Airbus Updates No.3776

 

PLAY's First  Airbus A320neo Is Spotted In Its Striking Red Livery

Something a little smaller but equally red is coming Iceland's way...

Icelandic low-cost airline PLAY is gearing up to receive its third aircraft. For the first time, the airline will be inducting an Airbus A320neo, complementing its fleet of three A321neos. The airline’s CEO, Birgir Jonsson, gave us all a glimpse of his shiny new bird.

All in, the airline will be adding three new aircraft to its fleet this spring, ahead of its launch of transatlantic services to the East Coast of the USA. PLAY will inaugurate westbound services from Iceland in April, with the first routes touching down in Baltimore/Washington (BWI).

Following that, May will see the launch of services to Boston, closely followed by the third US destination – New York Stewart. Baltimore and Boston are logical destinations, as the airline follows in the footsteps of its predecessor WOW. New York Stewart is something new and unusual; it will be interesting to see how that gamble works out.

The new A320neo

AerCap has leased the first three A321neos to PLAY, none brand new but not exactly old either. All three are around four years old, and are former aircraft of beleaguered Mexican carrier Interjet.

The A320neo, on the other hand, is being leased via CALC. The plane is only 1.4 years of age, and has never been used for active service in that time. It was delivered in October 2020, but did not have an airline waiting to take it up.

It was liveried for SaudiGulf Airlines, and was set to be the first of 10 delivered to the carrier. However, SaudiGulf never did take delivery, having suspended operations due to COVID, and has since begun liquidating its assets and canceling orders. As such, this A320neo has been stored in Toulouse under registration F-WWBF since then.

But now, it has emerged once more, and looking very different indeed. Gone is the green and gold livery of the Saudi Arabian airline, and in its place, a gleaming coat of red. At delivery, the A320neo will take on registration number TF-PPB.

Data from ch-aviation shows the A320neo was originally configured with 120 economy seats with 31 to 32 inches of pitch in a 3-3 layout. Up the front, it has 16 business class seats with 44 inches of pitch, in a 2-2 layout. It’s highly unlikely PLAY will want to keep those business class seats, but remains to be seen if they have been switched out by the time it enters service.

Why the A320neo and the A321neo?

For a low-cost airline, fleet commonality is key to driving down operational and maintenance costs. It also makes it easier to swap crews and equipment around if things don’t entirely go to plan. With commonality maintained between all members of the A320 family, this is an aspect PLAY is embracing in its fleet strategy

But why have the smaller A320neo working alongside the A321neo? Speaking to Simple Flying at our Future Flying Forum last year, CEO Jonsson explained that it was about being able to mix capacity to suit the destination. He said,

"With the A320 and A321’s obviously different sizes, we have the capability of mixing capacity to serve different destinations. We will serve just a few destinations in the US with high frequency. And then we are kind of linking them with a bigger range of destinations in Europe. So you have to basically balance it between the quantity and the load."