Aeroflot takes delivery of first A330-200

During the delivery ceremony at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, attended by Aeroflot’s CEO Valery Okulov, Airbus’s VP Eastern Europe & Russia Andreas Kramer and Nick Deval, VP of Rolls Royce, the air carrier stresses its aircraft expansion objectives highlighting the aim to increase its fleet by 144% by 2018 to compete with the world’s best airlines.

Aeroflot’s CEO Valery Okulov said, “We remain highly committed to our fleet renewal and expansion schedule and continue to build for Aeroflot?s future with ongoing aircraft investments. Our airline is certainly an exception to the rule in the current economic environment. We are weathering any challenges and focus on the overriding economic benefits of a younger and more modern fleet.”

Earlier this year Aeroflot signed a contract for five new Airbus 321 aircraft worth around GBP226 million planned to be employed on the airline’s growing European and domestic mid-haul flight network. These orders were placed on top of substantial existing Airbus orders involving 38 A320s and 22 A350s that are all due to be delivered over the next decade.

To date the Russian carrier has placed total orders of 129 new aircraft, including Boeing B787-8 Dreamliners, to be delivered from 2014 onwards, and 30 Russian-manufactured Sukhoi SSJ 100 for regional routes.

The A330-200s aircraft will be leased on a ten-year basis from Dutch company Aercap. With a range of up to 12,500 km, they will be employed on prime routes from Moscow to Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong as well as to North American destinations. The first A330-200, named after the late Russian conductor Eugene Svetlanov, whose Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra performed at the delivery ceremony, will service the Moscow to Tokyo and Moscow to Shanghai routes starting from Jan-09.



(c) Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Date posted: 11-Dec-08