Avianca Holdings has announced in a stock market filing that it has reached separate agreements with each of Airbus and Boeing regarding changes to its aircraft order backlog with either manufacturer.
According to the agreement with Airbus, the Panama-based holding firm has reduced its order for A320neo Family jets from 108 to 88. All deliveries scheduled up to and including 2024 have been cancelled or deferred, with the current timeline foreseeing 20 deliveries per year from 2025 through 2028 and eight in 2029.
However, Avianca has since agreed to dry-lease twelve A320-200neo from BOC Aviation for a period of twelve years, with deliveries due to commence after 2023. On January 7, the Singaporean lessor confirmed it had signed a firm order for twenty A320neo, of 12 are for Avianca and eight for other customers.
Avianca Holdings currently operates ten A320neo (five at Avianca Airlines, three at TACA International Airlines, and two at Avianca Airlines Perú) and two A321-200neo at Avianca Airlines. All but three owned A320neo are leased from SMBC Aviation Capital.
The firm order placed by the Colombian carrier included a further eighty-two A320neo and twenty-six A321neo. It is unclear how the cancellations will be split between the models.
Avianca Holdings said it had also reached an unspecified "mutually beneficial agreement with Boeing with regards to outstanding B787-9 deliveries". It has two such aircraft on firm order from the US manufacturer, with the first currently undergoing completion ahead of placement with its Colombian subsidiary whose fleet also includes thirteen B787-8s.
Avianca Airlines and its sister carriers also operate twenty-five A319-100s, fifty-seven A320-200s, thirteen A321-200s, nine A330-200s, two A330-300s, and fifteen ATR72-600s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.