JETALLIANCE becomes new customer for Airbus A318 Elite

VIP charter operator JETALLIANCE of Austria is to acquire an A318 Elite, becoming a new customer for the smallest member of the Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ) Family. The new deal is in addition to the ACJ order it placed earlier this month.

JETALLIANCE Flugbetriebs AG is one of the world’s leading business-jet enterprises, with a fleet of 37 aircraft with an average age of only 3.5 years – one of the youngest in Europe. It operates under JAR OPS 1 in Europe, but is also FAA part 129 certificated, allowing it to fly commercially in the USA and Canada.

JETALLIANCE’s Airbus A318 Elite will be powered by CFM International CFM56-5 engines, and will feature cabin-outfitting by Lufthansa Technik.

"Airbus’ A318 Elite gives us big-jet comfort at an affordable price, and will be a great complement to the larger and longer range ACJ," says JETALLIANCE Holding CEO Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer. "And with all of the Airbus ACJ Family having the same type-rating, we only need one group of pilots and mechanics to fly and maintain them."

Airbus’ ACJ Family comprises the A318 Elite, ACJ and A320 Prestige, and has won some 70 sales to date. It is the preferred choice of companies, governments and individuals, which love its comfortable cabin, robust reliability and solid support.

"Customers really like the more modern design of the Airbus A20 Family, from which the A318 Elite, ACJ and ACJ Prestige are derived, as our production rate of an aircraft a day demonstrates," says Airbus President and CEO Gustav Humbert.

Airbus’ ACJ Family offers twice the cabin-width and three times the volume of traditional top-of-the-line business jets, delivering unmatched value for money.

The Airbus ACJ Family delivers extra value in features such as fuel-saving wingtip-fences, cost-saving centralised maintenance and weight-saving composites. It also features many other benefits that have become the hallmark of Airbus aircraft – such as a pilot-friendly common cockpit, fly-by-wire controls and category 3B autoland.

Airbus’ A320 Family is also unique in providing practical advantages such as large, outward-opening cargo-doors, a choice of engines and auxiliary power units, and certification to carry more than 20 fare-paying passengers. Its reliability is also legendary, with the last 250 aircraft achieving a 99.6 per cent operational reliability.

JETALLIANCE group has been active in commercial aviation since 1996, and is involved in aircraft management, aircraft financing, asset management and charter, including via its company Avia Consult Flugbetriebs Ges.m.b.H, which acts on behalf of banks to provide asset management for over 70 aircraft worldwide.

Total sales of the Airbus A320 Family stand at more than 4,300, more than 2,700 of which have been delivered. The family has more than 200 customers and operators.

Airbus is an EADS joint company with BAE Systems.

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