Malaysia Airlines to buy 20 Airbus jets

Malaysia Airlines is poised to announce a deal next Monday to acquire 20 Airbus A330neo wide-body jets, industry sources said on Wednesday.

Chief Executive Izham Ismail said in June the airline was nearing a decision on replacing its earlier-model A330 fleet, and Reuters last month reported that the upgraded A330neo had been selected as the preferred model.

The deal to replace 15 A330-300s and six A330-200s is likely to involve leasing around half of the upgraded A330neo planes and purchasing the rest directly from Airbus, said two of the sources, who were not authorised to speak publicly.