Air France Set to Order 50-70 Airbus A220 Planes, JDD Reports

(Bloomberg) -- Air France is set to approve the purchase of 50 to 70 new Airbus planes, French newspaper Journal du Dimanche reports, in a boon for the European aviation giant.

Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith, who took the reins of Paris-based Air France-KLM last year, will outline his plans for updating the airline’s fleet Wednesday when the company announces its first-half results, JDD said without saying how it obtained the information.

The order of A220 planes, the first by Air France in years, is set to be approved by the board on July 30.

After disappointing results for its A380 jet, Airbus has already received major orders from Delta and JetBlue for the leaner A220 model, which it acquired in a deal with Canada’s Bombardier in 2017.

Shares in the aircraft-maker based near Toulouse, France have risen more than 50% this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Williams in Paris at rwilliams323@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, Sara Marley, Dan Reichl

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