Analysis: Which US-Based Airlines Have Deferred Airbus Deliveries & Why?

In the past few months, struggling United States carriers, including Frontier Airlines, JetBlue, and Spirit Airlines, have deferred aircraft deliveries to preserve their liquidity.

The trope uniting all three airlines was that all three carriers are either all-Airbus operators (Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines) or have fleets that are underpinned by the European manufacturer’s aircraft (JetBlue).

For Airbus, that meant that the A320neo family aircraft has additional highly sought-after delivery slots in the next few years while also ensuring long-term demand for its best-selling single-aisle jets. Frontier Airlines deferring deliveries and dropping the A321XLR
Frontier Airlines was the last major commercial airline in the US to announce its Q2 results, indicating that after the quarter where its revenues were $973 million, it earned a $31 million net income, it also deferred Airbus A320neo and A321neo deliveries. The airline finalized the agreement with Airbus on August 7, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. As a result, the carrier’s remaining deliveries between 2025 and 2028 were deferred to later years, with Frontier Airlines now planning to take delivery of 76 A321neo after 2028.

In addition, the carrier said that in June, it notified Airbus that Frontier Airlines had canceled 18 orders for the A321XLR and converted 18 A320neo to A321neo aircraft.

According to Frontier Airlines’ Q2 statement, the agreement to defer deliveries has reduced its financing needs and pre-delivery payment (PDP) commitments in the coming years.

The airline ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash of $658 million, compared to $780 million at the end of 2023.