New Year, New Opportunities

With the start of the new year, we are proud to bring you the new Noticias, a newsletter we’ve developed exclusively for our customers in Latin America. We hope you enjoy the new format, which provides more interactivity and variety.

Looking back briefly, 2010 was a good year for Airbus in Latin America and the Caribbean. It represented 75 aircraft sold to LAN and TAM, three new operators added to the Airbus network and more than 60 percent of the region’s aircraft orders. We were happy to see airline profitability grow at a steady pace, thanks to fleet renewals throughout the region and continued demand for single-aisle aircraft.

And with 2011 already underway, we are particularly excited about the launch of the A320neo, which you can read about in this edition’s top story. The much-anticipated and innovative fuel-saving engine option is an alternative to our best-selling A320 Family, offering an average fuel savings of 15% and opening a whole range of possibilities for our region’s airlines. Over the past 20 years, upgrades of this magnitude were common to wide body and long range aircraft, but now engine manufacturers have taken a serious look at the single-aisle market, creating a mini-revolution in my perspective.

I look forward to sharing more perspectives with you each month through this column. On behalf of the Airbus team in Latin America and the Caribbean, I wish you a very successful and happy 2011.