Chilean low-cost carrier SKY Airline has signed a purchase agreement with Airbus for ten A321XLR.
While no delivery time frame has been announced, the new aircraft are likely to join the airline’s fleet around 2024. CEO of SKY Holger Paulmann said the airline would use the A321XLR to open up new routes to international destinations, a possible new destination is Miami which would also be the first North American destination for the airline.
SKY Airline is an existing Airbus customer and currently operates a fleet of 23 aircraft, nine Airbus A319 and 14 A320neo with seven more A320neo to be delivered over the next months. These seven aircraft will replace the remaining A319 in its fleet. SKY Airline’s route network consists of mostly domestic Chilean routes with several international flights to Argentina, Brazil and Peru departing from Santiago de Chile. A Peruvian subsidiary was set up in 2018 and operates domestic services in Peru with aircraft provided by SKY Airline Chile.
The Airbus A321XLR (‘Extra Long Range’) is the longest range version of the A321neo and can fly up to 700nm farther than the existing A321LR (‘Longer Range’). It was launched at the Paris Air Show 2019 and so far has collected more than 300 orders and commitments. Notable customers include United Airlines, IndiGo and American Airlines. The first delivery of the type is scheduled for 2023. SKY competitor JetSmart, another Chilean low-cost carrier, has also signed for the Airbus A321XLR.
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).
