Grupo Marsans, Spain's largest tourism and transport group, has taken delivery of its first directly purchased Airbus A330-200 aircraft for its subsidiary Air Comet. The aircraft was formally handed over to Gonzalo Pascual, President of Grupo Marsans and Ignacio Pascual, CEO of Air Comet, in a ceremony held in Toulouse attended by Rafael Alonso, Senior Vice President Latin America, Carribean & Spain, Customer Affairs.

The delivery is the first aircraft from an agreement for a total of 17 A330-200 ordered in December 2006. The aircraft, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines, has 283 seats in a two-class configuration, offering business-class lie-flat and highly comfortable economy class seats.

The A330-200 will become Air Comet's backbone aircraft offering daily services to main destinations from Spain to Latin America.

"Our customers' decisions prove again that the A330-200 is the leading aircraft in its category. It is a fantastically efficient aircraft with superior standards of passenger comfort", said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers. "Its flexibility in terms of seat capacity and range also made it the preferred choice for leading operators around the world like Grupo Marsans, and we are honoured with their choice."

Airbus claims that the 'true wide-body fuselage' allows very high comfort standards, making the A330-200 able to accommodate seat and class configurations to suit diverse customer requirements. It has a range of up to 6,750 nm with a full passenger load. Its large under-floor cargo holds can also carry standard pallets and containers side-by-side.

FMI: www.airbus.com