EasyJet is to exercise an option to take delivery of 15 Airbus A320s between 2012 and 2014. The budget carrier has agreed new options over a further 33 A320s.
At the same time, 20 A319 aircraft which EasyJet had contracted to acquire from Airbus have been converted into orders for A320s.
The airline has the right to exercise the additional 33 options up to March 2013. The basic list price of each A320 is about $73 million but EasyJet has been granted substantial confidential price concessions by Airbus and the selected engine manufacturer.
The company said that the announcement “will ensure that EasyJet is able to continue to execute its strategy of carefully targeted growth and take advantage of opportunities for profitable market share gain”.
“EasyJet benefits from flexibility in its fleet planning arrangements and through a combination of the new aircraft order, deferrals and lease extensions means that its growth rate in terms of seats flown can be flexible and dependant on the opportunities available and economic conditions.”
Chief executive Carolyn McCall said: “A central feature of the agreement is the flexibility it gives EasyJet to vary the growth rate in its capacity to reflect economic conditions and market opportunities.”