Lion Air buys plane engines worth US$1.2b

[BATAM, Indonesia] Indonesia's Lion Air said yesterday that it had purchased CFM International engines worth US$1.2 billion for 60 new Airbus A320s on order as the budget carrier goes on a shopping spree to boost capacity in South-east Asia.

The privately owned airline said that it would start taking delivery of its new A320 aircraft, with CFM 56-5B engines, in the middle of this year, with a total of six planes due to be delivered this year.

CFM is a joint venture between General Electric and Safran.