Consortium Retains Upper Hand in Latin American Sales

Mexican ultra-low-cost airline Viva Aerobus has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus for ninety A321neo aircraft with which the Monterrey International Airport (MTY)-based air-carrier seeks to drive its international and domestic growth.  

The newly-signed MoU brings the airline’s order-book to 170 A320 family aircraft.

Viva Aerobus CEO Juan Carlos Zuazua stated: “These ninety A321neo, 240-seater aircraft will allow us to grow and renew our fleet and remain the youngest in Latin America. The technology and operational efficiency of the A321neos will improve our operational reliability, on-time performance, and provide an unmatched passenger experience."

"Additionally," Mr. Zuazua added, "we expect to drive further cost-savings, which will reflect in lower airfares and strengthen one of our most important advantages—having the lowest cost in the Americas. The fuel-efficiency and noise reduction that the A321neo provides will advance our sustainability efforts by delivering immediate, tangible carbon-emission reductions, thus enhancing our position as the most efficient airline in the continent.”

Airbus International Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer set forth: “The Mexican leisure market is in full recovery mode and Viva Aerobus is at the center of the action. The unbeatable economics of the A321neo make it the perfect choice for the airline's ultra-low-cost model. We are pleased to have been a partner with the airline since 2013 and look forward to working together as it continues on its growth trajectory.”

Comfortably seating up to 244 passengers and incorporating new generation engines and Sharklets (Airbus’s proprietary winglet design), the A321neo is the longest (fuselage) member of Airbus’s single-aisle A320 family. Worldwide, A320-derivative aircraft—which include the A318, A319, A319neo, A320, A320 Enhanced, A320neo, and A321neo—number nearly eleven-thousand specimens.

The A320’s noise signature and fuel-burn are respectively fifty and 25-percent lower than the consortium’s previous generation of single-aisle aircraft. Entering service with launch customer Air France in April 1988, the A320 has since competed with Boeing’s 737 family of narrow-body airliners.

The A320, for better or worse, pioneered the use of digital fly-by-wire and side-stick flight controls in airliners. Subject architectures were famously indicted by pilots party to 1988’s Air France Flight 296Q accident.

Viva Aerobus has based its fleet renewal strategy on Airbus’s A320 family. In 2013, the air-carrier placed an order for 52 A320 family aircraft—at the time, the largest single order of Airbus planes by a Mexican airline. In 2018, Viva Aerobus ordered 25 additional A321neo airliners. Currently, the carrier operates a total of 74 A320 family jets.

To date, Airbus has sold over 1,150 aircraft in Latin America and the Caribbean—a number representative of the consortium’s sixty-percent market-share of the region’s in-service passenger aircraft.

FMI: www.airbus.com