Aer Lingus has completed a deal which will see the State airline place orders worth $700 million with aircraft manufacturers Airbus Industrie for 13 new aircraft. The deal involves leasing and buying the aircraft over the next five years to replace a number of Boeing 737 aircraft.

The first six Airbus A321 aircraft will operate on the London route and the remainder on the continental European routes. Aer Lingus said yesterday that the aircraft will give them extra capacity on the Dublin-Heathrow route. The planes can carry 194 passengers compared to 156 in the current Boeing 737 aircraft.

Speaking in Paris yesterday, Aer Lingus's chairman, Mr Bernie Cahill, said traffic on the Dublin-Heathrow route had grown by 14 per cent last year. The company has targeted further growth of 10 per cent this year, with a further 15 per cent in 1999, he said.

Aer Lingus's chief executive, Mr Gary McGann, said the deals would be financed through borrowings and internal resources. He said the airline would not allow gearing to rise above 50 per cent, adding that the company would show a very healthy balance sheet for 1997.

In 1996 the airline posted operating profits of £42 million. Mr McGann pledged that the balance sheet would "remain robust" and that the average age of the fleet was now below 10 years. He said he was confident that the airline had got as good a deal as anyone could, "if not better", from Airbus on the new fleet. He added that Aer Lingus had also secured escape clauses in the deal in the event of a downturn in the airline industry.

Asked about the deal which TEAM Aer Lingus employees are currently considering, which involves a total offer of £54.5 million to buy out the letters of guarantee and other benefits, so that the aircraft maintenance facility can be sold, Mr McGann said he was confident that the company would have a proposal to put to Government. The employees will vote on the deal next week.

The Aer Lingus airbus A321 on its first official flight was delayed for 45 minutes at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris yesterday due to technical problems.

The plane, which was making an unscheduled flight, was carrying the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs O'Rourke, the Aer Lingus chairman Mr Bernie Cahill, the company's chief executive, Mr Gary McGann, other senior company executives and a party of journalists.