Cyprus Airways Drops Widebodies

Posted 14/09/2011

Cyprus Airways has confirmed that it has negotiated the early termination of leases on its two Airbus A330-200s as it begins to restructure its fleet to overcome large financial losses.  The two aircraft will now return to the lessor in December 2011 and January 2012, around a year earlier than originally planned, although both have already been retired from service joining the UK Ministry of Defence on sub-lease for its own contract flights.  The two aircraft had been used on the carrier’s primary routes from the Mediterranean island, most notably to Athens and London.

They will be replaced by two A321-200s which will be acquired from International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) on six year leases in April and May 2012.  These aircraft share common cockpit and technical commonality with its existing A319 and A320 models and will enable the carrier to offer a lower-risk strategy with less capacity in these core markets. 

“The early redelivery of the A330 aircraft is expected to bring about a significant improvement to the operating result of the company,” confirmed Cyprus Airways in its half year results for the six months ending June 30, 2011. 

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