Xiamen Airlines (MF, Xiamen) has placed an order with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for forty A320-200Ns with deliveries scheduled between 2024 and 2027, parent China Southern Air Holding announced in a stock market filing.

The holding revealed that it received a "relatively large discount" on the list prices of the aircraft. Financing will be through a mix of in-house capital, bank loans, and other financial instruments.

The ch-aviation fleets module shows that Xiamen Airlines is currently an all-Boeing operator with a fleet of nine B737-700s, 131 B737-800s, six B787-8s, and six B787-9s. The airline also has ten grounded B737-8s and has a further 22 of the type on order. However, the B737 MAX has yet to be recertified in China, and it is unclear when it will resume commercial flight operations in the country. The airline did not disclose whether the A320neo order would be used to replace any of the B737s or for growth.

Xiamen Airlines' parent China Southern Airlines already operates four A319-100Ns (with nine more on order), thirty-nine A320-200Ns (with 23 more on order), twenty-eight A321-200Ns (65 more on order), and twenty-five A321-200NX (two more on order).