LONDON – With the first Condor Airbus A330-900neo completing its successful customer acceptance flight, let’s take a look into its fleet renewal strategy.
The Customer Acceptance Flight…
What will be known as D-ANRA, the testbed F-WWCX completed the flight today as AIB04CX.
The jet departed Toulouse at 1054 local time this morning and was in the air for roughly three hours before returning back to the Airbus plant.
Condor confirmed that the flight was successful and will be due for official delivery very soon.
It was reported in the media that the acceptance flight was delayed due to repairs having to be made on damaged wingtips. But with a quick turnaround like this, it shows that the damages were minor.
Condor & The A330neo…
Condor made the order announcement back in July 2021, where an agreement was signed for 16 units of the aircraft type.
As a breakdown, the agreement will see seven of the nine a direct purchase, with nine to be on the lease.
However, in a press release from Condor today, an additional two units have been added to the orderbook/leasebook, bringing the total count to 18.
According to the German leisure airline, the first passenger flight of D-ANRA will operate to Mauritius.
At the time of the order, Condor CEO Ralf Teckentrup said the following:
“We are proud to be the German launch customer for the A330neo.”
“Thanks to the latest technology and maximum efficiency of the aircraft, we will be taking off with our new plane in Autumn 2022 with fuel consumption of just 2.1 liters per passenger per 100 kilometers.”
“With this value, we are the front-runner in Germany and, as the most popular leisure airline, we will consistently continue to interweave the themes of sustainability and holidays.”
“On board, our customers can expect the highest levels of comfort in a brand new Business Class, Premium Economy Class, and Economy Class.”
“We are looking forward to our new aircraft and to the successful cooperation with Airbus as a strong partner by our side.”
The Condor A330neo & Fleet Renewal…
Upon delivery of the first type, a second will also be delivered before this year is completed.
There is quite a rapid timeline for delivery on these aircraft, with the full 18 units expected to be delivered by 2024.
The main cause of fleet renewal from this type is Condor’s older Boeing 767 aircraft, which costs more to run at present due to its age.
Condor will no doubt operate the A330neos on the long-haul routes that the 767 operates already, which will also enable an increase in capacity too.
The 767s currently sits around 259 passengers based on a three-class configuration of Business, Premium Economy, and Economy.
According to an article from Simple Flying, Condor’s A330neos will seat a total of 310 passengers, consisting of 30 seats in Business, 64 in Premium Economy, and 214 in standard Economy.
On top of this, Condor has around nine Boeing 767s and six Airbus A330ceos, which means that the addition of 18 new A330neos represents fleet growth as well.
Therefore, with this fleet renewal also comes a substantial upgrade to its capacity offerings, which will come in handy for the upcoming Summer 2023 schedule.
Exciting Times for Condor…
It remains clear that Condor is in a very exciting position right now, and the addition of the A330neos is going to provide some short and long-term successes going into the future.
Looking ahead, it’s going to be interesting to see how much further Condor wishes to take its route network, as their confidence in the A330neo will no doubt result in this.
But for now, all eyes will be on the carrier to see how the new aircraft type performs for them in commercial service and whether this could be the start of something major for Condor.
