Indigo Partners orders 255 A321neo Family aircraft

Indigo Partners has signed an order for an order for 255 additional A321neo Family aircraft for its airline portfolio.

This order brings the total number of aircraft ordered by the Indigo Partners’ airlines to 1,145 A320 Family aircraft.

The aircraft ordered are a mix of A321neos and A321XLRs, which will be delivered to the individual airlines:

Hungary’s Wizz Air will receive 102 aircraft (75 A321neo + 27 A321XLR); Frontier of the US will receive: 91 aircraft (A321neo); Mexico’s Volaris will receive 39 aircraft (A321neo) and 23 aircraft (21 A321neo + 2 A321XLR) will be delivered to JetSMART of Chile and Argentina.

In addition to this order, Volaris and JetSMART will upconvert 38 A320neo to A321neo from their existing aircraft backlogs.

“This order reaffirms our portfolio airlines’ commitment to consistent growth through the next decade. The Airbus A321neo and A321XLR have industry-leading efficiency, low unit costs and a substantially reduced carbon footprint relative to prior models. With these aircraft, Wizz, Frontier, Volaris and JetSMART will continue to offer low fares, stimulate the markets they serve and improve their industry-leading sustainability profile,” said Bill Franke, Managing Partner of Indigo Partners.

The bulk of Wizz Air’s new aircraft will be delivered between 2025 and 2027. Under certain circumstances, Wizz Air may acquire a further 19 A321neo aircraft. Airbus has also granted Wizz Air 75 A321neo purchase rights for deliveries in 2028-29, to be converted into a firm order by the end of 2022.

As with previous orders, under the agreement Wizz Air has the right to substitute a number of the Airbus A321neo aircraft with the Airbus A320neo and/or A321XLR aircraft and vice versa, depending on its future requirements. Completion of the order remains subject to approval by Wizz Air shareholders.

With the new order, Wizz Air’s delivery backlog comprises of a firm order for 34 A320neo, 254 A321neo and 47 A321XLR aircraft, plus the additional order for 19 A321neo and purchase rights for 75 A321neo, a total of 429 aircraft.

József Váradi, Wizz Air’s chief executive officer said: “Most importantly, these are by far the most fuel and cost efficient aircraft in their class – supporting us in maintaining our position as the most sustainable airline in Europe and reaching our sustainability goals of reducing CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre by 25% by 2030. It is important to note that if all European airlines switched to a modern Airbus A320/1 fleet like Wizz Air and operated them as efficiently as Wizz Air, the whole industry’s CO2 emissions would reduce by 34% overnight.

“Wizz Air is an ambitious airline with a strategy that seeks to grow the company and will continue to stimulate demand for air travel in Europe and beyond by offering the lowest fares and CO2 footprint to our customers, while still delivering a great customer experience on-board one of the youngest fleets in Europe. Our current average aircraft age stands at 5.1 years, well below the industry average (around 10 years), but with this new order we will see this drop to 3.6 years by 2024, and even further to 3.2 years by 2026.

“Despite strong demand for the aircraft, we have signed very attractive terms with Airbus for the long-term supply of more aircraft until the end of the decade, catapulting Wizz Air towards our aim of being a 500 aircraft group and putting us in an unassailable position when it comes to sustainability.”

This new order, if approved by Wizz Air’s shareholders, would bring Wizz Air’s outstanding orders with Airbus to 429 Airbus A320neo Family aircraft.