The British airline Easyjet wants to buy 157 new aircraft from aircraft manufacturer Airbus. This is intended to modernize the fleet and create the conditions for further growth.
The British low-cost airline Easyjet wants to buy a large number of new aircraft from the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer Airbus. In addition to ordering 157 aircraft, Ryanair’s competitor has secured 100 options to purchase additional aircraft, management said. A corresponding preliminary agreement has been made. In addition, an earlier order for 35 aircraft was confirmed.
“This will enable Easyjet to modernize its fleet and continue to grow after 2028,” said Easyjet boss Johan Lundgren. According to the information, the business is worth almost 20 billion dollars, which corresponds to almost 19 billion euros. At the same time, the airline wants to save costs and become more sustainable.
“Attractive conditions”
According to its own information, Easyjet maintains a purely Airbus fleet with around 320 aircraft. As already known, almost 160 new machines from the A320neo model family are to be delivered by the 2029 financial year. 56 A320neo aircraft and 101 of the long version A321neo are now being added. The board wants to use this to retire the old aircraft in the shorter A319 version. Older A320 models are also to be replaced.
According to management information, the conditions for the Airbus deal are attractive. Because the delivery bottlenecks at both Airbus and Boeing are likely to continue for many years, the timing for the order is currently good. In this way, Easyjet is ensuring that the machines will be available by the 2034 financial year at the latest.
Ryanair primarily flies Boeing
Easyjet relies on Airbus at a time when competitors are having problems with Boeing aircraft. The Irish competitor Ryanair has a significantly larger fleet and flies primarily with Boeing aircraft.
It was only at the end of September that the Irish low-cost airline announced that it would be canceling its winter flight schedule due to production problems and the resulting delays at Boeing. There was a lack of new aircraft, which is why flights had to be canceled from the end of October. In addition to Dublin, Porto and Brussels-Charleroi airports, Cologne/Bonn airport is also affected.
Summer weaker than expected
Recently, however, business for Easyjet did not go quite as hoped: based on preliminary figures, the low-cost airline slightly missed analysts’ expectations in terms of sales and occupancy in the fourth quarter, i.e. the three summer months up to the end of September. For the full year ending in September, Easyjet expects adjusted pre-tax profit of 440 to 460 million British pounds (510 to 533 million euros) – this figure is also slightly below the average estimates of industry experts.
Nevertheless, CEO Lundgren was convinced that he would be able to make gains in the generally weak first quarter by the end of December. Capacity is expected to increase by 15 percent compared to the same period last year. The tickets have cost more so far than in the previous year, and the occupancy rate is more or less stable.