easyJet Confirms Order for the Airbus A321neo

Today easyJet announced it has confirmed an order for 30 A321neos with Airbus, bringing an end to recent speculation of the airline recruiting larger aircraft to its single-aisle fleet.

The announcement was made alongside the company’s release of their financial results for the first half of the 2017 financial year. The aircraft will bring an 8-9 percent cost per seat saving compared to the incoming 186-seat A320neo, with the first due next month, thanks to the 235-seat configuration.

The order with Airbus sees a conversion of 30 A320neos, leaving a remaining 100 aircraft to be delivered. The change in fleet continues the upgrade trend that the airline has been overseeing for the past few years, with the 156-seat A319 eventually being phased out and current 180-seat A320s being retrofitted boosting its configuration to 186 seats.

easyJet fleet and deliveries (easyJet)

Discussed as part of the financial results the airline commented, “Introducing A321s to our fleet is a great example of how we’re continuing to deliver against our spikes. We’ll be able to increase capacity on key routes in some of our most congested airports – airports where we simply can’t grow at the moment – which will help us build up our portfolio of number one positions in primary airports.”

With the carrier operating in most major city airports, the competition for slots amongst the airlines is very high. Because of this, the 235-seat A321neo becomes a preferred choice for the airline on its high-density routes rather than the 180-186 seat aircraft.

“We’ll be able to increase capacity on key routes in some of our most congested airports – airports where we simply can’t grow at the moment – which will help us build up our portfolio of number one positions in primary airports.”

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