Jean Christou
CYPRUS Airways (CY) will decide by the end of the summer whether to replace its four Airbus A310s and on further fleet expansion.
"No final decision has been taken yet," CY spokesman Tassos Angelis told the Cyprus Mail. ‘We are preparing a fleet plan to asses our requirements for the next ten years and then we will proceed to a final decision, how many and what kind and how to get them."
CY currently has 12 Airbuses — eight A320s, which seat 165 passengers each, and four A310s, which seat 241. Three of the A320s are leased to CY’s charter arm Eurocypria. The average age of the fleet is 10.7 years.
"The A310s are getting older and expensive to maintain, although they still have a useful life," Angelis said.
It is an open secret that Iran Air has shown an interest in the A310s, but CY has declined to confirm that the airline’s representatives have already inspected the fleet.
The A310s are mainly used for the longer-distance routes to the UK and Europe and have a higher daily use.
Angelis said the company had not decided yet whether to lease new aircraft or whether to buy replacements for the A310s.
The airline still has a £40 million loan on the current fleet. "It used to be £200 million," Angelis said.
He added it was not written in stone that any new purchases would again be from Airbus. "We are in contact with both Boeing and Airbus and it is always possible Boeing will make a proposal," Angelis said.
He said that last year for the first time Airbus had had a lot off offers worldwide. "They had a good year and are now real competition for Boeing and we are hoping this will work in our favour."
In addition to the possible replacement of the four A310s, CY is moving in the direction of expansion and hopes to acquire two or three smaller planes of around 120 seats.
"We need to add frequency to our short distance destinations such as the Middle East and Athens," Angelis said. He said Athens now had three flights a day, which in summer can go to five or six daily. "So it’s better to have smaller planes with more frequencies and it makes for a higher load factor," he said. The company is also in the process of leasing an additional A320 for next summer.
CY took delivery of its first two Airbus A310s in the spring of 1984 and ordered a third for delivery in 1985. The same year, the company ordered four A320s for delivery in 1989, with an option for an additional one for later delivery. CY in fact became of the five launching airlines of the A320 programme.
In 1987, the company decided to exercise its option on four additional A320s for delivery in 1991 and 1992.
