Airbus Lands Its Largest-Ever Order from Single Latin American Airline

The VivaAerobus Group has signed a purchase agreement for 52 Airbus A320 family jets, marking the biggest Airbus aircraft order by a single airline in Latin American history. The deal covers 40 A320neo and 12 current-generation A320, the first of which the airline plans to take next April. VivaAerobus, a Mexican low-cost carrier, has opted to announce the engine selection later.

VivaAerobus, part-owned by IAMSA, one of Mexico’s largest transportation companies, and Irelandia Aviation, a global low-cost-carrier airline developer, plan to replace the airline’s entire fleet of nineteen 737-300s to become an all-Airbus carrier by 2016. VivaAerobus has pioneered Mexico’s “Bus to Air” model, an initiative to convert bus passengers to air travelers.

Irelandia serves as the investment vehicle of the Ryan family, the founders of Ryanair. It has also invested in Tiger Airways in Singapore, Allegiant Airlines in the U.S., and recently started VivaAerobus’s sister company in Colombia, called vivaColombia.