A supply chain quirk helped Air India get 50 planes made for Chinese peers

By Mihir Mishra

Air India Ltd.’s windfall of 737 Max jets amid a broader shortage of new planes is coming to an end.

After adding two Boeing Co. aircraft a month on average since September 2023 as the US manufacturer cleared a backlog of the jets it had originally built for Chinese carriers, the pool will run dry by June, people familiar with the matter said, leaving the Indian airline with little visibility around fresh deliveries in the months ahead.

Air India’s easy supply was thanks to a supply chain quirk. Boeing was able to divert 737 Max jets built for Chinese carriers, including Shanghai Airlines Co., as they deferred taking deliveries following regulatory concerns about the safety of a lithium battery in the planes’ cockpit voice recorders.

Having ordered 190 of the aircraft in June 2023, Air India’s low cost arm, Air India Express Ltd., has already taken possession of 41 of the 50 so-called white-tail planes — those built for others but still in storage. Another four are due this month and five between May and June.

Considering deliveries of the remaining 140 737 Max jets wouldn’t start before the end of the fiscal year ending March 2026, the Tata Group-owned Air India risks losing ground to market leader IndiGo, which has said that this year, it’s adding more than one aircraft a week.

Of the 41 white-tail aircraft Air India has received so far, 38 of them are in operations and three are being repainted, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential arrangements.

Boeing is separately working on ramping up the 737 production, as it targets 38-jets a month by mid-2025.

“We will defer to our customers for any details on their fleet planning,” Boeing said in an email response. Air India and Air India Express didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Air India Group, which commands less than a third of India’s domestic aviation market, ordered a total of 570 aircraft in the past two years, with the orders split between from Boeing and Airbus SE.

Despite the large order, fresh deliveries of single-aisle planes from Boeing may happen only closer to the end of the current fiscal year, the people said.

Apart from the white-tail aircraft from Boeing, Air India has also received six Airbus 350-900s, which were meant for Russian Flag carrier Aeroflot. Besides, it leased 11 Boeing 777s from the market, they said.

Akasa Air, Air India’s smaller rival and another Boeing 737 Max customer, has grown its fleet to 27 aircraft in 30 months mainly on the back of these white-tail planes, even as it struggles amid delivery delays of 199 of the 226 aircraft it ordered.