As the travel market slowly recovers from the pandemic, many airlines are now moving ahead with new plane orders

United Airlines has been putting finishing touches to an airplane order potentially worth $30 billion.

The US-based airline is set to order 270 new narrowbody jets in a bid to secure a pandemic recovery at favourable prices – that’s according to industry experts.

The order could include up to 200 Boeing 737 MAX and around 70 Airbus A321neo.

Both jets are popular among airlines across the world, despite the MAX facing two years of grounding due to issues with a software system.

Such a deal would notionally be worth $33 billion at the most recently published list prices, but analysts say airlines typically pay less than half price for deals of this size.

None of the parties commented ahead of an announcement expected at a United investor event on Tuesday. Negotiations are complex and numbers of units can shift according to the sources.

If this deal does go ahead, it would be the aviation industry’s biggest since the coronavirus pandemic pummelled air traffic back throughout 2020 and into 2021. It would also boost confidence in air travel using the once-troubled Boeing 373 MAX, with the aircraft causing some hesitation amongst passengers.

United is considered one of the industry’s most influential buyers, who has a history of placing multi-billion dollar aircraft orders.