- Wizz—146 planes (72 A320neo, 74 A321neo)
- Frontier—134 planes (100 A320neo, 34 A321neo)
- Volaris—80 planes (46 A320neo, 34 A321neo)
- JetSmart—70 planes (56 A320neo, 14 A321neo)
Airbus Seals Record $50 Billion Deal to Outshine Boeing in Dubai
By: | Nov 15 2017 at 03:09 AM | Air Cargo
Airbus SE announced the biggest commercial-plane deal in its history, securing an order valued at nearly $50 billion for 430 planes from its single-aisle A320neo line.
The pact with U.S. investor Indigo Partners gives Airbus the upper hand at the Dubai Air Show, where it has been trailing Boeing Co. in orders. It’s also a crowning achievement for Airbus sales chief John Leahy, who is set to retire after a multi-decade career in which he has struck deals for thousands of jets and lifted the European planemaker into a duopoly position with its rival.
For Indigo Partners, led by Bill Franke, the Airbus accord provides upgraded narrow-body aircraft to boost the fleets of low-cost carriers from Denver to Budapest. The planes will go to four companies in Indigo’s investment portfolio: Frontier Airlines, Mexico’s Volaris, European operator Wizz Air Holdings Plc and upstart JetSmart, which began operating this year in Chile.
The deal features 273 A320neo jets together with 157 of the larger A321neo variant and is worth $49.5 billion before customary discounts, Airbus said. Leahy, 67, called the transaction “remarkable,” while Franke, 80, who co-founded Indigo in 2002, said it underscores his confidence in the A320 and the bargain fares, no-frills travel model he helped develop.Airbus shares rose as much as 3.9 percent and were trading 3.7 percent higher at 86.67 euros as of 9:06 a.m. in Paris, taking the gain this year to 38 percent.
More to Come?
Even with the massive haul from Indigo, Airbus may not be done at the Dubai event. Other mooted orders may still materialize on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter have said, including an accord with EgyptAir Airlines Co. for A320neos and one with discount carrier FlyDubai. The latter is weighing an order for as many as 175 narrow-body planes that could be split between the A321neo and Boeing’s 737 Max.
The Indigo deal more than doubles Airbus’s previous order book for the year, which stood at about 290 aircraft as of Oct. 31, pushes the planemaker’s backlog above 7,000 jets and reverses expectations that orders will trail deliveries in 2017.
The haul will also help Airbus catch up to Boeing in the order tally this year, with the European planemaker having chalked up 343 contracts at the end of last month, compared with 690 for its Chicago-based rival as of Nov. 7. The order also trumps a 2015 deal for 250 single-aisle jets worth $27 billion by Indian budget carrier IndiGo. The two companies aren’t related.
The massive A320 win takes the sting out of a possible defeat on the A380 superjumbo, which has so far failed to clinch a follow-up deal with local carrier Emirates at the Dubai show. The companies have been in talks on a deal for about 36 additional double-deckers valued at $15.7 billion, people familiar with the negotiations have said.
The A380 has become all but a fringe product for Airbus, with a total order book of 317—more than 100 short of the A320s that Indigo plans to buy.
The breakdown of the Indigo order is as follows: