UTair, Russia’s fourth-largest airline, signed a firm order contract for 20 Airbus A321 airliners at the Farnborough Air Show in Britain on Thursday.
No value was given for the deal, but in recent A321 sales to other customers the aircraft has cost around $90 million a copy, making this deal potentially worth $1.8 billion. Delivery of the new airliners will begin in 2013.
The UTair order is the largest for the type from a carrier in the region and the first time UTair has ordered Airbus aircraft.
”Today’s signature of the contract on the delivery of new A321s demonstrates our firm intentions to continue to grow and strengthen our positions among leading Russian carriers,” said UTair CEO Andrey Martirosov. “The chosen A321 aircraft fully meets the requirements of our fleet modernization programme, aimed at providing reliable operations, improving the level of service and developing the network.”
The new aircraft will be used on domestic and international routes.
UTair has traditionally used the rival Boeing 737-400 and -800 airliners, as well as older Soviet-era aircraft.
UTair operates over 200 aircraft, mostly helicopters, and flies to 61 Russian and 39 foreign destinations. Its main operating hubs are Surgut (Tyumen Region) and Moscow Vnukovo.
The A321, which entered service in 1994, can carry 185 passengers in two-class configuration or 220 passengers in single-class layout for charter and budget airlines, with a range of 5,600 km.