Virgin Atlantic has decided to replace its A330ceo (4 A330-200 and 10 A330-300) with the A330-900neo. The announcement came on Monday at the Paris Air Show with the signing of the agreement with the presence of the Virgin CEO Shai Weiss and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.
The British airline has made a firm order of eight A330-900 and will lease six other aircraft with Air Lease Corporation. The first jets will be delivered in 2021.
In addition to the A330neo, Virgin Atlantic also ordered 12 A350-1000 whose first four units will be delivered in 2019. They will replace the eight Boeing 747-400 currently used on long-haul routes. Virgin still has in its fleet the wide-bodies Boeing 787 and the A340-500.
The A330-900 is equipped with the Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 turbofan and shares technological advances introduced by the A350. The airline that debuted the model was TAP Air Portugal.
