|
ROME (AP) - Italy's Air One will buy 30 Airbus A320 passenger jets for delivery by 2008 in a deal worth $1.8 billion and plans to exercise an option to buy 10 more planes this year, the company said Thursday.
Air One, which has operated mainly in Italy where it has 25 percent of the market, has a fleet of 30 leased Boeing Co. 737s, and the Airbus deal will allow it to gradually replace those planes with the new Airbus jets. The company also said it plans to launch new routes in Europe, possibly as soon as this summer, spokesman Federico N. Manzella said.
The company is competing with flagship carrier Alitalia, which has long dominated the Italian market. In 2005 Air One carried 5.6 million passengers, and has carried 26 million people since the company was founded in 1995, officials said.
|