Spring Airlines and Juneyao order 55 Airbus A320-family jets, signalling fresh capacity for Chinese outbound market

Shanghai-based low-cost carrier Spring Airlines and privately owned Juneyao Airlines disclosed stock-exchange filings on 29 December announcing plans to purchase 30 and 25 Airbus A320-family aircraft respectively, worth up to US $8.2 billion at list prices. Deliveries are slated for 2028-2032 and remain subject to Chinese government sign-off.

The move comes just weeks after regulators cleared the release of 120 previously ordered Airbus jets that were delayed during the pandemic. Industry insiders view the twin orders as a vote of confidence in sustained demand for both domestic and short-haul international travel – especially to Southeast and Northeast Asia – where narrow-body aircraft dominate.



For corporate mobility planners the development is good news: Spring and Juneyao both serve secondary mainland cities that multinationals increasingly rely on for manufacturing and R&D. Additional A320neos will allow densification of routes to Bangkok, Osaka, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City, lowering fares and increasing departure-time flexibility.

The orders also reflect intensifying competition with China’s state-owned carriers ahead of the 2026 slot reallocation at the new Beijing Daxing and Chengdu Tianfu hubs. Juneyao said it will finance the purchase through a mix of bank loans, operating leases and internally generated cash, stressing that fuel-efficient A320neos will cut unit costs by up to 20 percent and meet China’s new carbon-intensity targets.

Airbus, which assembles A320s in Tianjin, hopes the deals will pave the way for the mega-order of 500 jets it has been courting since 2024. If confirmed, that backlog would secure production at the Tianjin line well into the 2030s.