The aircraft manufacturer Airbus received the largest order since the beginning of the corona pandemic at the air show in Dubai - and negotiated the key data for another major order.

Aircraft financier Air Lease Corporation (ALC) signed a letter of intent to purchase 111 passenger and cargo aircraft, Airbus announced in Dubai on Monday.

The order includes machines from all model series currently on offer - including seven copies of the new cargo version of the A350 wide-body jet, which should not be ready for delivery until the middle of the decade.

The lion's share of the order is for the short and medium-haul jets with 25 A220 and 55 A321neo aircraft.

In addition, ALC wants to order 20 copies of the smallest long-haul jet A321XLR as well as 4 large jets of the type A330neo.

At the start of the trade fair on Sunday, the American company Indigo Partners ordered a total of 255 Airbus jets from the A321neo series for its low-cost airlines Wizz Air (Hungary), Frontier (USA), Volaris (Mexico) and Jetsmart (Chile / Argentina) .

Among them are 29 copies in the new long-haul version A321XLR.

According to the last published price list in 2018, the order would have a total value of approximately $ 33 billion.

Wizz Air is expanding into long-haul connections

The orders are a clear signal of recovery in the aviation industry nearly two years after the pandemic broke out. The American financial investor Indigo Partners - which has nothing to do with the Indian airline Indigo - has specialized in investments in low-cost airlines. With the order, the Hungarian Wizz Air is gearing up for the further expansion of its business, including on long-haul routes. Of the 255 aircraft from the bulk order, the largest share of 102 aircraft is to be used by Wizz Air.

27 of these machines are the long-haul version A321XLR, the construction of which Airbus had only announced in 2019.

Like the medium-haul jet, the aircraft has a standard fuselage with a central aisle between the seats.

Thanks to a range of 8700 kilometers, the machine is also suitable for flights from Central Europe across the Atlantic.

Restrictions for travelers had almost paralyzed international tourism in many countries and thus also hit airlines and manufacturers hard.

However, demand is currently picking up again, also in view of the increasing number of corona vaccinations and a gradual normalization when traveling.

For the next two decades up to 2040, Airbus, like its American rival Boeing, expects the demand for aircraft to continue to grow. Worldwide, around 39,000 new passenger and cargo planes will be required by then, said Airbus in Dubai. This is not just about further expanding the fleet. According to the manufacturer, a good 15,000 of the new jets are likely to replace older and more fuel-thirsty machines.

Meanwhile, competitor Boeing scored points with its cargo planes.

Boeing is also showing its modernized 777X wide-body jet to the public for the first time at the trade fair in Dubai.

The machine is the successor to the bestseller 777 and should consume around ten percent less fuel.

However, Boeing had to postpone the market launch significantly, which costs the group billions.

Now it should be the end of 2023.