Middle East Airlines-Air Liban (MEA), the flag carrier of Lebanon, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for five A320neo and five A321neo aircraft plus eight options. MEA will announce its engine choice at a later date.

Mohamad El Hout,  MEA's chairman-director general, said “MEA is focused on continuing to grow and improving its profitability at the same time as offering its passengers a very luxurious service.

“Adding the A320neo to our fleet means we can achieve all of these goals while benefitting from a 15 percent fuel saving and cost effectiveness.” 

John Leahy, Airbus' chief operating officer, customers said, “We thank MEA for their continued confidence in Airbus and are confident that this order for our fuel efficient A320neo will put them ahead of the competition.

“We’re looking forward to seeing MEA’s A320neo’s operating seamlessly alongside their current generation A320 Family and delivering them with savings through reduced maintenance and pilot training costs that come from the high degree of commonality between the models.”

The A320neo Family is a new engine option for the A320 Family entering into service from late 2015 and incorporates latest generation engines and large "Sharklet" wing tip devices. Over 8,500 A320 Family aircraft have been ordered and more than 5,100 delivered to 365 customers and operators worldwide.