FARNBOROUGH: Latin America’s largest airline LATAM has ordered 17 Airbus A321 passenger jets worth more than $1.8 billion, Airbus said on Thursday.

LATAM – brought to the brink of bankruptcy last year by the coronavirus pandemic – placed an order for the single-aisle A321neo aircraft in anticipation of a recovery in air traffic, Airbus said in a statement at the Farnborough Airshow.

The list price does not reflect the final price paid because customers traditionally receive discounts on large orders.

Christian Scherer, chief commercial officer and head of Airbus International, hailed the order as “a strong sign for the value Airbus brings.”

The announcement will bring LATAM’s total A320neo order book to 100.

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LATAM, created in 2012 by the merger of Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM airlines, also confirmed its intention to buy Airbus’ A321 XLR long-range single-aisle aircraft that is due to enter service in 2024.

The XLR jet has an extended range of 4,700 nautical miles (8,700 kilometres) and will be able to fly for up to 11 hours.

That opens up airlines to longer routes that have previously been the preserve of wide-body long-haul aircraft.

In late June, a New York City court approved LATAM’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy under US law.

LATAM had filed for bankruptcy last year after Covid travel restrictions forced it to reduce operations by 95 percent.

The carrier has subsidiaries in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the United States.

This year’s Farnborough Airshow, the first since 2018 due to Covid, kicked off on Monday and opens to the public on Friday.

So far, Airbus’ total jet orders at Farnborough stand at 85, after Delta ordered 12 A220s and EasyJet ordered 56 A320s.