LONDON—Virgin Atlantichas ordered 12 AirbusA350-1000s.
The airline has ordered 12 A350-1000s, with six A350s to be obtained directly from Airbus or through lessors.
Based upon Airbus’s new list price for 2016 published on Jan. 12, the deal could be worth as much as $4.27 billion.
The airline will not confirm the deal, but it is understood that company staff were told of the plan on Jan. 12.
“We are currently evaluating our future leisure fleet requirements to ensure that any new aircraft we introduce will provide the best possible outcome for our customers and our business,” Virgin Atlantic said in a statement.
“We will make an announcement once we have completed this process and can confirm a decision,” it added.
Airbus also would not comment on the deal.
Virgin Atlantic plans to use the A350s to replace its fleet of Boeing 747-400s, which operate on leisure routes to U.S. and Caribbean holiday destinations from London and U.K. regional airports. The 747s are due to exit the fleet before 2020. The last Virgin Atlantic 747-400 flights out of London Heathrow were on Jan. 12.
The airline is in the process of replacing its Airbus A340-300 and A340-600 fleets with the Airbus A330-300 and the Boeing 787-9.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was updated to focus solely on Virgin Atlantic's A350-1000 orders. A previous version incorrectly stated Virgin Atlantic's Airbus order plans.