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Indian airline makes huge order for 250 Airbus jets
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By Yahoo News and antiwar.com
Indian budget airline IndiGo finalized an exceptionally large order for 250 single-aisle Airbus A320neo jets on Monday to keep up with rapid growth in the country's air travel.
IndiGo,
India's largest domestic airline, had signed a preliminary order last
year and firmed it up Monday, Airbus said in a statement. The
manufacturer based in Toulouse, France, called it the biggest order by
number of jets that it had ever received.
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At list prices, the jets would cost $26 billion, though customers usually negotiate discounts.
From cabin to Cockpit: Apurva Gilche
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Several
Asian low-cost carriers are building up fleets amid growing demand, and
both Airbus and rival Boeing Co. have been wooing Indian airline
companies..
India is expected to become the third largest aviation market globally by 2020, with the number of airline passengers tripling to some 450 million trips per year, as an expanding middle class trades up from slow train journeys to taking a plane.
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IndiGo's
president, Aditya Ghosh, said the order would allow his company to
further develop low-cost travel in India and abroad. The company has
already taken delivery of around 100 Airbus aircraft that were part of
an order for 180 aircraft worth $15.6 billion signed in 2011.
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Despite
the projected growth, airlines in India are generally unprofitable due
to high fuel costs and stiff competition. Except for IndiGo, most other
airlines, including state-owned Air India, have been incurring huge
losses and are in financial distress.
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The A320neo is an upgraded, more fuel-efficient version of Airbus' popular A320 jets, usually used on mid-range flights.