Republic Airways Signals Interest in Airbus A320neos

Indianapolis-based Republic Airways signaled an interest in acquiring Airbus A320neos last week, when the airline’s vice president and corporate controller

Republic Airways’ Frontier subsidiary plans to remove its last four Airbus A318s from its fleet by this September as it awaits delivery of Bombardier C Series jets and now, potentially, Airbus Neos. (Photo: Airbus)

By Gregory Polek • Senior Editor

May 9, 2011

Indianapolis-based Republic Airways signaled an interest in acquiring Airbus A320neos last week, when the airline’s vice president and corporate controller, Joe Allman, said the airline spent $8 million during this year’s first quarter on a so-called placeholder deposit for the re-engined A320-family jets. The revelation came during the company’s quarterly conference call with securities analysts, as Allman issued an overview of the company’s cash position and detailed its capital expenditures during the quarter.

Already a customer for the Bombardier C Series, Republic holds a firm order for forty 138-seat Bombardier CS300s, delivery of which it expects to start in 2015. Airbus expects to start A320Neo deliveries by October that year. Unless Republic plans to scrap its C Series order, the airline’s interest in adding Neos ironically could help support Bombardier’s oft-challenged assertions that its new narrowbody does not compete directly with the re-engined Airbuses.

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