Air Lease Signs 100 Aircraft Airbus Deal

US aircraft lessor Air Lease Corporation has signed a letter of intent to buy 100 Airbus aircraft, including A220s and the newly launched A321XLR.

The LOI is for 50 A220-300s, 27 A321XLRs, and a follow on order for 23 additional A321neos. Airbus said the tentative order takes the Air Lease total to 387 aircraft, its third biggest lessor customer.

Air Lease executive chairman Steven Udvar-Házy said of the new extra long range A321 that: “We’ve had tremendous success with the A321LR long-range version; now with the A321XLR, we will open a whole new dimension of routes up to nine hours of flight time.”

The order for the 50 A220-300s marks Air Lease’s first for the former Bombardier CSeries aircraft that Airbus assumed control of last year.

The Toulouse-based airframer says the A220 has the credentials to win the “lion’s share” of the 100- to 150-seat aircraft market, which it estimates at 7,000 aircraft over the next 20 years.