Tata In Talks With Airbus, Boeing Over Plane Orders For Air India: Report

Tata is in talks with airplane makers Boeing and Airbus for acquiring aircraft for Air India, which the group recently acquired from the government.

The Boeing and Airbus officials have met executives from Tata Group in recent weeks to discuss plane orders for Air India, people familiar with the matter were quoted in a ET report as saying.

Tata group had last month regained ownership of state-ru carrier Air India after nearly 70 years in a Rs 18,000 crore equity and debt deal.

According to the report, while Air India has lucrative landing slots, Tata faces an uphill task to upgrade airline's ageing fleet and turnaround its financials and service levels.

The airline has a mixed fleet of over 140 Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

To refurbish the ageing aircraft, Tata would have to invest over $1 billion, as per the industry executives' estimate.

According to reports, Tata had started preliminary talks with the planemakers and lessor for aircraft including Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.