International Airlines Group (IAG) has confirmed that it has ordered an additional 37 Airbus A320neo family aircraft.
IAG is the Spanish based parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Level and Vueling. Today’s announcement consists of the firming up of 12 previous purchase options, with 25 new firm orders and an additional 50 options. The specific aircraft split for this order is still yet to be decided, along with which airlines they will be divided to but delivery slots are stated to be between 2024 and 2025.
The airline group IAG has said these additional Airbus aircraft “will be used to replace A320ceo family aircraft in the Group’s short-haul fleet.”
Unexpected boost for Airbus
This comes the week after the Farnborough Airshow, during which Airbus were seemingly quiet on the order front, with Boeing taking the main headlines. It also follows from Monday’s news of German leisure carrier, Condor placing an order for 41 A320neo family aircraft.
When asked in a press conference why the manufacturer wasn’t seeing many order announcements at the show, Christian Scherer, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Airbus International said “We don’t need to make a lot of noise.”
It feels strange for these orders to come so hot off the heels of the world’s largest airshow rather than be presented in front of the world’s press. That being said, it is likely that there were still final considerations being made by the airlines involved.
Whilst Airbus was certainly not struggling on the sales front, with over 300 aircraft sold in 2022 prior to Farnborough, the issue the company faces is the ability to supply the demand for its jets, with new delivery slots for the A320 family typically backlogged until the end of the decade, with the exception of confirming pre-agreed options and the taking of other airline’s unfulfilled orders and options.
Matt is a Berlin-based writer and reporter for International Flight Network. Originally from London, he has been involved in aviation from a very young age and has a particular focus on aircraft safety, accidents and technical details.
