Air India reveals a Boeing order discount

CHICAGO, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- An Air India request for proposals involving 27 planes from U.S. planemaker Boeing gives a rare glimpse at the price the airline is paying for the new airships.

It is rarely revealed how much of a discount Boeing gives to its customers, The (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune reported Tuesday.

Air India, however, is offering to sell the 787-8 Dreamliners it ordered, all 27 of them, to a third party in exchange for a lease agreement on the planes.

While issuing the request for proposals on the deal, Air India revealed that it is paying between $109.6 million to $111.1 million for the planes, the newspaper said.

The order was placed in 2005 and the price has gone up, but Boeing's list prices for a 787-8 is a cool $193.5 million.

That means Air India negotiated a sizable 57 percent discount for the order. It also reveals that when Boeing announces a big order has come in and uses the list price to describe the size of the order in the news release, the company's actual take on the deal is likely much lower.