European planemaker gets $30B order

Airbus SE notched a mega-order for 255 narrow-body jets at the Dubai Airshow, bolstering the European planemaker’s case that aircraft demand has started to roar back from the lows of the coronavirus pandemic, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

The deal for Airbus’s larger A321 model is valued at more than $30 billion before typical industry discounts. It will be parceled out among Wizz Air Holdings Plc, Frontier Group Holdings Inc. and two other low-cost carriers that count Bill Franke’s Indigo Partners LLC as their top shareholder, the companies said.

Airbus is also in talks with Air Lease Corp. for a major order that would include a mix of narrow- and wide-bodies, Bloomberg reported earlier, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Sales chief Christian Scherer said Sunday that he needs more planes and would like to see a faster ramp-up than the current target of 65 A320-series jets per month by summer 2023. The pace of acceleration is being held back by the limits on what suppliers can deliver, he said.

Franke, who was also present in Dubai, said he had an optimistic view of the market and wanted to be early in the process. Indigo will take up some slots that opened when other customers canceled orders, but the bulk of the deliveries will take place from 2025 onwards.

Wizz Air Holdings Plc, the European low-cost carrier targeting market expansion during the travel rebound, will take the biggest share with 102 planes, including 27 of the longest-range XLR variants, according to an Airbus statement.

Frontier plans to take delivery of 91 jets between 2023 and 2029, when its fleet will reach 272 aircraft including those already on order.

Mexico’s Volaris Aviation Holding ordered 39 planes and JetSmart Airlines SpA of Chile took 23, including two XLRs. It will upgrade 38 existing A320neo orders to A321s.

Altogether, Indigo Partners airlines have now ordered 1,145 A320-family aircraft. Indigo Partners, founded by investor Bill Franke, co-owns a number of airlines, including the American Frontier, the Hungarian Wizz Air, the Mexican Volaris and the American JetSmart divisions in China and Argentina.