Central European budget carrier Wizz Air's shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in favour of its plans to purchase 20 Airbus A321XLR twinjets.
Wizz is one of three airlines set to benefit from a commitment to 50 of the long-range aircraft unveiled by investor Indigo Partners during the Paris air show in June.
The budget carrier says that shareholders "approved" the proposed purchase during an extraordinary general meeting in Geneva on 30 October.
Wizz Air says it is taking the XLRs through a partial exercising of original options on 90 A321neos. The airline says that, after the XLR conversion and a reduction in the number of optioned aircraft, it will hold remaining purchase rights for 28 A321neos.
The XLRs will be configured with 239 seats, like the current Wizz A321neos, and the carrier confirms they will be fitted with Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines.
Initial deliveries will take place in 2023 – with the first four aircraft – followed by deliveries of another six for each of 2024 and 2025, and the final four arriving in 2026.
The XLRs will be part of an overall intake of 269 A320neo-family aircraft to the carrier over the course of 2020-26.
Wizz says the introduction of the longer-range variant to its fleet will enable the carrier to expand to routes of 7-8h duration.
Airbus has not given a list price for A321XLR. Wizz estimates the order value at $2.59 billion, based solely on the list price of the A321neo, but says its final negotiated price represents a "very substantial discount" from this figure.
Wizz Air's purchase has yet to be recorded in Airbus's backlog. The airline has 186 A321neos on order – of which six had been delivered by the end of September – as well as 70 A320neos.
