Paris Air Show 2019 Day 3 – Daily Digest – The rise of the XLR

It’s bee another busy day at the Paris Air Show, and it’s time to unpack the orders, MoU’s and LoI’s that have been made today

Airbus

First up is Indigo Partners who will acquire 50 of the new Airbus A321XLR. They signed a Memorandum of Understanding for 32 A321XLRs and the conversion of 18 existing A320neo family orders. The 50 aircraft will be distributed amongst the group – with 20 to be allocated to Wizz Air, 18 to Frontier, and 12 to JetSMART.

Onto Qatas who are signing for 36 Airbus A321XLR aircraft. This includes the conversion of 26 existing A320neo Family orders plus a new firm order for 10 A321XLRs. These will be distributed in the Qantas group, covering Qantas and JetStar.

China Airlines signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for 11 A321neo aircraft and will acquire another 14 aircraft of the type on lease.

American Airlines is joining the A321XLR party, who will acquire 50 Airbus A321XLR aircraft. The purchase agreement includes the conversion of 30 of American’s existing A321neo slots to A321XLRs and incremental orders for an additional 20 A321XLRs.

Finally, Dublin-based leasing company Accipiter Holdings has signed a Purchase Agreement to acquire 20 A320neo aircraft.

Boeing

Let’s head over to the Boeing chalet, where orders have been ticking along over the day.

China Airlines today announced the airline’s intent to order up to six 777 Freighters.

ASL Aviation Holdings signed a Memorandum of Understanding for 20 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF). The agreement includes 10 firm orders and 10 purchase rights.

Qatar Airways announced a commitment  to purchase five additional Boeing  777 Freighters.

Finally. Turkmenistan Airlines, will add an additional Boeing 777-200LR to its fleet.

Turkmenistan Airlines Boeing 777-200LR

ATR

Meanwhile, it’s been a busy day at ATR with the launch of the ATR42-600S – the version for short field performance (being able to take off and land on a runway as short as 800m). Elix Aviation Capital kicked off the party – and signed a Letter of Intent to become the launch customer of the ATR 42-600S, with an order for 10 aircraft.

Air Tahiti have confirmed the order for two ATR 42-600S to add to the fleet

Embraer

It’s been a good day for Embraer, who have snagged KLM Cityhopper with an intention to purchase up to 35 E195-E2 jets, split by 15 firm orders with purchase rights for a further 20 aircraft of the same model.

Onto Day 4

Day three tends to be a quiet day – although today is an exception rather than the rule. We move onto Day 4 of the Paris Air Show tomorrow, where airframers tend to hold back one or two very big announcements with big customers.

What those orders will be… well, as always will be interesting to find out.

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