Sky Airline Becomes Newest Airbus Operator in Latin America
Sky Airline, Chile’s second largest carrier providing passenger, postal and cargo air transport services since 2002, began flying an Airbus A320-200 May 31 to cover domestic and international routes. Sky Airline received two A320-200s earlier this month, and is expected to start operating the second Airbus A320-200 by end of June.
Based in Santiago, Chile, Sky Airline flies to many of the country’s top destinations, including Arica, Iquique, Calama, Antofagasta, El Salvador, Copiapó, Concepción, Temuco, Puerto Montt, Balmaceda and Punta Arenas. Sky Airline also has international flights to Arequipa, Peru and La Paz, Bolivia. With the addition of two Airbus A320-200s, Sky Airline will increase international routes throughout Latin America and continue charter flights.
“We are confident we selected the right aircraft for our future development and are impressed with the support from Airbus”, said Holger Paulmann, Director of Sky Airline.
“Airbus is proud to be part of Sky Airline’s growth strategy,” said Rafael Alonso, Senior Vice President, Airbus Latin America and the Caribbean, “The A320-200 is the perfect addition to Sky’s fleet with the widest coverage of seating capacity, preferred cabin space and incredible dispatch reliability.”
With well over 6,000 aircraft ordered and more than 4,000 delivered to more than 200 operators, the Airbus A318, A319, A320 and A321 make up the world's best-selling single-aisle aircraft family and are the preferred choice with traditional airlines and passengers, as well as with the fast-growing low-cost carrier market for which it is now the reference.
Airbus has trained 18 of Sky Airline’s pilots to operate the Airbus A320-200s at its state-of-the-art training center in Miami, which recently welcomed a new Airbus A320 Family Thales Reality7 Level D full flight simulator and has another on the way, as part of its ongoing commitment to provide a complete range of integrated training solutions.
Sky Airline’s latest Airbus additions come during an important growth period for Chile. According to the 2010 Airbus Global Market Forecast, Chile’s traffic growth is 47 percent above 2000 levels, almost twice the traffic growth rate of all of Latin America.
The addition of modern fleets is a growing trend led by Chile in Latin America. The average age of Chilean passenger fleets is 8.9 years, compared to an average age of 10.6 throughout Latin America.
Airbus has seen its most successful period in Latin America in the last five years, with 300 aircraft sold and a record backlog of over 200 aircraft orders to be delivered to its Latin American customers. Today, almost 370 Airbus aircraft are flying with 22 Latin American airlines, this representing around 42 percent of the fleet in service.
A leading aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive product line on the market, Airbus is a global company with design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the UK and Spain, as well as subsidiaries in the U.S., China, Japan and Middle East.
Source: AIRBUS
