Indonesia's Citilink ordered 25 aeroplanes

Citilink, the low-cost branch of Indonesian airline Garuda, has ordered 25 Airbus A320neo airliners with a catalogue value of $2.4 billion (RM7.05 billion), Airbus said on Monday.

In 2011, Garuda ordered 15 of the A320 and 10 A320neo aircraft - the new low-fuel-consumption version of the A320 which is much used by low-cost operators.

The A320neo is due to enter into service at the end of 2015, Airbus added.

Citilink already operates 12 A320 aircraft on a leasing basis.

The chief executive of Citilink Arif Wibowo said in the Airbus statement that the A320 was the ideal aircraft for his airline because of low operating costs, quick turnaround times and popularity with passengers.

Citilink also operates Boeing B737 airliners, which compete with the A320, made by the US Boeing corporation, the main rival to Airbus. It uses these aircraft to serve 11 cities.

Citilink announced on January 3 that it had ordered 25 regional ATR 72-600 regional-distance airliners made by a joint venture between the Airbus parent company EADS and Italian firm Alenia, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica.