US’s Spirit Airlines to lease 20 more A320neo Family jets

Spirit Airlines (NK, Fort Lauderdale Int’l) has secured twenty new-build A320neo Family jets on lease from AerCap. A statement released by the lessor did not specify the exact types of aircraft contracted but did reveal their deliveries would run from 2022 and continue through 2023 into 2024.

“We are excited to further our longstanding, strategic partnership with AerCap. These 20 new aircraft help us achieve our previously announced capacity plans for 2022 and 2023, and our targeted growth in 2024, as we continue our mission of delivering More Go and providing the best value in the sky,” Simon Gore, Vice President & Treasurer of Spirit Airlines, said in a statement.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Spirit also has thirty-five A319-100Ns, sixty-seven A320neo, and twenty A321-200Ns on order from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac).

In terms of deliveries, in the Floridian budget airline’s latest fleet plan released prior to the AerCap announcement, as of July 28, 2021, Spirit had three A320neo due in 1Q22, five in 2Q22, nine in 3Q22, and seven in 4Q22. However, the update did not factor in seven aircraft due in 2022 and 16 due in 2023 that were not yet under commitment as of the date of the plan.

Spirit’s fleet currently numbers thirty-one A319-100s, sixty-four A320-200s, forty-two A320neo, and thirty A321-200s. Given a strong return in demand for travel, it said it expects to expect to reach full fleet utilisation by mid-2022.

Operationally, Spirit serves over 80 destinations across the United States as well as the Caribbean, and Central and South America.