On Thursday, aircraft lessor CIT Group (CIT) announced it has placed an order with Airbus for the delivery of 10 A350 XWB aircraft.
Deliveries are set to begin in 2019 and, when all planes are in their hangars, will increase CIT's twin-aisle fleet size by 10%, to 110 aircraft. The order also appears to maintain CIT's preference for Airbus aircraft over Boeing (BA -2.87%). Prior to this order, 78 of the 147 planes on the lessor's order book were Airbuses. Post-order, 88 out of 157 planes -- 56% -- will come from the Boeing rival.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but, based on Airbus's published 2012 average list prices for the plane, the deal should be worth approximately $2.5 billion at list price. Actual sales prices in the market tend toward steep discounts, however. Data provided on website aircraftcompare.com, for example, tend to suggest an actual sale price closer to $174 million, or $1.7 billion for the 10 planes, in all.
