AirAsia may buy more Airbus jets

AirAsia Bhd, Asia’s biggest discount carrier, is considering additional orders for Airbus SAS single- aisle jets after taking delivery of 100 A320s, with another 75 pending, Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said.

A purchase agreement would depend on the price Airbus could offer, said Fernandes, who was visiting Toulouse in southern France yesterday to take delivery of the company’s 100th single- aisle jet.

AirAsia, which started with two planes a decade ago, placed an order last year for 200 of Airbus’s advanced A320neo aircraft, which promise greater fuel efficiency thanks to new engines. Those planes won’t begin delivering until late in 2015.

“I have a sense that we have to advance our order because we don’t have enough,” Fernandes said. “The big question is whether we buy more aircraft, whether we lease more aircraft, or wait for the neo. I don’t think our 175 aircraft is enough till the neo comes.”

Airbus is increasing production of its single aisle A320s to 42 a month by 2012 to keep up with demand, and the company had studied an increase to 44. Chief Commercial Officer John Leahy said yesterday Airbus won’t seek that goal at this point, as some suppliers struggle with funding and boosting production rates, and uncertainty if macroeconomic demand will be sufficient to support further increases. -- Bloomberg