Hawaiian Air looks to buy Airbus jets for up to $2.8 bln

Airbus A321neo(Reuters)

Hawaiian Airlines said on Monday it plans to buy Airbus A321neo planes in an order valued at up to $2.8 billion, a move that puts Airbus ahead of Boeing (BA.N) as the airline’s main supplier of jets that fly between Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast.

Hawaiian Holdings (HA.O), the carrier’s parent, said it signed a tentative agreement with Airbus to buy 16 jets with options for nine more. The deliveries are scheduled for between 2017 and 2020.

Airbus has now won Hawaiian’s last three competitions, supplying A330s, A350s and now the A321neo.

Boeing declined to comment.

The Airbus neo is a family of single-aisle planes that will be equipped with new engines for better fuel savings. The A321neo, which seats about 190 people, will be used on routes to the U.S. West Coast, the carrier said.

The new jets fit the strategy of Hawaiian Airlines’ CEO Mark Dunkerley of providing more connections to mainland U.S. cities, using fuel-efficient single-aisle planes instead of the wide-body Boeing 767 jets that now fly the routes.

SOURCE REUTERS

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