That's 24 A320s And Five A350s

Financial giant CIT Group Thursday announced it has signed a purchase agreement with aircraft manufacturer Airbus for new aircraft.

The purchase agreement covers 24 A320 family aircraft, to be delivered in 2007 and 2008, and 5 A350 aircraft, to be delivered in 2012 and 2013.  The total dollar value of the aircraft order is approximately US $2.2 billion, based on Airbus' current list prices.  CIT also has options to acquire additional airplanes.

"We have seen significant improvement in the outlook for the international commercial aerospace sector," said Rick Wolfert, Vice Chairman, CIT Commercial Finance.   Demand from our clients for new aircraft is strong and growing, and rental rates have rebounded nicely.  On these new deliveries, we are meeting or exceeding our targeted returns and are well positioned to capitalize on our established market position as a leader in commercial aviation finance."

"Leasing companies such as CIT have vision, excellent financial resources and global reach.  CIT's selection of the new Airbus A350 underscores the growing momentum for this exciting aircraft, and the company's repeat order for the A320 highlights the continuing strong demand for our best-selling aircraft family, which is still the benchmark in single-aisle aircraft innovation," says Airbus President and CEO Gustav Humbert.

"This announcement is both timely and exciting, providing CIT with speed to market and flexibility through size and schedule of deliveries," said Jeff Knittel, President, CIT Aerospace.  "The A350 is a technologically and environmentally sophisticated long-range twin aisle aircraft, which is well suited to market needs.  Also, the A320 is among the industry's leading aircraft in terms of comfort and design.  We anticipate high demand for both types of aircraft."

FMI: www.cit.com