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Airbus wins UAL order
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March 7, 1997: 8:22 p.m. ET
Airline orders seven jets worth an estimated $225 million
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - United Airlines said Friday that it has ordered seven additional jets from Europe's Airbus consortium in a deal experts valued at approximately $225 million.
United, a UAL Corp. subsidiary, said it plans to buy four Airbus A319s and three A320s.
The airline said it is also in talks with U.S.-based Boeing Co. for three more widebody jets.
United did not release a dollar value for Friday's deal.
But Perry Flint, executive director of trade magazine Air Transport World, estimated that because United is already a regular Airbus customer, the airline will likely get the A319s for a discounted price of about $30 million apiece. He also projected that UAL will pay about $35 million for each of the slightly wider A320s.
That would value Friday's deal at about $225 million.
United said it planned to take delivery of the first craft under Friday's deal within the next few months.
Friday's order represents part of a general UAL modernization plan that calls for the carrier to invest $5.2 billion on jets by the year 2000.
Overall, UAL plans to retire 111 aging aircraft from its fleet of 564 planes. Plan call for the airline to spend $2.3 billion on aircraft in 1997, $1.7 billion in 1998 and $1.2 billion in 1999.
Flint said Friday's order indicates UAL currently enjoys a healthy financial picture.
"It's no secret (that) United's having a very good first quarter," he said, noting that the airline was one of the first to resume ordering planes after the airline industry's downturn in the early 1990s.
--Will Morton
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United Airlines
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