Virgin America to fly Airbus planes

The Virgin Group’s new low-fare airline has agreed to buy and lease up to 105 narrow-body jets from Airbus SAS and name the carrier Virgin America.

Frederick Reid, the head of Virgin America, said the airline had placed a firm order to buy 11 A319s and seven A320s from the France-based manufacturer, to be delivered early in 2005, and that it would lease 15 more A320s from GE Capital Aviation Services, a unit of General Electric Co.