A330-300: The best kept secret Latin America is yet to discover

A recent aircraft order from Garuda in early April gave me pause. You are probably wondering why the purchase decisions of Indonesia’s national carrier struck someone responsible for the Latin America region, but the answer is simple. The A330-300 may be the best kept secret for airlines in the region to discover.

Garuda, which currently operates six A330-300s, placed a firm order with Airbus for 11 more A330-300 widebody aircraft. Like Garuda, you have about a dozen other major operators throughout Europe, Asia the Middle East and the US making up the roster the nearly 600 A330-300 sold and 400 in operation. These carriers have certainly understood the value you can get from the payload range capability of the A330-300. With the latest extended range 235 tonne maximum take-off weight variant, the aircraft can now carry 300 passengers in two-class configuration over 5,600 nm. For Latin American carriers, this means reaching Europe and the US from almost any location in the region, while offering the lowest seat mile cost of any twin-aisle aircraft in operation today.

So why hasn’t any airline in Latin America discovered the benefits of this incredibly versatile and profitable aircraft? With the growth projected for the region, it should be a no-brainer for an airline’s next capacity step.

With more than 30 years in the aviation industry, Rafael Alonso is the Executive Vice President of Airbus Customer Affairs for the Latin America and the Caribbean region, responsible for all Airbus commercial activities and customer relations in more than 40 countries.