Yesterday was Day 4 of the Dubai Airshow, where I currently am feeding my #avgeekness if there is a word like that. The order news had almost all dried up and the media had almost all left. And then, Airbus pulled out an order after trailing Boeing for much of the show. The Airbus order came from Indigo Partners, a US-based private equity fund which owns four airlines across the world, including Frontier, Volaris, WizzAir and JetSmart.
Airbus Indigo Partners
The breakdown of the Indigo order is as follows:
- Wizz: 146 planes (72 A320neo, 74 A321neo)
- Frontier: 134 planes (100 A320neo, 34 A321neo)
- Volaris: 80 planes (46 A320neo, 34 A321neo)
- JetSmart: 70 planes (56 A320neo, 14 A321neo)
Being the biggest deal in the history of Airbus, of course, they signed off on it with pomp and show, making sure they had a show of strength at the announcement. Remember, only a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed yet, which still needs to be fleshed out into contracts with the four airlines and should happen by end of this year.
Airbus Order Signing
Except, a lot of those not in the know, thought IndiGo of India bought those planes. IndiGo is one of the biggest customers of Airbus, having placed a 250 aircraft order the last time around in 2015, but the press and the people were confused nevertheless. For instance, the international press
Caught out the pic editor at @standardnews tonight… pic.twitter.com/dgX66ZzP5F
— Max Kingsley-Jones (@MaxK_J) November 15, 2017
And then the people
It’s indigo partners not our indigo from india
— Ajay Awtaney (@LiveFromALounge) November 15, 2017
Congrats Airbus on your big win, and I hope over time we’d be able to know that being Indigo in whatever shape is the magic word to being Airbus’ big customer! And it is as simple as signing a piece of paper!
did anyone buy this plane?