Air New Zealand is close to placing an order for around a dozen A320 family aircraft worth well over $1 billion at list prices to expand its fleet of mainly Airbus medium-haul jets, industry sources said Saturday. The deal could be announced on the sidelines of a global airlines meeting in Doha on Sunday. Airbus has called a news conference to announce an airplane order on Sunday, but declined to give further details. (Source:
Reuters, 05/31/14)
Gulf Coast note: Airbus is building an A320 final assembly in Mobile, Ala., that will open in 2015.