LAN Airlines orders up to 40 A320 Family aircraft

LAN Airlines ("LAN") with headquarters in Santiago (Chile) has signed a contract with Airbus for the acquisition of 25 A320 Family aircraft plus 15 options. This order confirms LAN's previous announcement of June 2005 and brings their total orders for Airbus aircraft to 59. Deliveries of the newly ordered aircraft are scheduled to begin in 2006. A part of the additional new A318s and A319s will gradually replace LAN's 737-200 fleet.

With this contract LAN becomes the first customer for the A318 powered by the new Pratt & Whitney's PW6000 engine. The PW 6000 engine is due for certification by the end of this year.

The additional A319s and A320s will be powered by the V2500-A5 engine from International Aero Engines.

These new aircraft will be put into service on LAN’s domestic network in Peru, Chile and Argentina.

"We are pleased to see the excellent performance of LAN", said Gustav Humbert, President and CEO of Airbus, "We are honoured with this new order and we are confident that these new aircraft will allow LAN to expand even further throughout the region."

The world's most profitable single-aisle A320 Family (including the A318, A319, A320 and A321) has accumulated more than 40 million flight hours to date. Designed to optimise revenue through cabin adaptability and passenger comfort and featuring the most modern and complete fly-by-wire technology available on any single-aisle aircraft, they ensure savings in every element of direct operating cost and provide operators with the highest degree of operational commonality and economy for aircraft in the 100-220 seat category.

More than 3600 Airbus A320 Family aircraft have been ordered to date of which more than 2500 have been delivered. The Airbus A320 Family has nearly 200 customers and operators to its credit.

A leading aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive product line on the market, Airbus is a global company with design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the UK, and Spain as well as subsidiaries in the U.S., China and Japan. Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is an EADS joint Company with BAE Systems.

More...