Itapemirim Transportes Aereos (ITA) is said to be about to lose three of the six Airbus A320s in its fleet. A letter to employees sent by the company’s CEO, Adalberto Bogsan, informed that the aircraft would be sent abroad for “preventive maintenance”.
However, the Congresso em Foco outlet revealed on Thursday that the lessor of the three planes, Carlyle Aviation Partners, had requested their return due to ITA’s financial problems.
According to records on the website Planespotters, Carlyle has leased four A320s to ITA, with registrations PS-SPJ, PS-MGF, PS-AAF and PS-TCS.
The A320 PS-SPJ arrived in Brazil in February and carried out its last commercial flight on December 17, when ITA suspended its operations.
The PS-AAF registration aircraft was incorporated at the end of June and has been parked at São Jose dos Campos Airport since December 16th.
The PS-MGF, delivered by Carlyle in September, is at Guarulhos Airport, along with the PS-SPJ and PS-TCS, received in July.
Itapemirim also has two A320s leased by DVB Bank (PS-ITA and PS-SFC) and one A319, leased by Hi Fly and which did not enter into service.
The new Brazilian carrier started revenue flights in July, amidst the pandemic, however, in less than six months it accumulated debts and operational problems that culminated in the suspension of flights on December 17th, leaving around 45,000 passengers unattended.
