According to Bloomberg, deliveries of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to Air India Express will end by mid-2025, as Boeing depletes its inventory of aircraft originally produced for Chinese airlines but never delivered.
Since September 2023, Air India Express has been receiving about two B737-8 aircraft per month. The airline took advantage of the opportunity to incorporate planes originally built for Chinese carriers into its own fleet. So far, the company has received a total of 41 B737-8s and is expected to take delivery of nine more by June 30, completing the process. From that point onward, Boeing’s inventory will be exhausted, and Air India Express will have to enter a longer queue for newly produced aircraft.
Boeing’s Chief Financial Officer, Brian West, stated during the Bank of America Global Industrials Conference in March: “We are working hard to clear out this inventory built before 2023 and deliver those aircraft to new customers.”
Air India Express operates as a low-cost subsidiary of Air India. Both companies are part of Tata Sons and have attracted attention with their large orders from Boeing and Airbus. They have also gained a fleet expansion advantage by taking over aircraft whose deliveries were canceled for various reasons.
Excluding the last nine B737-8s to be delivered by the end of June, Air India Express has placed a total order of 90 B737-8s and 50 B737-10s with Boeing. However, the next phase of these deliveries is expected no earlier than March or April 2026.
Meanwhile, Air India Express’s competitor, IndiGo Airlines, which has placed a massive order for narrow-body aircraft from Airbus, plans to receive a new aircraft every week during the same period.
According to Boeing’s latest order data, Indian airlines have a total of 509 aircraft on order. These include: 99 B737-8s and 50 B737-10s for Air India Express, 100 B737-8-200s and 99 B737-10s for Akasa Air, 129 B737-8s for SpiceJet, and 10 B777-9s and B787-9s for Air India.
