CIT Group Inc., announced from the Farnborough International Air Show (Air Show) that CIT Aerospace has placed orders with Airbus for 10 A330 aircraft in 2012. Five A330 aircraft were ordered earlier this year in conjunction with the cancellation of orders for four A320 family aircraft and the exercise of an aircraft purchase option. An agreement to acquire the additional five aircraft was entered into at the Air Show this morning. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2014.
 
“This order further expands our aircraft portfolio with one of the most popular widebody aircraft on the market today,” said C. Jeffrey Knittel, President of CIT Transportation Finance. “CIT Aerospace is one of the largest lessors of A330s in the world and maintains one of the youngest, most fuel efficient fleets in the industry. This order will help us meet our customers’ need for reliable aircraft and will provide them with the operating economics that they demand.”

Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “When a leading leasing company like CIT, places a repeat order for our aircraft, we take that as a strong sign of customer satisfaction. The A330 is already the market’s favorite long-range aircraft, but we don’t stop there; we are continuously improving the A330 with, for example, new weight variants which offer more payload-range capability. We look forward to seeing CIT’s customers benefit from the A330 Family’s high revenue generating potential thanks to its winning combination of unbeatable economics and continuous innovations.”

As of March 31, 2012, CIT owned or financed a fleet of more than 325 commercial aircraft, including 157 Airbus aircraft on operating lease. With this new order, the company now has a total order book of 162 aircraft scheduled for delivery through 2019, of which 89 are for Airbus aircraft.