Abra Group, the holding company that includes Avianca and GOL, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the acquisition of five Airbus A350-900s. This is the second order announced by a Latin American company during the Farnborough Airshow taking place this week in the United Kingdom.
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“We are very pleased to announce this agreement with Airbus. We believe that with the arrival of these five A350s, which offer passengers the best experience in their class, are more fuel-efficient, and have a lower cost per seat than competing aircraft, we will be able to reinforce our commitment to making travel more accessible and responsible,” said Adrian Neuhausar, CEO of the Abra Group.
“This also means better prices for customers, better connectivity between our continent and Europe, and further consolidates Abra as one of the largest and most competitive air transport groups in Latin America. This aircraft selection is consistent with the strategic announcements we have made this year and reinforces our long-term vision,” he added.
“We are delighted to see that the Abra Group supports the A350 to continue its mission of strengthening air connectivity between Latin America and the rest of the world. The selection of the A350 reaffirms the aircraft as the undisputed leader in long-distance air travel,” added Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, Executive Vice President of Sales for Airbus Commercial Aircraft.
The choice of the Airbus A350 is surprising since Avianca, the only airline in the group (for now) with a suitable network for them, has been relying on the Boeing 787-8, although these already average 8.8 years of age.
This raises the possibility that the aircraft may end up being used by Wamos Air, whose acquisition process by Abra was announced in May and officially notified to the Spanish competition authority this month.
Wamos has a fleet of four Airbus A330-200s and six A330-300s that already average 17 years of age. The CEO of Abra had defined the company as “a jewel in the world of aircraft leasing,” with which they wanted to advance in an agreement because “its business model perfectly complements Abra’s vision and strategy of being a leader in air transport in Latin America,” serving as a source of wide-body aircraft for Abra beyond Colombia.
