AviancaTaca A330 delivery marks major milestone with 100th Airbus aircraft in operation
AviancaTaca took delivery of its ninth A330-200 on September 17 at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France. The aircraft is powered by Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines.
The highly efficient, modern A330-200 widebody aircraft is configured to seat 252 passengers – 30 in business class and 222 in economy. The A330-200 has the versatility to cover all ranges from short-haul to true long haul, ideal for point-to-point operations. Additional economic benefits include operational commonality with the A330-200 Freighter, of which the airline has ordered four, exceptional operational reliability and superb fuel efficiency. Across all its aircraft families Airbus’ unique approach ensures that aircraft share the highest commonality in airframes, on-board systems, cockpits and handling characteristics. This significantly reduces operating costs for airlines.
“The integration of this 100th Airbus aircraft to the AviancaTaca fleet is a reflection of both our and Airbus’ commitment to strengthening the aviation industry in Latin America,” said Fabio Villegas, CEO of AviancaTaca. “With this new aircraft, we are not only increasing our passenger offering, but we are also furthering AviancaTaca’s expansion program and improving customer service, which are our top priorities.”
“AviancaTaca’s has one of the youngest fleets in Latin America, averaging five years,” said Rafael Alonso, Executive Vice President of Airbus in Latin America & Caribbean. “We couldn’t be prouder that AviancaTaca has based their fleet modernization and expansion programs on Airbus and we look forward to celebrating many more milestones with AviancaTaca.”
The A330-200 offers a higher takeoff weight (TOW) capability of 238 metric tonnes achieved with no OEW increase. This translates into around 330nm more range, giving the aircraft 7,250nm endurance, or an extra 3.4 tonnes of payload. With more than 1,220 orders to date and more than 900 aircraft delivered to over 90 operators, the A330 Family is achieving average dispatch reliability above 99 percent.
With nearly an all-Airbus fleet, AviancaTaca has combined orders for 190 aircraft and now operates 100 Airbus aircraft, including 91 A320 Family and nine A330 aircraft. AviancaTaca has a backlog of more than 80 Airbus aircraft.
With more than 700 aircraft sold and a backlog of nearly than 350, over 450 Airbus aircraft are in operation throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In the last 10 years, Airbus tripled its in-service fleet, while delivering more than 60 percent of all aircraft operating in the region.