JetBlue orders 30 Airbus jets as steps up premium
aTP- Arab tourism portal News – Jet Blue ordered yesterday another 30 medium-haul A321 aircraft that carry a catalogue price of $3.6 billion as the US airline said it plans to step up its premium transcontinental service.
"JetBlue believes the additional aircraft will allow it to capture an immediate opportunity to position itself as the transcontinental airline of choice" as well as adding more west coast flights, the airline said in a statement.
JetBlue launched in 2014 its Mint experience, a premium service which on A321 has several private cabins with seats that can fully recline, while in other classes there is added legroom and modern entertainment systems.
The airline said it expected five of the planes ordered Tuesday to be delivered next year to be in the Mint configuration, and the majority of the additional order overall although it has flexibility to decide depending on market conditions.
Airbus said 15 of the planes were for existing engine options, while the other for new engines that offer greater fuel economy.
It added that from 2019 the A321neos can be converted into the long range version, which is capable of making transatlantic flights.
The airline, which already flies 160 A320-family aircraft, took delivery in April of the first Airbus built at the European company’s US factory.
Including Tuesday’s order, JetBlue now has a total of 116 aircraft on order from Airbus, most of which are the A321 model.
