year. The group is expecting 20-24 aircraft deliveries this year between Airbus and Boeing. These are customised for the respective companies.
Air India chief executive Campbell Wilson said at Wings India that his company has placed new orders for 30 (narrow body) aircraft with Boeing. The order confirms options placed in 2023. Another 15 of its existing narrow body jet orders with Airbus would be upgraded to the long-range narrow body XLRs. The upgrade to Airbus XLRs will help Air India tap overseas markets. It comes weeks after rival IndiGo received a similar aircraft being deployed on the Mumbai-Athens and Delhi-Athens routes.
“This additional order for 30 Boeing 737 aircraft is part of our broader fleet strategy to position Air India firmly for the future. Building on our 2023 orders and subsequent additions, this order supports steady deliveries and fleet upgrades planned over the next few years,” Wilson said.
Akasa, India’s youngest airline and its third-largest player, had initially placed orders for 226 aircraft, all of them with Boeing. It has a pending order of 194 jets from the American plane-maker. It inducted two Boeing jets this month. Two deliveries are expected in February.
At present, IndiGo has a fleet size of 440, Air India 297, Akasa 32 and SpiceJet approximately 35.
“If aircraft deliveries come in as promised, these would be among the largest in recent times in India. While Airbus manufacturing is on track and deliveries are generally on time, Boeing has ramped up capacities recently after getting approvals from the US regulator,” Mark D. Martin, aviation expert and chief executive of Gurugram-based Marin Consulting said.