Clawing its way back from the brink, the new Norwegian is a shadow of its former self. From a peak of almost 160 airplanes in 2015, the airline now has a fraction of that fleet size. Notably, all dalliance with widebodies and long-haul flying has been scrapped in favor of a renewed focus on its European operations.

But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t got growth on its mind. Over the past couple of months, Norwegian has announced several leasing deals that will see it entering the summer season with more aircraft at its disposal. Announced today is a deal for no fewer than 18 aircraft in total – eight are the preferred workhorse of the airline, the 737NG, and ten are the 737 MAX.

Geir Karlsen, CEO of Norwegian, commented on the order saying,

“The addition of these aircraft will help us achieving our target of building a larger, modern and more fuel-efficient fleet. This will in turn enable us to deliver our products and services in a wide network of routes in the Nordics and to European destinations.”

The deal has been done via lessor AerCap, the largest lessor in the world. Along with the Boeing 737 MAX, Norwegian is leasing eight 737-800s from the same partner. The MAX will give Norwegian a total fleet size of 80 planes by summer 2023.

But the growth has already started, and will be visible by this summer’s flying season. The 737-800s will arrive before the peak, and those, along with other leasing deals already announced by Norwegian, will take its fleet from the current 51 aircraft to 70 by the summer.

Is it the end of the road for Airbus?

Norwegian has long been threatening to abscond from the Boeing stable in favor of its European competitor. The airline was badly burned by the issues with the 787 Dreamliner, first the delayed deliveries, and then a dramatic uncontained engine failure that saw several of its 787s out of action while remedial work was undertaken.

The airline had thrown its hat firmly in the ring with Boeing, ordering 97 737 MAX for its future narrowbody fleet. But then, of course, the mass grounding of the type saw the airline left high and dry once again. It even had to lease in capacity to cover the gaps in its schedules.

The 18 MAX that were already with the airline sat on the ground for almost two years. Norwegian, having gone through the biggest restructuring in the airline’s history, decided it didn’t want these planes anymore. Despite some back and forth with Boeing, it struggled to reach an agreement, but did return all its MAX to the lessors. At one point, it said it would never fly the MAX again.

Now, it seems that the airline has done a U-turn, and is ready to welcome the MAX back with open arms. In January it agreed to lease two MAX for its growing fleet, and now it’s adding 10 more. Does that mean Airbus is out of the picture for good?

Some interesting stipulations

Although Norwegian will not be operating any Airbus aircraft this summer, that doesn’t mean it’s completely given up on the planemaker. The leasing contracts it has struck up with AerCap are pretty good value, with power-by-the-hour written in, so any aircraft that aren’t flying aren’t costing it a penny.

Another interesting element of these contracts is the bit where it says:

For some of the aircraft under these agreements, Norwegian has the option to substitute certain aircraft with equivalent narrow-body models from Airbus.

Norwegian wanted Airbus aircraft. Indeed, alongside its huge order for the MAX, it had an order for 88 A320neos as well. Within this order were 30 of the long-range A321LRs, an aircraft that it has been shown time and again Boeing has no direct competitor for.

Ultimately, Airbus canceled the order, but not without eye-watering penalties for Norwegian. Airbus kept all pre-payments made relating to the order, and Norwegian still owed the planemaker nearly $850,000 as a result. Nevertheless, for Norwegian, the Airbus could still be on the table.

The issue comes down to the unavailability of Airbus aircraft, particularly the 321LR. Airbus does not have the delivery slots to provide a ramp up of almost 20 aircraft by the summer of this year, or even next year. It certainly couldn’t get the airline to 80 by summer 2023. In essence, the Boeing 737 MAX is not necessarily Mr. Right; perhaps it’s just Mr. Right Now.

While the competitive leasing deals available on the MAX today might be just what Norwegian needs, I’d put money on it coming back for the A321LR in years to come. That little clause in the contracts means it can easily switch out MAXs for Airbuses once they become available, and that’s probably exactly what the C-suite at Norwegian intends to do.

What do you think though? Let us know in the comments!