Airbus wins Air France-KLM jet order in dramatic treble

[PARIS] Airbus is set to complete a rapid-fire trio of aircraft order wins at the expense of rival Boeing on Thursday (Dec 16) with a deal to supply all or most of a requirement for dozens of narrowbody jets to Air France-KLM, industry sources said.

Airbus has secured an order for A321 single-aisle jets from Dutch subsidiary KLM, the sources said, confirming an advantage first reported by Reuters last week, and is favoured to grab at least 1 of 2 Transavia budget units, they said.

Neither planemaker agreed to comment.

Air France-KLM, whose KLM and Transavia units currently rely on Boeing for narrowbody medium-haul jets, was not immediately available for comment.

Air France-KLM is expected to announce results of the keenly awaited contest later on Thursday, hours after Airbus seized a deal to supply 2 tranches of aircraft to Australia's Qantas in a defeat for existing supplier Boeing.

Shares in Europe's second-largest airline by fleet size extended gains and were up 3 per cent in afternoon trading.

The Franco-Dutch group launched a tender earlier this year to renew and expand the medium-haul Boeing 737 fleet at KLM and the French and Dutch operations of Transavia.

It has said the deal could involve a firm purchase of 80 aircraft with options for another 60-80 in what would be the group's biggest single fleet transaction.

Factors weighing in Airbus's favour in recent months have included a gradual thawing of relations between French and Dutch arms of the airline group, which have different suppliers, and tensions over recent Boeing 787 delays, industry sources say.

The Air France-KLM deal continues a buoyant week for Airbus after Singapore Airlines threw its weight behind its efforts to break Boeing's grip on the cargo plane market, with a tentative order for 7 new A350 freighters.

REUTERS