Avolon in deal to buy 75 Boeing aircraft valued at $8.4bn

Ryanair also annnounces puchase of 10 more Boeing 737 Max 200 ‘Gamechanger’ aircraft

Aviation lessor Avolon has agreed to buy 75 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in a deal with a list price of $8.4 billion (€7.5 billion).

The agreement which represents Avolon’s single largest order to date with Boeing, also includes an option to acquire a further 50 737 Max aircraft.

The Irish-based, Chinese-owned leasing operation made the announcement at the Paris Air Show, which is taking place this week.

Avolon president and chief commercial officer John Higgins said the company procured “very attractive discounts” on the order.

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“The order is anchored around the MAX 8 but we have full flexibility to move to other variants such as the MAX 10,” said Mr Higgins.

Malindo Air

The new deal takes the lessors’ fleet up to 925 aircraft. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery from 2021 onwards

Last month Avolon, which bought CIT's aircraft leasing arm for $10 billion in early April to become the world's third-largest aviation financier, delivered the world's first Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft to Malindo Air.

“We want to continue to be a growth company with young, fuel-efficient airplanes,” said Mr Higgins.

Ryanair

Separately, Ryanair, announced the purchase of 10 more Boeing 737 Max 200 Gamechanger aircraft, five of which will deliver in the first half of 2019, with the second five delivering in the first half of 2020.

This new order, which is valued at more than $1.1 billion at current list prices, will, with the existing firm order for 100 Max 200s (and 100 options), allow Ryanair to grow its traffic to 200 million customers per annum by 2024.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist