Air France-KLM says it plans to order 50 Airbus A350 jets

PARIS, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) said on Monday it plans to order 50 Airbus (AIR.PA) A350 long-haul jets, together with purchase rights for an additional 40 aircraft.

The provisional deal includes both the A350-900 and the larger A350-1000 models, and the aircraft will be delivered between 2026 and 2030, the airline group said in a statement.

The deal, seen as worth billions of dollars even after typical airline discounts for large orders, follows a months-long competition between Airbus and Boeing (BA.N) to replace Airbus A330s and the older part of its Boeing 777 fleet.

The Air Current, an industry publication, reported earlier this month that the airline was closing in on an order for 50 wide-body jets and that one factor was the range involved in skirting Russian airspace amid ongoing Ukraine war sanctions.

The planned order, which is not yet in the Airbus books pending a final contract, comes on top of an existing order for 41 Airbus A350-900s for the group’s French network, Air France, of which 22 have so far been delivered.

The group has also ordered eight A350 freighters. From Boeing it has outstanding order for five 787-10s jets.

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