CIT Aerospace, a business unit of CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT), a leading global commercial finance company, has signed a firm contract for 15 A320 Family aircraft and five A330-200s.
Including the order announced today, CIT has ordered a total of 189 Airbus aircraft (152 A320 Family aircraft, including five ACJs, 30 A330s and seven A350 XWBs) of which 93 are already delivered.
„As a global leader in the aircraft leasing market, CIT is proud to expand our fleet with these 20 new Airbus aircraft,“ said C. Jeffrey Knittel, President of Transportation Finance at CIT. „We continue to see a growing demand from our customer base for more efficient aircraft similar to the Airbus A320 and A330 Family of aircraft. As a result of this demand we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to further enhance and diversify our fleet.“
„We are pleased to see a leading leasing company and valued Airbus customer placing repeat orders both for our current long-range aircraft and for the A320 Family. This is a further proof of the confidence of the financial sector in Airbus products“, said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers
The A320 Family, which includes the A318, A319, A320 and A321, is recognized as the benchmark single-aisle aircraft family. Each aircraft features fly by wire controls and all share a unique cockpit and operational commonality across the range. Over 6,100 Airbus A320 Family aircraft have been sold and 3,400 delivered to more than 260 customers and operators worldwide, making it the worlds best selling commercial jetliner ever. With proven reliability and extended servicing periods, the A320 Family has the lowest operating costs of any single aisle aircraft. Uniquely, the A320 Family offers a containerized cargo system, which is compatible with the world wide standard wide-body system.
With a true wide-body fuselage allowing very high comfort standards, the A330-200 is able to accommodate seat and class configurations to suit the diverse customer requirements. It has a range of up to 6,750 nm / 12,500 km with a full passenger load. Its large under-floor cargo holds can also carry standard pallets and containers side-by-side. It also has the excellent operational flexibility necessary to serve a wide range of route structures, providing operators with very low operating cost per seat. Its proven record of economy and superior passenger comfort provides operators with a significant competitive advantage in the market today.
