400 Up – easyJet take delivery of their 400th Airbus aircraft

easyJet and Airbus marked their successful ongoing partnership of more than 20 years, with the aircraft manufacturer delivering the airline operator’s 400^th Airbus aircraft, an Airbus A321neo.

A handover ceremony for easyJet’s newest aircraft was held at Finkenwerder – Airbus’s manufacturing plant for the A320 programme in Hamburg. The newest addition to the fleet features a special livery design, with the number 400 made up of miniature aircraft.

The delivery flight from Hamburg-Finkenwerder to easyJet´s maintenance hangar at Berlin/Brandenburg airport was powered by a 5% percent Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blend, marking the first SAF-usage by any easyJet service from Germany.

Since the delivery of easyJet’s first Airbus A320 family aircraft 20 years ago, the airline currently has over 330 aircraft currently in service.

In Quotes

David Morgan, Chief Operating Officer at easyJet said:

“We are really pleased to take delivery of our 400^th aircraft from Airbus which also coincided with our 20^th anniversary of operating in Germany.

“As we continue our fleet renewal programme with more fuel-efficient, quieter aircraft from the A320neo family we are proud to continue working with Airbus and CFM who both have a tenacious approach to manufacturing and sustainability and continue to be reliable partners for easyJet.”

Benoit de Saint Exupery, EVP for Sales, Commercial Aircraft at Airbus added:

“It’s a mark of easyJet’s commitment to minimise fuel burn and emissions by operating the latest technology aircraft, that it has taken a little over 20 years to deliver its 400th Airbus aircraft, averaging an impressive 20 new Airbus aircraft deliveries every year, since 2003.”

20 years in Germany, going strong

easyJet has been active over the years, with the airline celebrating its 20^th anniversary of operations in Germany. The ceremony comes after the e airline’s recent confirmation of a firm order for 157 additional A320neo family aircraft.

The firm order comprises 56 A320neo and 101 A321neo aircraft and also includes the upsizing of an existing order for 35 A320neo into the larger A321neo.

With growth and renewal of assets always on the menu as airlines seek to reduce operation costs (as those fuel bills add up quickly), keeping one eye on the future and how it’s going to affect the airline is important.

It also shows airlines it is possible to use the scaling power of single-fleets – remember that easyJet was originally a Boeing operator, before switching to the Airbus narrowbody family, with the airline purchasing and inheriting aircraft on the way. Today, the group operates the Airbus A319, Airbus A320, Airbus A320neo and Airbus A321neo.