Cebu Pacific Air reached a preliminary agreement to buy 152 single-aisle jets from Airbus SE in a deal worth US$24 billion at list price, the company announced on Tuesday.

The order by the Philippines low-cost carrier will be the biggest jet purchase in the country’s history, the airline said in a stock exchange filing. As part of the agreement, Cebu will buy 102 A321neo jets with options for another 50 planes. 

“When finalised, the deal will be a significant milestone for the local airline industry,” CEO Mike Szucs said in the statement.

The order confirms an earlier Bloomberg News report on the carrier’s purchase plans. Airlines often win large discounts on aircraft orders so the final price Cebu will pay will be much lower.

The A321neo is Airbus’s best-selling plane and the planemaker has a backlog that runs well into the next decade for the jetliner.

Cebu had previously said it was looking at both Airbus and Boeing Co planes for its next major order but the US planemaker failed to win over the largest airline in the Philippines. Cebu expects to finalise the transaction in the third quarter of this year.

The carrier also picked RTX Corp’s Pratt & Whitney GTF engines to power the future fleet. Hundreds of GTF-powered jetliners, including almost two dozen at Cebu, have been idled as the turbines must be removed and brought in to repair shops over the next three years to check for potentially flawed components made from contaminated metal powder.

The low-cost airline - controlled by tycoon Lance Gokongwei and his family’s conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc - plans to expand from a new airport being built in the country’s capital Manila while consolidating its dominant domestic aviation market share position against a resurgent Philippine Airlines Inc.

Cebu has a fleet of about 85 Airbus and some smaller ATR turboprop aircraft and an existing order book of more than 30 planes from the European manufacturer.

“We thank Cebu Pacific for its ongoing confidence in Airbus and its products, and we look forward to finalising the contract,” Airbus said in a statement.

  - Bloomberg