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India to purchase 180 Airbus aircrafts

12 January 2011 07:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA-Economics. European jet maker Airbus has won what it describes as a record deal to sell 180 aircraft to the Indian budget airline IndiGo.

The order, worth $15.6 bn at advertised prices, includes 150 of Airbusâ€™s new A320 NEO jets, an upgraded variant of its popular single aisle A320 jet, which dominates the skies along with the 737 family of planes built by US rival, Boeing.

The move makes IndiGo the so-called launch customer for the NEO, putting an abrupt end to industry speculation that Airbus was struggling to find orders for the fuel-efficient new model of aircraft, which it announced late last year.

The deal, which Airbus said was â€œthe largest single firm order number for large jets in commercial aviation historyâ€ puts pressure on Boeing, which has been trying to decide whether to revamp its 737 jets with more fuel-efficient engines like Airbus, or develop an entirely new plane.