The Blue Swan Daily published an analysis of top 20 LCCs (Low cost carriers) worldwide by aircraft on order. Lion Air tops the list with 444 aircraft on order, comprising of 415 narrow body, 8 wide body and 21 turbo prop aircraft. However, Lion Air orders are across the group companies which comprise of Lion Air, Batik Air and Wings in Indonesia, Malindo in Malaysia and Thai Lion in Thailand. There is a question mark on the order with Boeing for the B737MAX which is primarily used by Lion Air and Malindo, after the fatal crash off the Jakarta coast.
India based LCC, IndiGo tops the list as a single largest carrier with 363 narrow body aircraft on order and 36 turbo props with a total of 399 aircraft on order. The airline currently has 210 aircraft in fleet, comprising of 127 A320ceo, 68 A320neo, 14 ATR 72-600 and 1 A321neo.
AirAsia has 375 aircraft on order, which are all narrow body but are distributed across the group companies in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, India and planned subsidiary in Vietnam. Sister company AirAsia X has 110 wide body aircraft on order as per the report. It is unclear if AirAsia X will take deliveries of its A330neo and the A350 or if those would be converted or delayed. Speculation is rife that the orders will be converted to A321s.
Two other Indian carriers make it to the list. Spicejet is at Number#9 with 170 narrow body and 20 turbo props on order while Go Air is at Number#15 with 114 narrow body aircraft on order.
While the list includes all major LCCs from across the world like Southwest, Easyjet and Ryan Air, the aircraft on order for these airlines is a small percentage of their current fleet, unlike the carriers from India where the aircraft on order far outweighs the aircraft in fleet currently.
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