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AerCap has placed a firm order for 23 Airbus A320neos and 77 A321neos, partly by exercising 45 options, and secured long-term leases with CFM International covering 48 Leap-1A engines.
“This order is the largest single direct order for the type ever placed by AerCap with Airbus,” Airbus EVP of commercial aircraft sales Benoît de Saint-Exupéry said on March 18.
Comments made by AerCap CEO Aengus Kelly suggest some of these will be destined for U.S. ULCC Frontier Airlines.
“By working closely with three of our long-standing partners—Frontier Airlines, CFM and Airbus—today’s transaction will drive long-term growth for AerCap,” Kelly said.
Frontier on March 11 formally executed previously disclosed agreements with AerCap and Airbus, arrangements set to keep its fleet count roughly flat over the next two years, including through the early return of 24 A320neos to the lessor during the second quarter. “We look forward to expanding our partnership with an additional 10 sale and leasebacks in the future as part of this agreement,” Frontier CEO James Dempsey said of the lessor in February. Those deliveries from AerCap are scheduled for 2028-2029.
Roughly 85% of the ULCC’s current fleet is comprised of A320neo family aircraft, according to Aviation Week’s Fleet Discovery database. Frontier has pointed to its younger, efficient fleet as being a key advantage in the current fuel environment.
Kelly has “strong belief” in long-term demand for Neos. “This landmark transaction ensures that AerCap will continue to lead the industry in fleet modernization well into the next decade,” he said.
Deliveries of the 100 aircraft, which include 55 new orders alongside the options, are scheduled to run from 2028 to 2034. AerCap is the world’s largest owner of commercial aircraft.
In connection with the aircraft purchase, AerCap’s Shannon Engine Support (SES) joint venture with Safran Aircraft Engines has agreed to a long-term lease agreement with CFM covering 48 Leap-1As. Deliveries will begin in the second quarter of 2026.
“SES is the leading provider of Leap spare engines for CFM,” AerCap said.
Dublin-headquartered AerCap ended 2025 with $21 billion in liquidity, and an owned/managed fleet of 1,649 commercial aircraft. It added 103 aircraft to its orderbook last year, including options, none of which came through direct orders from the airframers, Kelly noted to investors on a fourth quarter earnings discussion. That included 52 A320neo family aircraft from Spirit Airlines plus 45 Airbus options, and six A330neos from Virgin Atlantic.
For AerCap, the question of a direct order came down to the right timing, Kelly explained on the February call.
“I’m delighted to order with [the OEMs], he said. “But it has to be on terms that make sense for our customers, and I do think just a bilateral, straight-up deal—it’s hard to see how that will add value at the moment … I would say if the right opportunity comes, of course, we will.”
—with reporting from Christine Boynton
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