Saudi Arabian leasing firm AviLease is taking 22 Airbus A350F cargo jets as part of an order for up to 77 aircraft.
The deal also covers 55 A320neo-family models, a mix of A320neos and A321neos, but not the long-range XLR.
Deliveries of the aircraft begin in 2030 and run to 2033.
AviLease disclosed the agreement on the first day of the Paris air show, marking its first direct order with the European airframer.
The lessor emerged three years ago as part of the Saudi government’s effort to build a strong air transport business as part of a broad strategic economic programme for the kingdom.
AviLease chief executive Edward O’Byrne says the lessor has assembled a portfolio of 200 aircraft leased to 50 airlines.
It has also raised some $6 billion in capital, on top of the financial input from its shareholders.
“We’re working very hard with local stakeholders to build a strong and vibrant aviation ecosystem,” says O’Byrne, adding that the government wants to “attract as many people to the kingdom as possible”.
He says AviLease has worked for the past year with stakeholders and the Saudi regulator GACA to examine different fleet options.
O’Byrne says the lessor has selected the A350F as well as the A320neo family – the single-aisle range is the “bread and butter of aircraft leasing companies”, he adds.
No decision has been made on the single-aisle engines.
He says the A350F “came out on top” but that the competition was close. There is a “huge retirement wave” due in the freighter sector, he believes, and a market need “beyond the [kingdom]”.
AviLease’s order with Airbus follows its first direct agreement with an airframer, earlier this year, when it signed for up to 30 Boeing 737 Max 8s.
O’Byrne says direct “speculative” orders with aircraft manufacturers has become the “fourth prong” in the company’s acquisition strategy – following sale-and-leaseback, trade with other lessors like Avolon, and mergers such as that with Standard Chartered.
He says the lessor, as a result, will have a “complete toolbox” through which to deploy its capital.
AviLease is undergoing an ambitious growth plan to build a $20 billion balance sheet by the end of the decade, and O’Byrne says the lessor is “two years ahead of schedule”.
