Greek carrier Aegean Airlines has agreed to wet-lease a pair of Airbus A320s from neighbouring operator Cyprus Airways.
Under the long-term pact, the initial aircraft will be deployed to Aegean this month, while the seond will arrive at the end of March next year.
Cyprus Airways states that it stands to expand its fleet and obtain “better economies of scale”, while providing Aegean with an “efficient method” to increase capacity over the coming year.
“We already have an extensive codeshare agreement in place where we work closely [with Aegean] to offer and optimise our joint products and services,” says Cyprus Airways chief Paul Sies.
“We are now taking our co-operation to the next level.”
Cyprus Airways operates a small fleet of A320s and A220-300s. Aegean is a much larger carriers, with A320-family jets.
Aegean has been working to offset a capacity shortfall, after disclosing recently that it expects to ground a number of A320neo models over the next few months as a result of unscheduled checks involving Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines.
Cyprus Airways says the A320 agreement has been facilitated by wet-lease specialist Zela Aviation.
