The Largest Contract in Airbus History Worth Approximately $50 Billion

The European company Airbus announced on Wednesday that it will sell 430 aircraft worth $49.5 billion to the American company Indigo Partners in the largest deal in the company's history. According to the Associated Press, this deal was announced on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow. Some of the airlines that will operate these aircraft include JetSmart from Chile, Volaris from Mexico, and Wizz Air from Hungary. Indigo Partners is a private equity firm based in Arizona and owns Frontier Airlines in Denver and a stake in the Mexican airline Volaris. Its manager, William Frank, is an innovator in the airline industry, with a key strategy focused on lowering ticket prices. This approach has rapidly grown in the U.S. in recent years and has expanded abroad as well. The previous largest deal for Airbus was in August 2015 when it sold 250 A320neo aircraft to the Indian airline IndiGo, valued at approximately $26 billion. Before Wednesday, the only major deal announced at the Dubai Airshow was the purchase of 40 aircraft by Emirates Airlines from Boeing, valued at approximately $15 billion. Airbus hoped to sell several A380 double-decker aircraft to Emirates Airlines, currently the largest airline, and there were reports of a significant deal for this model before the Dubai Airshow began. Even Airbus employees expressed hope about selling A380 aircraft at a press conference held on Sunday. However, instead of a deal with Airbus, Emirates Airlines contracted with Boeing. Emirates Airlines currently operates only Boeing 777 and Airbus 380 aircraft, owning the largest fleet of these two models, with a total of 165 Boeing 777s and 100 Airbus 380s in service.