São Paulo – This Tuesday (30th), Etihad Airways announced that it has ordered two A330-200 aircraft from European manufacturer Airbus, costing US$ 418 million each, with delivery due in January and March 2014. The company also informed that an order for seven A320, single-aisle models has been replaced with seven A321 models, which are also single-aisle, but larger than the A320.
According to a press statement released by the company, the new units will be divided into 22 business class and 240 economy class seats. The company did not inform which routes the aircraft will fly on, but currently its 16 A330-200 units fly to Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich, Dublin, Manchester, Milan, Casablanca, Tripoli, Lagos, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Johannesburg, Brisbane, Chengdu, Beijing, Nagoya and Tokyo.
Etihad president and CEO James Hogan said this aircraft is part of the reason for the company’s successful passenger and cargo operations. “As our operations and network continue to grow in scale, we feel the A330-200 is the right fleet type to expand with,” he said. In addition to its passenger aircraft, Etihad uses two units of this model in its cargo fleet.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
