Landing Above the Clouds

A320 and A330 Family servicing very high altitude airports

There are places in the world that bring us closer to the clouds, where people live and get on with their everyday lives. Such places as Lhasa in Tibet or La Paz in Bolivia, the world's highest administrative capital, sit at almost 12,000ft above sea level.

At Airbus, we are constantly working to improve the performance of our aircraft at challenging airports such as these. Mostly located in Latin America and China, it is the high altitude and sometimes high temperatures that make them a real challenge for normal aircraft operation.

In order to reach these cities above the clouds, the A320 Family is certified to operate in areas with altitudes of up to 14,500ft for both CFM and IAE engines. Furthermore, the ability to perform brake cooling with the use of fans can help achieve 30-minute turnarounds, ensuring airlines can run full operations during a normal schedule.

This A320 Family’s capabilities have been clearly recognized by operators such as AviancaTaca, LAN, TAME, China Southern, Air China and Tibet Airlines, among others. Currently, more than 60% of the single-aisle flights into these challenging destinations are carried out with the A320 Family providing connections to these high altitude cities.

To meet the challenges of this kind of operation, the A330 offers an additional rating for the Rolls-Royce engine option, the Trent 772C, which delivers increased take-off thrust (+3%), increased “maximum continuous” thrust (+8%) for pressure altitudes above 10,000ft and is certified for operations up to 12,500ft.

This means airlines now have an alternative to frequency growth by introducing higher capacity aircraft for those routes, and for some, the A330 has been the favoured choice. For their Lhasa’s operation for example, China Southern decided to combine the aircraft’s hot and high capabilities and use of the latest RNP AR technology to serve this destination daily with a 250 to 300-seater.

For more information contact:
Amaya Rodriguez Gonzalez
Marketing Director Latin America & Caribbean
amaya.rodriguez-gonzalez@airbus.com