Croatia Airlines prepares for A220 transition
Croatia Airlines has begun preparations for the arrival of its first A220 aircraft in less than a year’s time with the carrier recently holding talks with airBaltic, which had previously transitioned to a single-type A220 fleet. The Croatian carrier has concluded a lease agreement for four 149-seat A220-300s and two 127-seat A220-200s with the Air Lease Corporation and paid a deposit for the jets. The carrier plans to eventually replace its entire fleet with the A220s, with the lease of a further six jets of the same type earmarked for 2025 and 2026. “The public will be informed in a timely manner upon the selection of the lessor for the remaining six aircraft with deliveries in 2025 and 2026”, Croatia Airlines said. The carrier also has the option of adding a further three units in 2027.
Commenting on airBaltic’s talks with Croatia Airlines, the Latvian carrier’s CEO, Martin Gauss, told EX-YU Aviation News, “They visited us. It was a very good work visit about the introduction of the same type of aircraft that we have. We do heavy maintenance on this type of aircraft, and we do have a lot of experience, so we shared that with Croatia Airlines. We shared our knowledge, what was for us critical in introducing this type and we talked about crew training and so on. We also talked about details regarding the satellite system that we are going to install, as well as aircraft interiors, seats and how we do the maintenance, which we can provide to others, as well as crew training, since we have a simulator and pilot academy. We can also scale up and train more people if needed for other airlines. We also plan to set up a technician academy. We recently announced that with the IPO [initial public offering] we are looking at increasing our fleet from fifty to 100 aircraft over the years to come. In order to do that we need a lot of technicians and a lot of pilots. We do not want to depend on the global market so we will do it ourselves. All of that we shared with Croatia Airlines”.
Croatia Airlines’ incoming A220 fleet will feature on board Wi-Fi, as well as other product improvements. airBaltic, which is the largest A220 operator in the world, recently announced it would equip its entire fleet with Starlink, a high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, which will be unlimited and free of charge to passengers. Croatia Airlines also plans to fit out each seat on its A220s with USB A and USB C ports, as well as smartphone and tablet holders. “Croatia Airlines’ future fleet, which will be made up of a single aircraft type, will enable the simplification of processes and monitoring of the company’s operational and financial efficiencies. With the new fleet, Croatia Airlines will become an even more environmentally friendly airline and will significantly reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, which, based on the latest developments on the market, represents an ever-increasing expense”, the Croatian carrier said.
For its part, Air Lease Corporation noted, “These A220s destined for Croatia Airlines are expected to be delivered from our order book beginning in 2024 through 2025 and represent a significant modernisation shift for that airline as it moves away from operating older A319s and A320s. In this case, the A220 gives the carrier more capacity and efficiency, both on existing routes and added range to expand future routes as well”.
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