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A321 from WizzAir: Owner Indigo has ordered 255 new machines
Photo: Szilard Koszticsak / EPA-EFE
Airbus seems to be shaking off the corona crisis.
The European aircraft manufacturer has now received a major order at the first major aviation trade fair since the beginning of the pandemic.
The US company Indigo Partners ordered 255 A321 aircraft, as Airbus announced at the Dubai Air Show.
The machines could thus be used in the future by the four Indigo airlines Wizz Air, Frontier, Volaris and Jetsmart.
Airbus did not provide any information on the value of the major order.
Based on the list price last published in 2018, the order value would be more than $ 33 billion, but list prices are rarely used for large orders.
Airbus boss Guillaume Faury indicated that an attractive price was possible: "It's a give and take."
The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air is said to receive 102 aircraft, the US company Frontier Airlines 91, the Mexican airline Volaris 39 and the Chilean Jetsmart 23. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2025.
British Airways, Emirates and Co. are flying with the A380 again
Overall, the aviation industry, which has been hard hit by the corona regulations, could also look up again.
Airbus expects a worldwide demand of 39,020 new passenger and cargo aircraft in the next 20 years, as sales manager Steve Scherer said.
That is only 0.5 percent less than Airbus had predicted two years ago - before the outbreak of the pandemic.
Growing demand for cargo aircraft should largely offset the slower growth in passenger traffic.
Airbus is assuming an annual increase in passengers of 3.9 percent instead of 4.3 percent as two years ago.
"We ultimately lost two years of growth due to the pandemic," said Scherer.
The fact that the recovery is resonating with the airlines also suggests that some airlines are working on the return of the super-jumbo Airbus A380.
British Airways is already flying to some European connections every day with the world's largest passenger aircraft in order to bring its crews up to the required level of training.
In winter it goes back to Miami, Dubai or Los Angeles.
Qatar, Emirates, the Japanese ANA, Qantas and Singapore Airlines are also sending the giant aircraft on their way again, according to a list by aviation expert Andreas Spaeth.
Lufthansa, on the other hand, has permanently mothballed its 14 aircraft of this type, six of which Airbus has already taken back at an undisclosed price.
Many airlines consider this type of aircraft to be too big and too inflexible.
In addition, there are high maintenance costs.
However, well before the pandemic, in February 2019, Airbus announced the end of production because demand had collapsed.
After 251 copies built, an era will come to an end at the Hamburg-Finkenwerder plant these days when the last A380 will be handed over to Emirates in the first half of December.
apr / Reuters / AFP / dpa
