China’s Spring Airlines Inks Deal To Buy 60 Airbus A320 Planes

Spring Airlines Co., China’s budget airlines founded by Wang Zhenghua, on Thursday signed an agreement to buy 60 Airbus A320 planes for $6.3 billion at list prices in order to meet rising demand, Bloomberg reported. The deal reflects the growing popularity of the single-aisle A320, one of the youngest and “greenest” fleets in the world today, among budget carriers.

The planes will be delivered from 2019 to 2023, the company said in a statement Thursday. The order includes 45 A320neo planes and 15 A321neo aircraft, and is subject to approval from shareholders and relevant authorities, Spring Air said. The airline plans to use the planes on some of the 36 new international routes Spring Air has introduced this year and will help it open even more routes, Zhang said.

The company also said the new planes will more than double its capacity as of last Dec. 31, Bloomberg reported. Citing growth in both international and domestic air travel, the company announced in July its plans to buy 21 Airbus A320 planes for 12.45 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion) to be delivered from 2015 to 2017, according to Shanghai Daily.

US aircraft maker Boeing estimates that by the year 2034, China will add 6,330 new aircraft worth US$950 billion to its commercial fleet.

Spring Airlines, founded in 2005, is headquartered in Shanghai and flies to more than 90 domestic and international routes, according to its website.