It was in the pipeline last week during the Dubai Airshow and expected to be announced yesterday, but Airbus confirmed only this morning that lessor SMBC Aviation Capital has ordered another 60 A320neo family aircraft.
The order is for both the A320neo and A321neo and brings the total number of neo-orders from to 184, says SMBC. This includes aircraft inducted since the acquisition of Goshawk Aviation. Airbus data show different numbers. It says that by the end of October, SMBC had taken delivery of 55 out of 147 A320neo’s on order and of 23 out of 55 A321neo’s on order. Including previous orders for 89 A320ceo’s and just six A321ceo’s, SMBC has now ordered 358 Airbus narrowbodies, although the airframer mentions ‘nearly 340’ in Tuesday’s press release.
Active as a journalist since 1987, with a background in newspapers, magazines, and a regional news station, Richard has been covering commercial aviation on a freelance basis since late 2016.
Richard is contributing to AirInsight since December 2018. He also writes for Airliner World, Aviation News, Piloot & Vliegtuig, and Luchtvaartnieuws Magazine. Twitter: @rschuur_aero.
