Czech Airlines and Airbus have announced that the carrier has switched its purchase agreement for seven Airbus A320neo into four A220-300 and three of the long-range A321XLR.
The first A220-300 is scheduled to arrive in 2020, while the first A321XLR is scheduled for delivery in 2023. Czech Airlines’ (‘CSA’) Airbus A220-300 will be equipped with 149 seats while no configuration has been announced for the A321XLR.
Airbus launched the A321XLR at the Paris Air Show 2019. The new aircraft type is an ‘Extra Long Range’ variant of the Airbus A321neo with a higher range than the already existing A321LR, which is also based on the A321neo.
The owner of Czech Airlines, Smartwings, originally planned to transition the fleet of Czech Airlines to Boeing 737 aircraft and one has already been transferred from its parent company. This plan has now apparently been reversed as Smartwings itself faces a shortage of aircraft due to the 737 MAX grounding.
Czech Airlines currently operates a fleet of six A319, all of which are on wet-lease to German low-cost carrier Eurowings, five ATR 72-500, one Airbus A330-300 leased from Korean Air and one Boeing 737-800. It is the fifth-oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name.
Jan-Hendrik is an aviation enthusiast from Germany, loves to travel the world and fly on as many aircraft as possible. His first flight was with a Condor 757 to Spain and has been interested in aviation ever since. His fields of expertise are aircraft accidents and passenger experience (PaxEx).
