Arvind’s Newsletter

1.Unpacking Air India’s monster deal. Air India has sealed the world’s largest aircraft deal by placing an order for 540 planes worth $82 billion. The Tata Sons-run airline announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to purchase 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus and obtained options for 70 more planes, as it seeks expand its network both in India and beyond. However, the actual price of the short- and long-haul aircraft may be lower since bulk orders come with discounts and incentives. Mint takes a deep dive into the rationale behind this unprecedented move.

Air India created history with the largest single order by any airline till date, topping the 460 aircraft deal by American Airlines with Boeing and Airbus in 2011. While American Airlines’ order was for narrow-body aircraft, Air India’s order constitute both narrow- and wide-body planes. Notably, Air India is the second Indian airline in the top five aircraft orders till date – IndiGo is fourth with an order for 300 aircraft in 2019. IndiGo, however, has a far higher order book than Air India till date. The low-cost carrier has ordered 830 aircraft in four tranches, It has received 350 aircraft and awaiting delivery of another 480 by 2030.

Of the 540 aircraft, 470 are firm orders, and the rest are options with Boeing that Air India can exercise any time in the future. The 470 airplanes include 210 Airbus 320 neos, 190 Boeing 737 MAXs, 40 Airbus 350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777x. The options include 50 Boeing 737 MAXs and 20 Boeing 787s.The order size and type of aircraft demonstrates that the airline plans to strengthen connectivity on domestic routes and expand its short- and long-haul international network. The airline would use Airbus 320 (neos) and Boeing 737 MAX for flights in India, as well as for short-haul international routes, such as to countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Airbus 350, Boeing 777x and Boeing 787 will be used for long-haul international flights to Europe, North America and Canada which are high-yield markets, Typically, a large number of people flying out of India to the West opt for airlines in the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia through a stopover in the home country. Estimates show that 60-80% of Indians flying these airlines fly to Europe and Americas. With the new orders, Air India will offer options for direct flights to Indian passengers. Since it was taken over by Tata Sons, it has launched flights to these destinations.

As part of the plan, Singapore International Airlines will have a 25.1% in Air India by 2024. Together, the two airlines have a plan to connect countries in the east of India with the west via airports in India. This arrangement will not just help Air India with passenger traffic from the east of India but give Singapore Airlines the strength to compete with Middle eastern airlines such as Emirates, Qatar and Etihad. This move will also allow India to become an international hub for air traffic; besides Indians will have more options to choose from.

2.Europe’s first “green steel” plant could produce its first batch of steel by 2025.Construction work is already underway in Boden, northern Sweden. Steel production, with its high temperature and use of “coking coal,” is carbon-intensive: It is responsible for about 7% of the world’s greenhouse emissions. But the Boden plant, built by H2 Green Steel, will use hydrogen in its furnaces, cutting emissions by 95%. The hydrogen is derived from water, using zero-carbon energy sources, such as a local hydropower dam. Another Swedish company plans to open a plant in 2026, and H2 Green Steel has signed a deal to build a plant in Spain.

3.YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki steps down, leaving Big Tech with no female CEOs. Susan Wojcicki’s exit makes the industry even more of a boy’s club, opines Bloomberg. An unsettling trend in Silicon Valley: High profile women are heading for the exits. Just this week, Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Business Officer Marne Levine stepped down after 12 years at the social media juggernaut. Last year, Sheryl Sandberg left her role as chief operating officer of Meta.

To be sure, powerful female figures remain in tech, but they tend to have a lower public profile. Safra Catz, chief executive officer of Oracle Corp. rarely gives interviews. Susan Li, Meta’s chief financial officer has yet to give an interview, though she was just promoted to the role last November. Lisa Jackson is one of five women on Apple’s leadership team, compared with 13 men.

4.Why are flood myths so common in stories from ancient cultures around the world? Likely the most famous flood story comes from the Book of Genesis, in which the protagonist, Noah, builds an ark to survive a devastating deluge. But this is hardly the only flood myth from world literature. There’s also a flood in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh(Utnapishtim also builds an ark), as well flood stories from India and Mesoamerica. Could the prevalence of flood myths around the world tell us something about early human migration or even the way our brains work. Read on from this article by Tim Brinkhof from BigThink.

5.The rare video, taken in July 1986, was released to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the James Cameron movie “Titanic.” The footage shows the first time humans set eyes on the ship after it sank in 1912. Researchers located the remains of the famed ocean liner in 1985, and captured the footage a year later when they sent a three-person submersible thousands of feet below the surface to investigate. See the video here.