Spirit Airlines has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus for 100 additional Airbus A320neo family aircraft.
The proposed order includes all three A320 ‘neo’ (new engine option) types, A319neo, A320neo and A321neo. This would make Spirit one of the very few A319neo customers, as the smallest member of the A320neo family is significantly lacking behind the order numbers of the two larger variants. The agreement also includes purchase for another 50 aircraft.
Spirit Airlines is an American ultra low-cost carrier and operates 138 aircraft in an all-Airbus fleet consisting of A319, A320, A320neo and A321. The airline already had an existing order for 50 A320neo with the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus. Further A320neo orders were placed with leasing companies.
Spirit plans to operate 68 A320neo in its fleet by the end of 2021. After that, the newly agreed 100 aircraft would be delivered to the airline until 2027. Further details regarding timing of the deliveries, as well as how the order would be split between A319neo, A320neo and A321neo, have not been specified, as the MoU with Airbus deal is yet to be signed into a firm order. It is also unclear whether Spirit is interested in placing part of this order on the A321LR or A321XLR, which are both longer range variants of the A321neo.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
