American aircraft leasing company Air Lease (ALC) has signed a letter of intent (LoI) for 100 Airbus aircraft, which includes 50 A220-300s, 27 A321XLRs and an additional 23 A321neos.

The latest purchase takes the company’s total orders to 387 aircraft from the European manufacturer, making it the third largest lessor customer of Airbus.

According to the European manufacturer, the 100-plane contract from Air Lease is worth $11bn at list prices. The list price of the baseline A321 is $129.5m and the A220 is $91.5m.

Specifically built for the 100-150 seat market, the A220 is said to be fuel-efficient and delivers wide-body passenger comfort in a single-aisle aircraft.

With the latest aerodynamics, advanced materials and Pratt & Whitney’s PW1500G geared turbofan engines, the A220 offers at least 20% lower fuel burn per seat compared with the previous aircraft, in addition to the performance of larger single-aisle aircraft.

An upgrade on the A321LR, the A321XLR offers even more range and payload, creating more value for the airlines.

From 2023, the A321XLR will deliver an extra-long range of up to 4,700nm, around 15% more than the A321LR and with 30% lower fuel burn a seat.

The 240-seat XLR is a variant of Airbus’s A320neo family and its extra fuel capacity increases its maximum take-off weight to 101t.

Consequently, operators will be able to offer new routes such as India-Europe or China-Australia, as well as extend the non-stop reach on direct transatlantic flights between continental Europe and the Americas.

Meanwhile, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has postponed plans to invest $15bn into a new midmarket airplane called NMA until the 737 Max is cleared by the regulators to resume operations. The 737 Max was grounded after aircraft crashes occurred in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

The NMA has a planned range of 5,000 nautical miles. Boeing chief executive officer Dennis Muilenburg was reported by Bloomberg TV as saying that the 270-seat NMA could begin service around 2025.