FARNBOROUGH, England-- Airbus Group NV won further commitments
for its upgraded A330 as CIT Aerospace joined a group of lessors to
boost the European plane maker's order book on the second day of
the Farnborough air show.
CIT Aerospace will buy 15 upgraded A330 jets along with five
single-aisle A321s, said Jeff Knittel, head of transportation
finance for CIT. The deal has a list price value of $4.7 billion,
with buyers typically getting discounts.
Airbus on Monday introduced the two upgraded versions of the
A330, the A330-800neo and the larger A330-900neo, which features
more efficient turbines from Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC to reduce the
widebody jets' fuel burn by around 14%.
CIT will take either the A330-800neo or the larger model, which
is due from 2018, he said.
Airbus Monday booked an order for 25 A330neo jets from Air Lease
Corp., kicking off a campaign to secure more than 1,000 deals for
the jets over the next 15 years. Lessors have placed the first
orders, because they could react the quickest since Airbus began
aggressively marketing the plane just in the past few weeks, said
John Leahy, the chief salesman for the Airbus commercial plane
unit.
BOC Aviation Tuesday also agreed to buy 43 single-aisle jets.
The deal is a split of seven A320neo jets, which feature more
efficient engines, and 36 of the current model A320 family
aircraft. Chief Executive Robert Martin said lessors are
increasingly buying the largest of the A320 family jets as demand
in Asia drifts to higher seat planes.
SMBC Aviation Capital bought 115 A320 jets, including 110
A320neo planes, and Irish lessor Avolon agreed to buy 15
A330-900neo jets, the company's first direct purchase of widebody
jets from Airbus. "The sweet spot for the airplane will be in
Asia," said Avolon Chief Executive Domhnal Slattery.
The plane will serve city pairs that don't even exist yet, Mr.
Slattery said, projecting demand for more than 1,000 of the
planes.
Avolon, which is also a buyer of the Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner,
sees the widebodies from the rival plane makers being able to
coexist. "They are both good products and they have distinct
markets," Mr. Slattery said.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
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