A new planned Airbus A350 order has just been announced, and I find this to be a bit surprising.
In this post:
Abra Group ordering five Airbus A350-900s
Abra Group has just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for five Airbus A350-900s. A delivery timeline hasn’t yet been announced, and for that matter, the order hasn’t even been finalized. The planned order is described as being intended to further expand international long haul operations, and increase capacity.
For those not familiar, Abra Group is the parent company of both avianca and GOL, which are two of Latin America’s biggest airlines.
Here’s how Adrian Neuhauser, CEO of Abra Group, describes this order:
“We are delighted to announce this agreement with Airbus. We believe the arrival of these five A350s, which offer a best-in-class passenger experience, are more fuel efficient and have a lower cost per seat than competitor aircraft, will allow us to strengthen our commitment to make travel more accessible and responsible. This also means better prices for customers with better connectivity between our continent and Europe, and will further consolidate Abra as one of the largest and most competitive air transportation groups in Latin America. The aircraft selection is consistent with the strategic announcements we have done this year and further executes on our long term vision.”
Are these Airbus A350s intended for avianca or GOL?
Abra Group isn’t stating whether these planes are intended for avianca or GOL. As a reminder:
- avianca is primarily based in Colombia, and operates a fleet of roughly 125 aircraft, including Airbus A320-family aircraft, plus Boeing 787s
- GOL is based in Brazil, and operates a fleet of roughly 130 Boeing 737s
Now, personally I think it’s highly likely that these A350s are intended for avianca:
- avianca operates long haul flights, while GOL doesn’t (well, the airline tries to stretch the limits of the 737 MAX, but that’s about it); if GOL were to operate long haul flights, I can’t imagine it would make sense with such a small fleet
- The press release talks specifically about increasing capacity to Europe, which is primarily where avianca flies its wide body aircraft
- avianca had ordered A350s back in 2008; at the time, the airline ordered the A350-800, which is a variant that never ended up being produced
The Airbus A350 is a spectacular plane, and personally I prefer it to the Boeing 787. Given the size of avianca’s network between places like Bogota and Madrid, the airline should have no problems filling these aircraft.
But still, I’m a bit surprised by this order, as avianca currently has a fleet of 15 Boeing 787-8s. There are significant synergies from fleet commonality in terms of crew training, maintenance, scheduling, and more. If avianca wanted a higher capacity aircraft than the 787-8s, it could’ve gone with the 787-9 or 787-10.
Assuming this is all as I expect it is, I wonder what made avianca make the switch to Airbus jets for wide body aircraft. There’s no shortage of demand for the A350, so I can’t imagine avianca got some amazing deal. Or who knows, maybe it did.
It’s interesting to also remember that Brazil’s Azul recently decided to retire its Airbus A350s, even though they were just several years old. The airline argued it was just too big of a plane.
Bottom line
Abra Group is ordering five Airbus A350-900s, though hasn’t stated where the planes will be placed. This is the parent company of avianca and GOL, so I think it’s highly likely that these jets are headed to avianca. GOL doesn’t operate long haul flights, and the press release talks specifically about how these planes will be used to expand capacity to Europe.
I’m not sure I totally understand the choice of picking up A350s when avianca already has 787s, but I’m sure there’s a good reason.
What do you make of Abra Group ordering the A350? What do you think the plans are?
So those 350’s are only to fly from Bogota to Europe what to New York City from Bogota ? We have to fly in regular 320’s Neo’s on a 6 hours flight . Make it make sense !!!
Remember Avianca Brazil, let's also remenber Latam and Azul and their ill fated A350 fleets, I don't see this being a good idea for Avianca. I don't think they could pull this type of increase off. Could this be GOL trying a hybrid low cost or leisure type of approach on long haul international market? Avianca is the pits when it comes to long haul and business class.
Agree 100% with your comments. Just seems crazy to have only FIVE A350's, while they have lots of the 787's. Could have gone with 787-9 and would seem to be a nice fit with their existing fleet. Even if the A350's were to all go to GOL, Abra could have had significant fleet commonality benefits from ordering 787s instead for GOL. They could at minimum swap/share spare parts, share simulators, crew trainers, etc.
"let's also remenber Latam and Azul and their ill fated A350 fleets"
Both had more to do with the fact that those aircraft were both leased and divestible due to being at the end of those leases, than the aircraft itself.
it wasn't only about leases, you should take the mistakes done before the pandemic, COVID-19, and many airlines at the edge of bankruptcy into account, having such a fleet for a very short spam of time is very telling of their planning and stategies, the A350 was a big mistake for both airlines, LATAM even leased A350s to Qatar Airways long before the pandemic, Azul couldn't make it work either, that speaks volumes about their...
it wasn't only about leases, you should take the mistakes done before the pandemic, COVID-19, and many airlines at the edge of bankruptcy into account, having such a fleet for a very short spam of time is very telling of their planning and stategies, the A350 was a big mistake for both airlines, LATAM even leased A350s to Qatar Airways long before the pandemic, Azul couldn't make it work either, that speaks volumes about their planning before, during and after COVID-19. The A350 is a wonderful plane but not the right plane for south american carriers. Having decent 777 and 330 fleets and ordering the A350 was a big mistake, too much capacity for both carriers, a true mistake, hadn't it be a mistake why aren't they keeping or ordering the A350?
Strange order. While the A350 is a great aircraft, Avianca's soft product is really bad. They need to step it up a lot.
You missed that Avianca had a fleet of A330 that they just retiered and might need replacement for.
While possible, a switch to the A350 to replace the A330 seems unlikely. The A350 is substantially bigger, and their existing 787 would be a far better fit. Barring that, the A330neo has sold poorly and Abra would be able to get good delivery positions and a low price for purchasing them. So using the A350 here doesn’t add up
While possible, a switch to the A350 to replace the A330 seems unlikely. The A350 is substantially bigger, and their existing 787 would be a far better fit. Barring that, the A330neo has sold poorly and Abra would be able to get good delivery positions and a low price for purchasing them. So using the A350 here doesn’t add up
There's a lot of interesting stuff going on behind the scenes here at Abra. I believe these might be meant for Wamos Air. Abra already owns Gol and Aviana and has an MOU with Aerolíneas Argentinas; recently Abra bought a stake in Wamos in order to challenge Iberia/IAG's latin American network and take advantage of Air Europe divestitures in MAD due to the upcoming IAG merger. Abra will likely turn Wamos into a scheduled carrier...
There's a lot of interesting stuff going on behind the scenes here at Abra. I believe these might be meant for Wamos Air. Abra already owns Gol and Aviana and has an MOU with Aerolíneas Argentinas; recently Abra bought a stake in Wamos in order to challenge Iberia/IAG's latin American network and take advantage of Air Europe divestitures in MAD due to the upcoming IAG merger. Abra will likely turn Wamos into a scheduled carrier operating as Avianca España which will connect Madrid to Latin America (beginning by taking over Air Europa routes that overlap with Iberia), creating an intercontinental competitor to Iberia with feed on the Spanish side from Volotea, on the Latin side from Gol, Avianca, and potentially Aerolíneas in the future, and the new Wamos scheduled services acting as Abra's longhaul Latin American connector based in Madrid.
it makes more sense to place such a fleet on Wamos Air, it doesn't make any sense for Avianca, too much of an airplane for their long haul market.
Breaking news: Avianca intends to codeshare with Delta since they both operate the A350. It will be called the A350 alliance.
I believe this might actually be for Wamos Air. Abra recently bought a stake in Wamos and wants to create a rival to Iberia's Latin America network. They already have feed and good networks on the Latin American side with Avianca and GOL (and potentially even Aerolíneas Argentinas in the future) but by buying a stake in Wamos they may potentially rebrand it into Avianca España and fully absorb the carrier into Abra. Then they...
I believe this might actually be for Wamos Air. Abra recently bought a stake in Wamos and wants to create a rival to Iberia's Latin America network. They already have feed and good networks on the Latin American side with Avianca and GOL (and potentially even Aerolíneas Argentinas in the future) but by buying a stake in Wamos they may potentially rebrand it into Avianca España and fully absorb the carrier into Abra. Then they could achieve synergies with Avianca's Latam ops and Gol's ops and begin scheduled long haul service from Madrid to Latin America. https://crankyflier.com/2024/07/02/aviancas-owner-abra-group-jumps-across-the-atlantic/