GE Commercial Aviation Services has been on a narrowbody spending spree, signing firm commitments for 60 Airbus A320s and 40 Boeing 737-800s.

Details of the new orders were revealed by the US and European airframers on the first day of the Farnborough air show, although no delivery details were given.

The lessor has more than 300 modern-variant 737s in its fleet, with another 105 to be delivered to lessees. Meanwhile, the Airbus signing increases GECAS's A320-family backlog to 99 aircraft.

Each manufacturer used their GECAS order as an opportunity to plug its own successful narrowbody products.

"Today's announcement with GECAS reaffirms the Boeing Next Generation 737 as a highly successful asset, both in operation with airlines as well as in the financial community," says Boeing Commercial Airplanes sales vice-president Marlin Dailey. Boeing values the order at around $3 billion at list prices.

At Airbus, president and chief executive Tom Enders said: "GECAS's order is a further demonstration of the strong demand for the A320 family and underlines its attractiveness to leasing companies, who are returning to the market with full steam."

Airbus customers will have the option of adding sharklets to aircraft scheduled for delivery from the end of 2012.

GECAS has a fleet of over 1,800 owned and managed aircraft, which are placed with about 245 airlines worldwide.

Source: Flight Daily News

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