Delivery of first Airbus A321 to JetBlue

Hundreds attended a ceremony for the first delivery of an Airbus A321 to JetBlue at Mobile, Alabama's Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility on Monday April 25, 2016. (Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com)

(Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com))

JetBlue Airways ordered 30 Airbus A321 jetliners Wednesday valued at $3.6 billion, many of which are set to be built at the aircraft manufacturing company's assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama.

The sale includes 15 A321s with the current engine option (ceo) for delivery starting next year, and 15 more A321s with new, fuel efficient engines starting in 2020. The positive news for the European-based Airbus comes after good results at the recent Farnborough airshow in the United Kingdom, where it brought in $30 billion of orders for around 280 aircraft.



"Airbus has been our partner since the beginning, and we are proud that our partnership continues today," said Robin Hayes, JetBlue president and CEO, according to an Airbus press release. "The A321 is an incredible aircraft that is delivering results for our business. We intend to deploy many of these aircraft to expand our successful Mint experience and our west coast presence."

The new order comes during a period of aggressive expansion for JetBlue as it looks to grow its coast-to-coast service known as Mint, and as the company gears toward a trans-Atlantic service starting in 2019.

For Airbus, the order adds to the significant backlog on its single-aisle aircraft, which will keep its international assembly plants busy for years to come, and as it U.S. operation on the Gulf Coast marches toward its full-production rate of four a month by the end of 2017.



"When we decided to build an assembly line in the U.S., we did it to help meet the increasing demand from our U.S. customers," said John Leahy, Airbus USA Chief Operating Officer. "The A320 Family is a market leader worldwide - one that has found particularly great success in the United States because of its economics, efficiency and comfort. We look forward to delivering more and more aircraft from our U.S. facility to our customers here in America."

JetBlue currently operates a fleet of 160 A320 Family aircraft, including 130 A320s and 30 A321s, according to Wednesday's press release. The airline's backlog of Airbus aircraft comprises of 116 planes: 25 A320neo, 31 A321ceo, and 60 A321neo aircraft.