Airbus has landed a massive order for more than 400 new jets, and indications are that at least some of them will be made in Alabama.
In Germany, Der Spiegel took notice of the news as the largest single deal in the company's history. In the U.S., Kristi Tucker, director of communications for Airbus Americas, said that the arrangement struck at the Dubai Air Show had a definite connection to Airbus' Final Assembly Line in Mobile.
According to the report in Der Spiegel, the U.S.-based investment company Indigo Partners will buy 430 medium-range jets. The plan is to purchase 273 A320neo jets and 157 A321neos. They'll go to four airlines owned by Indigo: Frontier Airlines in the U.S., Chile-based JetSmart, Mexico-based Volaris and Hungary-based Wizz Air.
Airbus builds its A320-family jets at four locations in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; Tianjin, China; and Mobile. The company is often coy about saying exactly which plant will build the jets in a given order. However, the Alabama FAL was built primarily to serve customers in North and South America, where most of the jets ordered by Indigo Partners will be flown.
Tucker said Wednesday morning that Frontier Airlines already was scheduled to receive some Mobile-built jets in 2018. "We certainly expect that some of the aircraft included in this order will also be produced here," she said via e-mail.
A Frontier news release quoted John Leahy, chief operating officer for customers for Airbus Commercial Aircraft, as saying that Frontier had been "a great partner" since 2001. "Airbus offers efficient aircraft that is a basis for their growth, and we are particularly proud to start delivering Frontier aircraft from our U.S.-based Mobile, Ala., production facility next year," Leahy said.
Frontier said its allotment of 124 A320neos "will triple the size of the low-cost carrier over the next 10 years." It valued those jets alone, less than a third of the overall order, at a list price of more than $15 billion. It valued the total Indigo deal at $49.5 billion. (Industry sources frequently note that purchases rarely pay full list price, however, especially on large orders.)
According to a BBC report, Leahy said that "Regretfully, Indigo will not be paying $49.5bn," when asked about discounts.
Frontier said its growth would mean 5,000 new jobs throughout the United States.
The "neo" suffix stands for "New Engine Option" and refers to next-generation powerplants whose benefits include better fuel efficiency. So far the Airbus FAL in Mobile has built A320s and A321s with the older Conventional Engine Option or ceo designation but has not yet delivered any neo jets.
However, company officials have said the plan all along has been for the Mobile FAL to build neo-powered jets. UTC Aerospace in Foley, a company that preps engines used in Mobile-built jets, has built a major expansion that will be dedicated primarily to neo engine preparation.
According to the BBC report, Airbus' previous record deal had been "a 2015 order for 250 single-aisle planes valued at $27bn by Indian budget carrier IndiGo."