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laydn

It is interesting to note that just 5 companies dominated the order book: (1223 total)

* 500 to Indigo (India)

* 250 to Air India.

* 220 to Turkish Airlines

* 153 to EasyJet

* 100 to Avolon.

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I'd be interested to know how many are former Boeing customers. The implication is that people are switching from Boeing to Airbus but it's quite possible a lot of these airlines have always been Airbus customers.

IngiGo are all Airbus and ATR: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IndiGo#Fleet

Air India are about 60% Airbus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_fleet

Turkish Airlines are about 50/50: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Airlines_fleet#Current...

EasyJet are all Airbus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EasyJet#Fleet

Avalon doesn't have fleet information on Wikipedia (I'm not in the industry and have no idea what a reputable place to go to get this information would be)

Avolon looks majority Airbus: https://www.avolon.aero/our-fleet

Avolon buys what it calculates it can lease out to airlines, it doesn't have a 'preference' itself.

So basically this Airbus order surge probably has little to do with recent Boeing news and the headline is misleading clickbait

India is going through an economic boom period of which not that many people talk about. The cheap energy inputs as a result of Western sanctions on Russia also help with that, of course.

India's economy in general is strong but the recent expansion in air travel has been epic.

I'd also point out that US airlines are notorious for holding on to old planes. Delta in particular has an ancient fleet but they are excellent in maintenance so it's OK, it's not like the 737 has done anything to improve the passenger experience in the past 30 years.

Well old planes I travelled in India were more spacious. And new planes from US to India were so congested to the point of being claustrophobic. There is no way one can put meal tray on to that tiny front seat pullout.

Needless to say I am just a cattle class passenger. Upper classes would have better experience. Sure, old planes will last forever and everything in next decades will be replaced by same tight seating planes.

Packing in more people definitely improves the economics of the plane and gets the ticket price down and makes it available to more people. In the US we stopped giving out free meals on flights about 10 years ago, at best you can buy a $20 yucky cardboard lunch box, so the problem of the front pullout never comes up.

I think the most luxurious experience in US domestic travel I had was circa 2013 on a 767 widebody from NYC to LA but there were times circa 1990 when it was common to get on a 737 from Philadelphia or Pittsburgh to Albuquerque that was 1/3 full which feels spacious but that couldn't have been economic.

The industry here is competitive on price but not competitive on quality. New entrants in the industry have focused on price, but I can certainly imagine a start-up airline that builds a fleet of entirely A220 or E2-Jets around a hub in, say, Texas, could serve almost all of North America and advertise a futurist plane you'll like much better.

Seat configuration is up to the airline to decide to some degree. Some newer 737s have the ability for airlines to pack them dense if they decide to. A lot of airlines use 737s for short haul flights that do not have meal service, so not being able to fit a meal is not a concern for these customers. What they care about more is being able to split the costs between more passengers and offer cheaper tickets.

Newer planes have made massive strides in fuel-efficiency, though.

Cheap inputs are temporary.

What is happening is that for decades, Indian govts have not focussed much on infra development. Current govt, which is in power for past 9 years, has put infra development on a rocket sled, with special focus on highways, railway stations, freight and airports.

Also, air travel is just within the reach of middle-middle class and above. Cirporate bookings are also on the rise.

On the whole, a huge boom is in the works. But dampners include eventual high prices and inefficiencies of logistics and poor management.

Indian are cheap travellers, and cutting 5 USD on a ticket that has no snacks means people will throng to it.

Market is astronomically competitive and consumers are very high price sensitive.

I don't understand why you got downvoted, but you are raising an interesting point

Apple made sure to migrate some of their factories to India is another evidence

As well as US companies lobbying the Indian government to weaken the labor laws

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/apple-foxconn-convin...

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