Colombia’s national flag carrier Avianca has signed a firm contract for 19 additional Airbus aircraft of which 14 A320 Family aircraft and five A330-200s. This additional order converts options. It brings the total of firm orders from Avianca up to 57 Airbus aircraft.

“With this addition to our initial order, Avianca is consolidating its fleet expansion programme. The first order was mainly for our current fleet renewal, whereas this second one is to deal with growth opportunities,” said German Efromovich, President of the Synergy Group which owns Avianca. “The A319s, A320s and A330s will offer our passengers the highest levels of travel comfort whilst allowing us to benefit from their unbeatable economics. On top of that thanks to the high level of commonality between the Airbus products, our pilots will be able to simultaneously fly the different aircraft which will further contribute to our efficiency.”

“We are pleased to see the confidence of the Synergy Group, owner of Avianca, in Airbus and its products with this second order in such short time” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers, “We are thankful for this endorsement and we look forward to seeing our aircraft fly the skies in Avianca’s colours.”

Including this order, Airbus has received a total of 390 orders from 16 airlines in Latin America. Since 1990 Airbus has taken 54 per cent of all Latin American orders for new aircraft. Furthermore, Airbus has tripled its presence in Latin America over the last seven years.