In a record time of less than two years, with the titanic work of more than 1,500 trained technicians, Avianca Airlines announced that it has completed 104 Airbus A320 aircraft reconfigured with its new cabin.
With the reconfiguration of this fleet, Avianca offers its customers 20% more capacity per plane with a total of 180 seats differentiated between Premium, Plus and Economic. This will allow it to continue offering more competitive prices, transport more passengers by plane, contribute to the relief of congestion in some airports and reduce CO2 emissions per passenger transported by up to 15.35%, making its operation more sustainable. In addition, with the advances in the reconfiguration of its fleet during 2022, Avianca transported more than 24.6 million passengers in 187,000 flights operated.
“We are very proud of this milestone for Avianca and for the industry around the world. They told us that we were being too ambitious to want to do this internally and in less than two years. Even so, we achieved it together with more than 1,500 experts from our MRO and other areas of Avianca, and with the help of allies such as Recaro, our seat manufacturer, and Airbus, manufacturer of this fleet and who developed the engineering, who were fundamental to carry out this project even during difficult situations such as the pandemic, the war in Europe or the shortage of some supplies Without a doubt, the reconfiguration of our fleet makes us more efficient and competitive, it brings us closer and closer to what we set ourselves in our business plan, and also leads us to achieve the goal of being an Avianca for all,
“Although the last few years have been a global challenge for our entire industry, Avianca's commitment to prepare for this moment in which we see traffic levels regain momentum means that passengers can now enjoy an improved cabin, with a best experience on board. The selection of Airbus SpaceFlex Next Generation for more than 100 A320 aircraft is unprecedented, to have this number of aircraft refurbished and returned to service in a two-year period during a supply chain crisis is an outstanding achievement,” Yohan said. Closs, Vice President. President of Services for Airbus Latin America and the Caribbean.
Achieving this tremendous milestone was only possible through close collaboration with Avianca and Airbus, and I am very proud of our teams who worked around the clock to bring this new passenger experience to life,” said Dr. Mark Hiller, Chief Executive Officer. of RECARO Aircraft Seating and Holding RECARO. “We take pride in producing sustainable solutions for our customers and their passengers, it is what drives us as a company and industry.”
As part of its strategy to increase capacity in the different markets where it operates, Avianca will continue incorporating A320 aircraft that will temporarily have a different configuration but will also enter the reconfiguration process during 2023.