Norwegian postpones Airbus A320neo and A321LR deliveries

Norwegian Airbus A321
Computer rendering of a Norwegian Airbus A321. Photo: © Airbus

Airbus and Norwegian, through its subsidiary Arctic Aviation Assets Ltd., have reached an agreement to postpone the aircraft deliveries of several Airbus A320neo as well as A321LR, the long-range version of the A321neo.

The postponement is expected to reduce Norwegian’s capital expenditure commitments by approximately 570 million US-Dollar in total for 2019 and 2020, the carrier announced in a statement.

In 2012, the airline signed a firm order for 100 Airbus A320neo aircraft with deliveries expected to start in 2019 and later decided to convert 30 airplanes to the larger Airbus A321neo (LR) version. However, the airline has already signed agreements for the sale of a total of seven Airbus A320neo aircraft in 2018 and early-2019 respectively that were leased to other airlines.

Furthermore, twelve A320neo will be or have been leased to the Hong Kong-based airline HK Express. Five of the aforementioned twelve A320neo aircraft have already been delivered to the Asian carrier.

The low-cost carrier Norwegian operates an all-Boeing fleet of 787 Dreamliner and 737 aircraft at the moment. As a Boeing 737 MAX operator, the airline is also affected by the worldwide grounding of the aircraft type.

Read more: Earlier this year, the financially struggling low-cost carrier announced that it plans to close several crew bases to improve its profitability.

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