Airline EasyJet has placed a new multi-billion-pound deal with Airbus for a new fleet of aircraft.
In a further boost to Airbus’s wing-making factory at Broughton, in North Wales, the airline has confirmed it will buy 56 Airbus A320neo aircraft, as well as convert an order of 18 A320neo jets to the same number of A321neo aircraft.
The planes will be delivered between 2026 and 2029 to replace older A319 and A320 aircraft.
The list price is around £5.4bn -although EasyJet said it would less than that as part of an agreement reached in 2013.
The proposed purchase firms up EasyJet’s order book with Airbus to 2028.
EasyJet told investors: “The directors believe the proposed purchase supports the delivery of our overall strategic objectives.
Given constraints on Airbus delivery slots, should the proposed purchase not proceed, EasyJet would not have a secure supply of aircraft between financial year 2026 and 2029 and would therefore need to either decrease its fleet size or source alternative new generation aircraft with higher ownership costs.
“If instead we sourced aircraft from the secondary market, this may expose us to older technology. EasyJet would face greater exposure to fluctuating fuel prices and carbon related taxes and would be competitively disadvantaged relative to the more modern fleets operated by its competitors."
