The end of the year is turning out nicely for Airbus with major orders from Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa Group, and now easyJet. As part of its fleet renewal plan, the European low-cost airline finalized an order for 157 A320neo...
The end of the year is turning out nicely for Airbus with major orders from Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa Group, and now easyJet. As part of its fleet renewal plan, the European low-cost airline finalized an order for 157 A320neo family aircraft including A320neos and A321neos.
Continue reading to learn more about the order and easyJet’s fleet strategy.
EasyJet finalized a major A320neo series order. (Credit: EasyJet)
EasyJet Orders 157 Airbus A320neo Family Aircraft
As part of the order finalized on December 19, 2023, easyJet will receive the following 157 aircraft between 2029 and 2034:
56 Airbus A320neos 101 Airbus A321neosIn addition to that, easyJet also converted 35 existing A320neo orders into orders for the larger A321neo and placed options for the purchase of 100 more aircraft.
According to easyJet’s CEO, Johan Lundgren, this order, “enables easyJet to replace its older aircraft with more efficient aircraft, a core component of our net zero roadmaps, but also provides us ability for disciplined growth, including the significant opportunity that upgauging brings.”
In addition to placing a new order, easyJet also converted some A320neos already on order to A321neos. (Credit: Airbus)
EasyJet Ditches the A319 in Favor of the A320 and A321
Boeing 737-200s and 737-300 in 1995 and later added 737-700s to its fleet starting from 2000. That said, it placed its first major Airbus order, for 120 A319s, in 2002 and has been loyal to the European manufacturer since then. It phased out its last 737 in 2011.
For quite some time, the A319 remained the sole – and later dominant – type in easyJet’s fleet. That said, over time, the airline changed some of its A319 orders into A320 orders and started upgauging its fleet.
Originally, easyJet was an all-737 airline.
At one point, easyJet was an all-A319 airline.
Today, the airline operates:
Just under 100 A319ceos seating 156 passengers each Around 170 A320-200s seating either 180 or 186 passengers depending on the configuration Over 50 A320neos seating 186 passengers each 15 A321neos seating 235 passengers eachThe latest order will allow easyJet to “grow its capacity through a combination of incremental aircraft and accelerated upgauging to larger aircraft.” It will also allow the airline to modernize its fleet by replacing all of its A319ceos and about half of its A320ceos.
EasyJet’s fleet renewal plan will result in a 20% increase in capacity per flight for an upgauge from the A319ceo to the A320neo and a 26% increase in capacity per flight for an upgauge from the A320neo to the A321neo. Among other things, this will allow easyJet to offer more seats to some of the slot-restricted airports it operates to.
At the same time, thanks to the improved fuel efficiency of the neo aircraft compared to the previous generation ceo aircraft (which easyJet expects to be between 13% and 30%), the airline will be able to maintain its current economics even if it does not reach current load factors with the larger equipment.
Currently, easyJet’s fleet consists mostly of A320s.
Summary
EasyJet placed an order for 157 Airbus A320neo family aircraft including the A320neo and A321neo. The new order will allow it to not only modernize and expand its fleet but to also increase its capacity through the replacement of the smaller A319s with the larger A320neos.
The first aircraft from the new order is expected to join easyJet’s fleet in 2029 and deliveries will continue through 2034. The airline also placed options for the purchase of a further 100 aircraft.
The post EasyJet Orders Over 150 A320neo and A321neo Aircraft appeared first on KN Aviation.