Planemaker has struck a deal with IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, for a mix of A320neo, A321neo and A321XLR aircraft with the wings being made at Broughton. Tony McDonough reports
Planemaker Airbus has secured one of its largest ever orders with a single airline after agree to sell 300 aircraft to Indian carrier IndiGo in a £25bn deal.
The deal for the A320neo family of planes is great news for more than 6,000 workers at the giant Airbus wing-making plant at Broughton in Deeside, which employs many people living in the Liverpool city region.
IndiGo is a low-cost airline and is India’s biggest by passengers numbers. The agreement for a mix of A320neo, A321neo and A321XLR aircraft takes its total number of A320neo Family aircraft orders to 730.
Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said: “We are delighted that IndiGo, one of our early launch customers for the A320neo, continues to build its future with Airbus, making IndiGo the world’s biggest customer for the A320neo Family.
“We are grateful for this strong vote of confidence as this order confirms the A320neo Family as the aircraft of choice in the most dynamic aviation growth markets. We are pleased to see our aircraft allowing IndiGo to take full advantage of the predicted growth in Indian air travel.”
The A321XLR is the next evolutionary step from the A321LR which responds to market needs for even more range and payload. The aircraft will deliver an extra long range of up to 4,700nm – with 30% lower fuel burn per seat compared with previous generation competitor jets.
At the end of September 2019, the A320neo Family had received more than 6,650 firm orders from nearly 110 customers worldwide. The announcement is welcome new for Airbus which announced earlier this year that it was ending production of its A380 superjumbo, the wings for which are also made at Deeside.
Ronojoy Dutta, chief executive Officer of IndiGo, added: “This order is an important milestone, as it reiterates our mission of strengthening air connectivity in India, which will in turn boost economic growth and mobility. India is expected to continue with its strong aviation growth.”