Aeropostal of Venezuela is negotiating with Aerolineas Argentinas to combine their Airbus A310-300 services in a move to improve operating efficiencies and circumvent safety assessment restrictions on flights to the USA.
The South American carriers each operate two Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered A310s on operating leases from Airbus Asset Management. "Both fleets are inefficient and we're trying to figure out a way of keeping the A310s and, in addition, build the fleet up to six aircraft," says Aerolineas chief operating officer David Cush.
He adds that discussions are now focused on "pooling A310 assets", including joint maintenance and codeshare services. The Argentinian carrier recently returned a third A310 and, unless it can find a way of economically sustaining the fleet, eventually plans to replace the remaining two aircraft with a new fleet of narrowbody jets.
Access to Argentine-crewed A310s offers Aeropostal an opportunity to overcome restrictions preventing it launching any new services to the USA until safety is improved.
The carrier wants to fly between Caracas and Miami, a route that it was allocated after the demise of Viasa. "We're still discussing details but the plan is to implement these flights in November," says Aeropostal.
Source: Flight International
