AirAsia’s 100-jet Paris order pits Airbus A220 against Embraer

Low-cost carrier AirAsia is poised to order about 100 regional jets at the Paris Air Show next week, with the Malaysian airline still undecided between the Airbus A220 or Embraer’s E2, according to people familiar with the matter.

Negotiations with the manufacturers are coming down to the wire, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are confidential. Attractive financing is a key requirement for AirAsia and could sway the final decision, they said.

The budget airline, overseen by Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes, is mounting a comeback after scaling back operations and restructuring its finances during the Covid-19 pandemic. Fernandes, 61, plans to travel to Paris to unveil a deal, the people said.

Representatives for AirAsia, Airbus and Embraer declined to comment. Reuters reported earlier that Airbus was in advanced discussions on a deal with AirAsia for at least 100 A220s.

To date, Airbus has supplied all of AirAsia’s jets, giving the European planemaker an incumbent’s advantage in the competition. The carrier has 240 mostly single-aisle aircraft in its fleet, and a backlog of more than 350 orders for the top-selling A320 family of jets.

A three-digit order haul for Airbus’s smallest commercial jet would be a major boost to the A220 programme, which has been beset by slow sales and supply-chain issues that have impeded output. The A220 is produced at plants in Mirabel, Canada, and Mobile, Alabama.

The A220 has not secured any order commitments in 2025, and managed gross orders of 17 last year, leading to shrinking backlog after cancellations were included. The narrowbody series had 486 orders to fulfil at the end of May, compared with more than 7,000 for the larger A320 family.

For Embraer, a win would expand its footprint in Asia and mark one of its largest orders yet from a single airline. The Brazilian manufacturer has scored major deals with Singapore Airlines’ budget carrier Scoot, as well as Virgin Australia and Japan’s ANA Holdings.

Embraer has secured 334 firm orders for its E2 jet, with around 175 outstanding. The planemaker has touted its ability to deliver jets far sooner than Airbus or Boeing as part of its sales pitch. BLOOMBERG