Shortly before the end of the year, Airbus fattened its stats with yet another large order for the A320neo Family, now confirming a previous purchase intent commitment from Spirit Airlines for 100 A320neo Family aircraft.
The deal between the companies could be worth $11 billion to $12 billion at Airbus list prices, but industry sources say such deals typically involve discounts of at least 50%.
The order includes aircraft such as the A319neo, A320neo and A321neo, and also allows for the order of a further 50 aircraft under the same contract, and has a total value of US$12 billion, when we consider the list price.
Highlight for Ultra Low Cost Spirit's interest in the A319neo, a project that until then had been left aside by several airlines. These opted for the A220-300, or the A320neo, leaving the A319neo with very few orders, mostly for the executive version.
All of Spirit's planes will likely be manufactured at Airbus' US facility.
Spirit was founded in 1993, and currently operates 140 Airbus planes.
Spirit is interested in South America with the A321neo
According to the company's chief executive, Ted Christie, Spirit Airlines is still studying Airbus A321neo aircraft, including long-haul versions.
The long-haul version of the A321neo would enable new international destinations for the company, including South America and Europe.
The great advantage of the A321neo, and of the long range variants, is the commonality with the existing fleet of A320 aircraft, avoiding an extra expense with pilot training, but like all aircraft negotiation, the company needs to guarantee discounts from the manufacturers, which defines the advantage of each aircraft.
New interior for the A320neo
Spirit Airlines recently launched its new interior, to be used in its Airbus A320neo aircraft and standardizing the interior colors of the aircraft in yellow and black.
Inside we have a new carpet, replaced to standardize the colors, emergency signs in a new pattern and the change of seats.
Here are some changes to Spirit's cabin and seating:
- The storage compartment and security cards are now raised to provide more legroom.
- The tables have been expanded to “full size”.
- Middle seats will gain an additional inch of width. Now they are 18 inches wide, while the other seats (window and aisle) are 17 inches wide.
- Each seat gained nearly an inch of pre-recline. Seats in the emergency exit rows have a higher pre-recline.
- By style and thickness, the new seats should have two inches of additional usable legroom when compared to industry-standard flatback-type seats.
The first seats have been installed in Spirit's Detroit hangar on a brand-new Airbus A320neo delivered earlier this month.
The seats were manufactured by Acro Aircraft Seating, and will be installed by the company on the A320neo aircraft already present in the fleet, while the new planes should come standard with these seats, in addition to the internet system via Wi-Fi.
The company also designed new trolleys for use by flight attendants, the famous “trolley”, now weighing 4 kilos less than the trolleys already used by the company. The weight saving is added to that existing in the seats, 1,18 kg in each seat, adding up to a total saving of almost 230 kg compared to the previously used interior.
Spirit will retain the standard eight 2-2 seats at the front of the aircraft, totaling 182 seats internally.
