The Malaysian-based low-cost air carrier Air Asia has signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase 40 Airbus A320 aircraft, Airbus announced Friday in a statement released in Paris. In addition, Air Asia has taken options on another 40 aircraft from the A320 family, Airbus said. Deliveries of the first aircraft will begin in 2005 and continue until 2011. Air Asia head Tony Fernandes said the planes would be introduced gradually into the airline's fleet, including Thai AirAsia and the newly launched AWAIR in Indonesia. As is usual with these announcements, no price tag was provided for the contract.
