Acquisition Season

It can be a major jolt to Airbus! Carriers are opting Boeing for their long haul plans. Vistara is eyeing to buy B787 Max whereas IndiGo, an Airbus dominated airline is ready to induct B777s, 787s for its expansion plans.

Not waiting for the big ticket announcements at air shows seems to be the new norm. And for Boeing, June is proving to be the month for mega orders.

The company bolstered its backlog with orders valued at $14.4 billion with two mega orders on June 25. In real terms that’s a surprise. There are few orders announced so near the biggest annual trade expo, which alternates between Paris and Farnborough, outside London. Clearly, Boeing does not want to take chances. It has beaten Airbus multiple times this year in the high stake quest for orders and does not want to hold on for the show and find the order disappearing into thin air. So, this business of stockpiling orders is no history.

The orders signed on June 25 included Vietnamese startup Bamboo Airways commitment for 20 of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. That’s a deal of about $5.6 billion on list price. Earlier in the day, Jet Airways announced it was purchasing 75 of Boeing’s 737 Max narrowbodies, valued at $8.8 billion based on list prices.

The icing on the cake could well be the Vistara order. The Tata-SIA (Singapore Airlines) JV that has just completed the 20 aircraft norm has, according to reports, plumped for the 787-9 and 10 over the A330 neos and A350. Reports suggest that the deal is for six 787s with an option to buy four more. SIA’s low cost powerhouse, Scoot successfully flies the 787-9s as does SIA and it is more than likely that Vistara could get its first set of crew from Scoot. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the IATA AGM in Sydney Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice President Sales of Boeing said: "Vistara is closely associated with SIA which operates the Boeing 787-8, 787-9 and 787-10 aircraft. They are fully aware of the benefits of these Dreamliner planes. Hence we feel this is the right aircraft for Vistara.”