SAS Group is looking to lease 10 Airbus A320 aircraft to replace its fleet of Boeing MD-80s.
Speaking to journalists in Stockholm, Niklas Hardange, the carrier's vice-president asset management, said that this would be an intermediate measure until its order of 30 Airbus A320neos began to enter service from 2016.
He added that SAS would lease the aircraft on four- to five-year deals from late 2012 until around 2019.
SAS is seeking a lessor "that has the muscle and willingness to reconfigure the aircraft to the SAS look and feel", said Hardange. He specified that the aircraft must be A320s and while they do not have to be new, they must at least be fairly new.
SAS hopes to find a solution within the next few months.
The airline announced in April that it was also leasing up to 17 Boeing 737-700/800 aircraft to replace MD-80s and older-variant 737s.
SAS also plans to start phasing out its widebody fleet from 2016 to 2018. Hardange said it is conducting a study looking at how to replace its 10 Airbus A330-300s and A340-300s.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news