European plane maker, EADS (EADS.F -0.46%) subsidiary, and Boeing (BA 0.01%) nemesis Airbus announced over the weekend that it has signed up Turkish Airlines for its largest-ever airplane sale to a Turkish customer. TA intends to buy as many as 117 A320-Family aircraft, including 25 conventional-engine A321ceos, four "re-engined" A320neos, and 53 A321neos initially. It's furthermore taking out options on an additional 35 A321neo aircraft.
That's $9.3 billion worth of airplanes at advertised list prices (which, admittedly, no one ever pays), even if the options are never actually exercised. If they are, the transaction value soars past $13.4 billion. Either way, the order promises to more than double the size of TA's Airbus fleet, which already includes 75 A320 aircraft.
In a press release announcing the sale, Airbus Chief Operating Officer for Customers John Leahy confirmed that it has now received more than 2,000 "NEO" orders in the two years since it began offering the re-engined planes for sale. Leahy credited the NEO planes' "15% fuel saving and the widest cabin in its class" for helping Airbus to win TA's business.
