International Airlines Group to Buy 8 Airbus A330 Jets

March 7, 2011 - PRLog -- International Airlines Group (IAG) announced Monday that it had struck a deal with Airbus to purchase eight A330-300 jets, in addition to purchase options on up to eight other A330 family aircraft, for Iberia's longhaul fleet.

IAG did not reveal the financial terms of the new deal, but said its new A330s are due to be delivered between Autumn 2012 and Spring 2014 and that they will replace up to 16 Airbus A340 family aircraft.

The news comes just two weeks after IAG, the holding company for British Airways and Iberia, reported a quarterly pre-tax profit of EUR21 million for the three months ended December 31, 2010. The profit compared with a loss of EUR208 million for the same period of 2009 on a pro-forma basis.

IAG said the new jets it has ordered from Airbus will be more cost effective to operate, as they are around 15 percent more fuel efficient than the aircraft they will replace.

The airline group said the new aircraft can be easily merged into Iberia's existing longhaul fleet, which will reduce the need for additional crew training and maintenance costs.

Iberia's current longhaul fleet consists of 18 A340-300 and 17 A340-600 jets. The British and Spanish airlines merged their fleets and operations in January of this year.

Author: Justin Cole, analyst.

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