India’s Expanding Airline Fleets: How Boeing and Airbus Compete

Skift’s coverage of the Air India crash is offered free to all readers.

A tragic incident has shaken Indian aviation, and it was the first fatal crash for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The plane has a strong safety record and the cause of the crash remains under investigation, but the incident has cast a somber shadow over the industry.

The Dreamliner, a key component of Air India’s long-haul fleet, has been central to the airline’s international expansion in recent years.

The Air India Group, which includes the main airline Air India and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express, is the largest operator of Boeing aircraft in India with a total of 132 planes.

Air India mainly uses Boeing jets for its widebody operations and is the country's biggest operator of Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft. Meanwhile, Air India Express is the largest operator of Boeing 737 aircraft in India.

In contrast, IndiGo's fleet consists of 98% Airbus narrowbody aircraft, with nearly 213 A320s and 143 A321s. IndiGo is the largest operator of both the A320 and A321 aircraft in India.

Indigo's dominance in the domestic Indian aviation market is evident with a market share of over 60%. As a result, Airbus aircraft account for more than 80% of the total domestic market, according to data from Cirium Diio from the last 12 months.

In the international market, Boeing's market share rises to 44%, bolstered by strong widebody operations from Air India's fleet of Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft.

Despite being the largest operator of Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft in India, Air India's entire narrowbody fleet consists of Airbus aircraft, totaling nearly 129 models from the A319, A320, and A321 families. This makes Airbus the larger carrier for both Air India and Indigo.

Air India has also begun inducting new Airbus widebody aircraft (A350s) and has already started flights to London (LHR), New York (JFK), and Newark (EWR) from Delhi using these new jets. However, Boeing aircraft still account for nearly 90% of Air India's total long-haul capacity.

Of this capacity, Boeing 787 Dreamliners represent nearly 50%, playing a crucial role in Air India's long-haul strategy. According to Planespotters, the average age of Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet was 9.6 years, whereas the average age of Air India’s Boeing 777 fleet was 15 years.

The importance of Boeing jets can’t be understated for Air India’s long-haul strategy. Combined with the 777, Boeing jets contribute nearly 90% of the total capacity for Air India.

Besides Air India, 13 other airlines operate the Boeing 787 wide-body aircraft to and from India. Among these, UK-based British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have the most significant exposure to 787 operations, followed by KLM, based in Schiphol.

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