To mark the 200th Airbus aircraft to join its fleet, Easyjet has painted it bright orange. At 15 years old, Easyjet is the youngest airline in history to reach this landmark.
Easyjet unveiled the new A320 at a delivery ceremony today, at Airbus' Toulouse factory. Carolyn McCall, Easyjet's CEO, said: “We aim to turn Europe orange and the special livery on our 200th aircraft embodies that ambition.”
Currently the fourth largest European airline, Easyjet will end this year with 204 aircraft in total, but plans to keep its fleet size fairly static in the future, said McCall.
Speaking to Business Traveller's sister website abtn.co.uk at the event, she said the airline had reached its critical mass in terms of fleet size.
The low-cost carrier operates an almost entirely Airbus fleet, which has the most A319s of any airline worldwide. McCall said Easyjet is in conversation with both Boeing and Airbus about future aircraft acquisitions, including Airbus' next generation A320neo.
While she said it is “very early days” for the A320neo, it is an interesting proposition.
“If it really is as fuel efficient as they say it's going to be, we really have to take it seriously,” said McCall.
Airbus claims its A320neo will cut fuel burn by 15 per cent, with a new type of engine and the addition of “sharklets”, Airbus' extended wing tips.
Since Easyjet took delivery of its first Airbus aircraft in 2003, Airbus has delivered an aircraft every fortnight to the airline, on average, over the last eight years.
For more information visit easyjet.com.
Report by Sara Turner
