India’s 1st trade war bonus? Air India eyes Boeing jets rejected by China, says report

Air India is eyeing to benefit from the ongoing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing by seeking to buy planes Boeing built for Chinese carriers which have now been rejected, Bloomberg reported citing some people familiar with the matter.

Air India desperately needs new aircraft in its fleet to compete and keep up with competitors in the Indian market, as per the report. The airline plans to approach Boeing to get its hands on the jets that were being prepared for Chinese carriers before the tariff war between US and China came in the way of the handovers, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity since the information is confidential.

The airline is keen on taking up slots for future deliveries too if they become available, the people said. This eagerness comes after Chinese carriers were told by their government not to accept aircraft from Boeing following the tit-for-tat tariff war between US and China, according to the Bloomberg report. About 10 planes were being prepared for delivery at the time, and some 737 Max jets in China have since been sent back to the US, the report added.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time Air India is trying to benefit from China’s pullback for different reasons. By March, the Indian airline had taken 41 Boeing 737 Max planes which were originally built for Chinese carriers but were never delivered due to 2019 grounding of the model.

For now, Air India’s interests lie in getting more of the already-built Boeing 737 Max planes for Air India Express, its budget subsidiary and answer to IndiGo, currently India’s dominant carrier. Air India is due to receive nine more of Boeing 737 Max planes by June, which will take the total tally to 50 planes, reported Bloomberg.

While initially it looked like the supply of available planes would run out, that may not be the case anymore given the trade tensions between US and China.

Challenges in acquiring Boeing planes

To keep itself afloat, Air India plans to remove business class seating on the already received jets and switch to all-economy class by April 2026, however, that is being hampered due to supply chain issues, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The 140 narrowbody planes Air India ordered back in 2023 from Boeing will not be delivered until after March 2026. This makes it even more important for the airline to secure any new planes it can now so as to not fall behind IndiGo.

The planes that Boeing was manufacturing for China may not easily be handed out to other customers. One of the reasons being that the original customer may have already set cabin configurations for many of those aircraft and some payments might already have been made. Also, Boeing can’t just sell these planes already under contract to Chinese airlines to anyone else.

With Bloomberg inputs.