Wizz Air to buy up to 196 Airbus A321
Wizz Air has announced the purchase of 102 Airbus A321 aircraft – divided between 75 Airbus A321neo and 27 Airbus A321XLR – that will be delivered between 2025 and 2027.
It follows Airbus’s forecast that up to 39,000 new aircraft will be built by 2040, as a result of increasing passenger numbers as well as a growing need to replace old and less fuel-efficient models.
The low-cost carrier could also buy additional 19 Airbus A321neo, as the manufacturer granted rights for delivery of 75 of the same model in 2028-2029.
“After two years in service, Wizz Air’s Airbus A321neo continues to provide market leading aircraft technology and choice – there is simply no other aircraft that can compete with it,” said the carrier’s chief executive Jozsef Varadi.
“With its next-generation engines, it has proven to be the game-changer that we said it would be when we placed our first order back in 2015.
“But most importantly, these are by far the most fuel and cost efficient aircraft in their class – supporting us in maintaining our position as the most sustainable airline in Europe and reaching our sustainability goals of reducing CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre by 25 per cent by 2030.
“It is important to note that if all European airlines switched to a modern Airbus A320/1 fleet like Wizz Air and operated them as efficiently as Wizz Air, the whole industry’s CO2 emissions would reduce by 34 per cent overnight.”
Varadi has recently made the headlines when he branded carbon offsetting programmes such as the one provided by his company as “a bit of a joke”.