Norwegian Air Announces Massive 222 Plane Order from Boeing, Airbus

Norwegian Air Shuttle will purchase 222 airliners from Airbus and Boeing (Boeing 737 pictured)

Scandinavian budget carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle has just announced an order that will see them buying a staggering 222 airliners from Airbus and Boeing in a deal worth approximately $22 Billion (or 127bn Norwegian krone).

Norwegian Air will purchase 100 of Airbus‘ new A320neo’s and 100 of Boeing’s latest 737, the 737Max. The airline will also buy 22 Boeing 737-800s.

The planes will start to be delivered in 2016:

“Today is a historic day for Norwegian,” said the airline’s chief executive Bjorn Kjos. “We have secured our fleet renewal for years to come and are very pleased with the agreements with both Airbus and Boeing.”

Boeing said this is the largest ever European order for them:

“The total order is valued at $11.4 billion at list prices and represents the largest-ever Boeing order from a European airline,” the American company said.

Norwegian has secured options to buy more of both maker’s aircraft in the coming years as well.

Airbus’ A320neo lists for $126 million dollars per plane and Boeing’s 737 is roughly the same figure.

Norwegian CEO Kjos said of the financing of the deal:

“The banks will be financing the deals against a state guarantee from the agencies,” Kjos told AP. Kjos said the deals will be financed by loans guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States and European export credit agencies.

Norwegian operates 261 routes to 100 destinations and has approximately 2,500 employees.

That’s a HUGE order! We had no idea Norwegian is that big…and even with their route network that’s pretty ambitious. That’s a massive amount of planes…and brand new ones at that!

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Image: Flickr [spotterjohnson]