Airbus Secures Its Largest Order By Number

(RTTNews) - European plane maker Airbus Group N.V. has secured a firm order for 250 A320neo Family aircraft from Indian budget airline IndiGo.

The order, Airbus' largest by number of aircraft, is worth around $26.5 billion at list prices.

The deal, which was signed on the 69th Independence Day of India on August 15, confirms an earlier provisional order by IndiGo for the 250 narrow-body planes announced in October.

IndiGo, India's largest domestic airline by market share, has now ordered a total of 530 A320 Family aircraft with Airbus, thus becoming the European aviation giant's largest airline customer for the Airbus A320-family of aircraft.

"It fills us with pride that IndiGo, India's largest airline and one of the early launch customers for the A320neo, is coming back for more of our benchmark aircraft. This order confirms the A320 Family as the airliner of choice in the most dynamic aviation growth markets. We thank IndiGo and its Co-Founders, Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia for their tremendous vote of confidence," said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers.

The A320neo aircraft is a more fuel efficient version of Airbus' widely used A320. It competes against Boeing Co.'s (BA) upgraded 737 Max. With the latest order from IndiGo, the A320neo order backlog has jumped to more than 4100 aircraft.