AirAsia, the region's biggest low-cost carrier, will buy an extra 20 aircraft from Airbus Industrie in addition to the 40 it committed to buy from the European manufacturer in December last year.
The Malaysian airline yesterday said it was increasing the number of aircraft it would buy from Airbus partly because of the success of its new Indonesian operation, Awair International.
AirAsia said it now intended to buy 60 new Airbus A320 aircraft, with an option to acquire 40 more aircraft of the same type.
The original deal called for the purchase of 40 new aircraft with an option to buy another 40. Deliveries will start later this year and continue until 2011.
The carrier said it 'has decided to up the Airbus order following the roll-out and the success of its Indonesian operations'.
Since its launch in December, Awair had carried more than 120,000 passengers on flights from its Jakarta base to the Indonesian cities of Surabaya, Medan, Balikpapan, Bali and Padang, it said.
Chief executive Tony Fernandes said the additional aircraft were needed for AirAsia's expansion programme.
