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KD Avia, a fast growing Russian airline, has placed a commitment with Airbus for the purchase of 25 A319s, thus becoming a new Airbus customer. The agreement was signed at the International Berlin Airshow taking place from 27th May to 1st June.

KD Avia’s A319s will feature a spacious and comfortable cabin layout. The aircraft will be operated on the airline’s extended network of domestic and international routes out of its Kaliningrad hub. The choice of engines has not yet been made.

Source: Airbus

Indian based international carrier Jet Airways has taken delivery of its latest Airbus A330-200 aircraft, yesterday. Naresh Goyal, Jet Airways Chairman, formally accepted the aircraft at a ceremony at the Berlin Air Show (ILA) in presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders.

The aircraft forms part of an order for 15 Airbus A330-200 aircraft placed between 2005 and 2007. An initial order for 10 aircraft was signed in October 2005 and this was increased to 15 in December 2007. Today’s A330-200 is the airline’s seventh aircraft directly received from Airbus. The first aircraft was delivered in April 2007.

Jet Airways is deploying the aircraft on new far Eastern routes to serve Hong Kong and to expand services to Europe and the Middle East. The aircraft will be configured in two classes with a total of 220 seats.

The customised aircraft is configured with 30 seats in Première arranged in a ‘Herringbone configuration’ with fully lie flat electronic seats with lumbar support and massage systems.

Jet Airways operates A330s between India and its Brussels European hub in Belgium and onto Canada and North America. The airline plans to deploy the additional A330s on regional and long haul international flights.

Source: Airbus
Photo Credit: Airbus

British Airways has signed a firm contract with Airbus for two Airbus A318 aircraft to launch services between London City Airport, in central London, and New York. The A318 is the most modern and largest aircraft certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the steep approach procedures which are required at London City.

British Airways’ order for the smallest member of the A320 Family boosts the number of customers for the A318 to 13. British Airways already operates 70 A320 Family aircraft and has an additional 20 on order in addition to a recent order for 12 A380 aircraft.

“The A318 is the perfect aircraft for these flights. It is capable of operating at London City and is large enough for us to provide the number of business class seats required to make this a viable operation”, says Willie Walsh, British Airways’ Chief Executive.

All A318 models were certified for Steep Approach in 2007 after compatibility tests at London City Airport in 2006.

“The A318 shares the same wide cabin as other members of the A320 Family, and offers by far the greatest level of cabin comfort of any aircraft able to fly from London City or similar inner city airports. The aircraft also offers more range, which allows operators to offer new exciting route combinations”, said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers.

City centre airports are typically constrained by shorter runways, high building and stringent noise constraints. The A318 can land on very short runways and the steep approach procedure enables a 5.5 degree descent angle rather than the standard 3 degrees. The A318 also climbs and reaches cruising altitude quicker than any other aircraft operating out of London City and with significantly reduced noise than previous generation aircraft, making the A318 ideal for city centre operations.

Source: Airbus