Air India has continued a dramatic bid to recapture a place among top carriers by placing a new order for 85 Airbus jets and now eyes more Boeings on top of an historic purchase of almost 500 jets from the two planemakers, industry sources said.

The Airbus order emerged in a routine industry update as the national carrier mourned the death of the former chairman of parent Tata Group, business and aviation pioneer Ratan Tata.

Airbus said late on Wednesday an unnamed customer had placed an order for 75 A320-family jets and 10 long-haul A350s — a deal worth $6.3 billion after typical discounts, according to Cirium Ascend data. Airlines frequently keep their names under wraps to avoid revealing their fleet strategies to competitors.

Three industry sources said that Air India was the airline behind the order, which involves exercising options and comes barely a year after it ordered 250 new jets from Airbus and 220 from Boeing to revive its status with an all-new fleet. Two of the sources said Air India was also in talks for a potential top-up order from Boeing. Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Airbus part of the follow-on negotiations, first reported by Bloomberg News.

Airbus, whose monthly order update was published shortly before Tata announced the death of its former chairman at the age of 86, declined comment on any talks with customers. Two of the sources said Air India was also in talks for a potential top-up order from Boeing.

Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Airbus part of the follow-on negotiations, first reported by Bloomberg News.

Airbus, whose monthly order update was published shortly before Tata announced the death of its former chairman at the age of 86, declined comment on any talks with customers.

Flying and fast cars were two of his biggest passions and the group sought to snap up Air India in an earlier privatisation process which was later aborted by the government.

In 2021, he cheered the return of Air India to Tata’s fold under a new process but acknowledged the challenge of rebuilding the airline virtually from scratch after years of decline.