Boeing and Air India announced today the airline has ordered 30 more fuel-efficient 737 MAX jets, expanding its Boeing order book to nearly 200 airplanes across the company’s single-aisle and widebody airplane families.

The airline finalized an incremental purchase of 20 737-8 jets this month and an order for 10 737-10 airplanes was previously unidentified on Boeing’s Orders & Deliveries website. Both purchases exercised existing options as Air India expands its route network to meet rising travel demand.    

Shri. Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Hon’ble Minister of Civil Aviation, India, with the leaders from Boeing and Air India

Air India will operate the new 737-8s, leveraging their dispatch reliability, fuel efficiency and range flexibility on high-frequency, domestic and short-haul regional routes. The airline also plans to deploy the larger 737-10 to maintain operational commonality and carry more passengers at the lowest cost per seat among single-aisle aircraft.

As Air India expands its fleet and network, Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook forecasts the Indian and South Asian region will need nearly 3,300 new airplanes over the next two decades with 90% of those single-aisle jets like the 737 MAX.