10 December 2019: With an aim to expand international route network SKY has signed a purchase agreement with Airbus for 10 A321XLRs.
The new A321XLR by Airbus is the next step in single-aisle aircraft meeting the market requirements with increased range and payload. The A321XLR works with 30% lower fuel consumption per seat making longer routes economically viable. It also delivers an unprecedented narrow-body airliner range of up to 4,700nm.
"This new aircraft fleet will allow us to expand our offer of international and wide-ranging routes, always under our successful low-cost model and its extremely convenient ticket prices. Now passengers can enjoy new and very attractive destinations on the most modern airplanes in the market," said Holger Paulmann, CEO of SKY.
Arturo Barreira, President of Airbus Latin America, said: "We are delighted that SKY has selected the A321XLR to further expand its fleet of all Airbus aircraft. The A321XLR will allow SKY to offer its customers new destinations, such as direct flights from Santiago in Chile to Miami in the U.S."
As per the latest Airbus Global Market Forecast, passengers in Latin America has doubled since 2002 and are expected to grow exponentially in the next two decades, thereby increasing air traffic and fleet requirement. Latin America will need 2,700 new aircraft in the next 20 years, more than double today's fleet. Also, traffic is expected to increase from 0.89 trips per capita to 2.26 trips in 2038 in Chile.
Increased fleet will proportionately need more pilots and technicians to meet the increasing demand. Airbus forecasts the need of 47,550 new pilots and 64,160 technicians to be trained over the next 20 years in Latin America.
Looking at these figures, SKY has selected Airbus for providing flight training to its pilots, thereby making SKY as the launch customer for new Airbus Chile Training Centre. The crew training will include full-flight A320 simulator.
SKY has been an all-Airbus operator since 2013. The airline's fleet of 23 A320 Family aircraft serves national and international routes connecting Chile to Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay.
Airbus is fast becoming a market leader in Latin America and Caribbean where it has secured nearly 70% of net orders in the region and a 60% market share of the in-service fleet.