Azul Linhas Aereas received its third Airbus A330-900neo on Friday. The widebody aircraft took off from Toulouse, France, yesterday evening, after spending several months in storage awaiting delivery for the Brazilian airline.
The long-haul aircraft, registration PR-ANW, flew for the first time almost a year ago, on November 13, 2019, and even carried out a customer acceptance flight in December, which intended to receive them in the following days. However, Azul postponed its delivery and in April the aircraft was transferred from Toulouse to Marcel Dassault airport, where it was stored until the end of September, according to the AIBFamily website. The A330 returned to take an acceptance flight on October 26th until it finally took off for Brazil.
The delivery of the third A330-900neo takes place one year after the arrival of the second aircraft and marks a possible resumption in the modernization plans of Azul in its long-range fleet. The Brazilian company has just completed the acceptance flight of the PR-ANX jet, the fourth of an order (leasing) for five planes, to be delivered in the coming weeks.
Only the A330 PR-ANV will remain, the only one to display the pink livery used in the campaign against breast cancer. The jet has no flight registration, according to the same website, and the last time it was photographed, in October 2019, did not yet have its engines installed.
A330-200 leave the scene
While expanding its A330-900neo fleet, which are more efficient and comfortable for passengers, Azul decided to take one of its A330-200 out of service. The PR-AIY aircraft was sent to Tarbes airport in France, also this week for storage.
Last month, the company also sent another A330-200 (PR-AIS) for storage in Mexico after using it for a few months before the pandemic. The Airbus plane had flown for several years on the Colombian Avianca and then on Avianca Brasil until the airline collapsed.
