Fleet Inspiration
EasyJet's fleet expansion passed an important milestone last year when its 200th Airbus narrowbody was delivered - an A320 appropriately painted bright orange. Its all-Airbus fleet now stands at 204 units and the airline holds orders, options and purchase rights for about 100 more.
Although EasyJet has indicated it is likely to launch a tender towards the end of this year for new Airbus, Boeing or Bombardier narrowbodies powered by the new generation turbofans, Carolyn McCall is cautious about details of its long-term fleet development plan: "If I could answer that I'd solve an awful lot of problems overnight. We're doing a very rigorous review of fleet going forward. We start by asking whether we're optimising what we've got before saying we need new aircraft, and where does that leave us between now and 2017, which is really when the first of the new generation [engined aircraft] are available."