US’s Spirit Airlines bumps A320neo leases with SMBC

Spirit Airlines (NK, Fort Lauderdale Int’l) has agreed to lease six A320-200Ns from SMBC Aviation Capital and has signed sale/lease-back agreements with the lessor covering 14 more of the type sourced from the carrier’s existing Airbus order book.

In a statement, SMBC said the 14 sale/lease-back jets will deliver from November 2021 through to September 2022, while the six direct lease A320neo will arrive from September 2022 through February 2023.

Earlier, the Floridian low-cost-carrier contracted AerCap for the delivery of twenty new-build A320neo Family jets with deliveries due for 2022, 2023, and 2024. The lessor has since confirmed to ch-aviation the aircraft are indeed sourced from its own Airbus order book and are not sales/lease-backs.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module currently shows that Spirit operates thirty-one A319-100s, sixty-four A320-200s, forty-two A320-200Ns, and thirty A321-200s with outstanding orders from Airbus for thirty-five A319-100Ns, sixty-seven A320neo, and twenty A321-200Ns.