Air Austral of Reunion has become the latest carrier to order the Airbus A220.
Air Austral Airbus A220-300 – Rendering, Airbus.
The airline has placed orders for the larger variant of the A220 – the A220-300. The firm order will cover three of the type to join the airline.
They will seat 132 passengers each – slightly less than the maximum capacity of a 1densely configured A220-300.
It will also be the first time an airline in the Indian Ocean region has ordered the type.
In quotes
Marie-Joseph Malé, Chief Executive Officer of Air Austral
“Air Austral has chosen the A220-300 as part of the renewal of its Medium and Short Haul fleet. These new generation aircraft will join the airline from the end of 2020 with the aim of harmonizing part of its fleet and strengthening its operations” said.
The economic and operational performance of the A220 opens new possibilities for the development of our regional network from our main base – Réunion Island – in an efficient and rational way. The 132-seat capacity module, which is more flexible, will allow us to increase our frequencies while offering more comfort to our customers and crews”.
Christopher Buckley, Executive Vice-President Commercial – Airbus said
“With its unrivalled performance and operational flexibility, the A220 is the perfect aircraft for Air Austral to reinforce routes between Réunion Island and its neighbours in the Indian Ocean, as well as connecting the island further afield,”
“Airlines from all around the world are acknowledging the A220’s economics and it is a great honour that Air Austral will be the first A220 operator in the region.”
Another addition to the order book
For Airbus, their 50.1% purchase of the CSeries Programme continues to pay off – with the A220 had an order book having over 500 aircraft in it at the end of September 2019. For Air Austral, it will replace existing Boeing 737 and ATR aircraft – bringing in a single maintenance regime for their short-haul aircraft, as well as a single type certificate.
As airlines seek to replace their older smaller mainline aircraft, with more operators seeing the benefits of the A220, there hopefully be more orders in the pipeline.
Of course how many will be down to the competition in the wings. With the E-195-E2 taking flight, a competitor now exists.
Let the games being.
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1 airline has grounded their entire a220 fleet as 3 engines had an uncontained failure.