Spain's Vueling Airlines is pondering an order for new Airbus A320s, or the lease of new aircraft, as more than half of its fleet will be returned to lessors over the next three years.
Speaking to ATI sister publication Commercial Aviation Online at the Inside Air Finance conference in London, chief financial officer Antonio Grau said a total of 15 A320 operating leases expire in 2012-13 and the low-cost carrier will need to re-fleet.
Vueling operates 37 A320s and Grau says only one aircraft operating lease expires this year, and another five or six in 2011.
Grau says that Vueling is talking to Airbus but could also enter operating leases on new aircraft.
"We are waiting to see how we perform during the summer and we could make a decision at the end of the third quarter," says Grau.