Spirit Airlines close to agreeing major Airbus order-sources

Spirit Airlines is close to agreeing a provisional deal to order as many as 100 single-aisle aircraft worth up to US$12b at recent catalogue prices from Airbus, industry sources said. Such a deal would be the first for Airbus since the US imposed 10% tariffs on some of the planes it offers to US carriers last week, part of a long-running transatlantic trade dispute over aircraft subsidies. A deal of that size would be worth up to $12b at the most recent 2018 Airbus list prices, but industry sources say such deals typically involve discounts of at least 50%. In August, the airline said it was looking at both the Airbus single-aisle A321neo jet or a Boeing alternative to fuel its growth. Spirit currently operates an all-Airbus fleet of 140 jets. <br/>