Airbus in talks with Air Lease on big order including freighters

Airbus is in talks with Air Lease on a significant aircraft order involving a mix of narrow- and wide-body jets, which could include the European planemaker’s coming A350 freighter, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks are ongoing and it’s not clear whether an agreement will be reached at this week’s Dubai Airshow, said the people, who asked not to be named with negotiations in flux. Discussions could still fall apart, the people said. An Airbus representative declined to comment on order chatter at the airshow. A top-up deal on narrow-bodies would hand Air Lease firepower to accelerate growth coming out of the Covid-19 downturn. CEO John Plueger said on Nov. 4 that the Los Angeles-based firm has found operators for all its aircraft on order through 2023, and that current talks with customers are focused on jet leases starting from 2026. Air Lease, one of the world’s biggest aircraft leasing firms, is up against a larger competitor after Ireland’s Aercap Holdings acquired General Electric’s leasing arm. Airlines have become more reliant on financial intermediaries to secure aircraft during the pandemic, after the downturn in air travel weakened their balance sheets. Airbus, meanwhile, would score a coup on two fronts, in a year when order activity is expected to be quiet at the show. The planemaker, based in Toulouse, France, is trying to show that demand is strong enough to ramp up production of its A320 family of single-aisle jets to pre-pandemic levels and beyond. <br/>