Lessor Avolon orders 90 Airbus aircraft to bring total on order above 400

Reuters

4 days ago

DUBLIN, July 24 (Reuters) - Global leasing giant Avolon said on Thursday it was ordering 75 A321neo and 15 A330neo aircraft from Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab, bringing the number of aircraft it is due to receive from the European planemaker over the next eight years to 413.
Dublin-based Avolon, the world's second-largest aircraft lessor, said the order included further purchase rights for 25 A321neos and options to buy 15 A330neos. It follows large orders it placed with both Airbus and Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab in 2023.
"We continue to see very strong demand for aircraft. We expect that trend to continue and we expect that demand to outstrip supply of aircraft over the coming years," Avolon Chief Executive Andy Cronin told Reuters.
Cronin added that Avolon was also close to placing all of the 40 existing A330neo it has on order with airlines. Avolon was a launch customer for the wide-body jet in 2014.
The aircraft leasing sector is responsible for around half of the planes on order with Airbus and Boeing.
"Lessors are excellent barometers of the aircraft market. This endorsement illustrates the strong attractiveness to a wide variety of customers of these two aircraft," Benoit de Saint-Exupery, senior vice president of sales at Airbus' commercial aircraft business, said in a statement.
Avolon, a subsidiary of China's Bohai Leasing Co Ltd (000415.SZ), opens new tab, is due to start taking delivery of around 70 aircraft a year from the two main manufacturers over the next year or so.
Cronin said he was confident most of those planes would be delivered on time in 2026 and 2027, but that he would be "fairly surprised" if they all arrived on schedule.
Avolon also reported a 36% year-on-year increase in net income in the second quarter on Thursday, the first full quarter to include last year's $5 billion acquisition of smaller rival Castlelake Aviation Limited.
Cronin said Avolon was seeing "very, very robust growth" for air travel across the world.