Deal is great news for around 6,000 workers at the Airbus plant at Broughton in Deeside, where wings for the aircraft are built. Tony McDonough reports

Airbus has secured an £8bn deal to sell 100 aircraft to US-based Spirit Airlines.

Spirit has agreed to purchase 100 A320neo Family aircraft. In October, the two parties had signed and announced a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of up to 100 of the aircraft – a mix of A319neo, A320neo, and A321neo.

The deal is great news for around 6,000 workers at the Airbus plant at Broughton in Deeside, where wings for the aircraft are built. It comes just days after it was revealed the planemaker delivered a record 863 aircraft in 2019 and has moved ahead of its main rival Boeing in the ongoing battle for the crown of worlds number one.

Spirit is based in South Florida and is the fastest-growing airline in the US, with flights throughout the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. The airline will announce an engine selection at a later date.

Featuring the widest single-aisle cabin in the sky, the best-selling A320neo Family, comprising the A319neo, A320neo, and A321neo, will deliver a fuel-burn reduction of approximately 20% as well as 50% less noise compared to previous-generation aircraft, thanks to incorporating the very latest technologies including new-generation engines and Sharklets.

Firm orders worldwide for the A320neo Family now have surpassed 7,300 from more than 110 global customers. It was also reported just before Christmas that Airbus had beaten Boeing to be the preferred supplier to Australian airline Qantas for aircraft capable of undertaking the world’s longest commercial flights.

Qantas is aiming to fly non-stop services from both New York and London direct to Sydney and has chosen the Airbus A350 as the ideal aircraft. It has been carrying out research to ensure the aircraft can make the journey comfortably without refuelling and to assess the impact on crew and passengers.