summary
- LATAM’s A321neo’s first commercial flight covered 466.5 nautical miles from São Paulo to Porto Alegre in 1 hour and 34 minutes.
- The A321neo offers significant benefits for Latin America, including increased fuel efficiency, lower CO2 emissions and lower noise compared to previous aircraft models.
- Latin American Airlines acquired the A321neo through a dry lease with AerCap, allowing it to save money and update its fleet.
The newest member of the A321neo ownership family is Latin America. It is an advantage for Latin American airlines to be able to efficiently seat up to 224 passengers in larger bins.
First Latin American commercial flight with A321neo
The A321neo can carry 3,500NM passengers, but as of October 14, Latin American Airlines has only flown the first Airbus A321neo from Fortaleza (FOR) to São Paulo (GRU). This is his distance of 1,261 NM. Based on Flightradar24’s review, the registration PS-LBB appears to be assigned to Latin America Brazil’s Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) base in São Paulo. Below is an aircraft undergoing testing at the Airbus factory.
On its first commercial flight, LATAM departed PS-LBB from GRU and headed to Porto Alegre on flight LA3424. The flight time was 1:34, the range was 466.5 NM, and the cruising altitude was 34,000 feet. The maximum speed achieved on this flight was 444 knots, or Mach 0.767 according to the Aero Toolbox Mach calculator.
Graphics: Flightradar24
According to the ch-aviation database, PS-LBB consists of 224 seats per class. However, Latin American Airlines also sells premium economy seats that offer a bit more legroom and a more luxurious feel.
A321neo offers incredible features
According to Airbus’ Oct. 2 statement, the A321neo was chosen by Latin American countries in large part because it offers these capabilities.
- It carries up to 224 passengers.
- It features Airbus’ Airspace XL bins, which offer 40% more storage space. Therefore, your carry-on baggage will increase by up to 60%.
- Compared to previous generation aircraft with geared turbofan (GTF) engines, it has 20% more fuel efficiency, 20% less CO2 emissions and 50% less noise.
Therefore, LATAM wants to operate 77 A321neos across its airline fleet, and as mentioned above, more A321neos are in development at Airbus factories. A total of 13 firm orders have also been placed for the ultra-long range XLR version.
AerCap Dry Lease
A check of ch-aviation’s aviation database reveals that PS-LBB is owned by AerCap, which dry leases the A321neo to Latin America. This measure will allow Latin America to pay a portion of the operating costs of new aircraft, rather than paying the full operating costs upfront. Peter Anderson, AerCap’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement on October 3:
“This delivery is the first of many A321neos from AerCap and will help support Latin America’s efforts to modernize its fleet and improve efficiency and sustainability. We wish the Latin American team every success and look forward to continuing to build a strong partnership as these aircraft are delivered.” ”
AerCap is proud to be the aviation leasing company of choice. AerCap is not only the world’s largest lessor of the A320neo family; It also considers Latin America as its main lender.
AerCap’s financial support allows Latin America to have a financial partner in aircraft renewal. LATAM Aviation Group CFO Ramiro Alfonsin said in a statement from AerCap:
“Our aircraft renewal and modernization strategy is fully aligned with our commitment to sustainability and brings us closer to our goal of becoming a carbon neutral group by 2050. We will continue to enhance our current fleet and work to further improve it.” Connectivity while being environmentally friendly. ”
Having a reliable leasing partner means that as the A321neo ages, the aircraft could be returned to AerCap for conversion into an air cargo aircraft, allowing Latin American to reduce its fleet. This means that you can refresh the . According to its website, AerCap already has 15 A321ceo converters in its fleet.
What do you think about LATAM A321neo? Please share politely in the comments.
source: air cap, Aero Toolbox Mach Calculator, channel airlines
