Airbus Updates No.4318

 

Air Austral grounds second A220 over engine woes

Air Austral (UU, St. Denis de la Réunion) has been forced to ground a second A220-300 indefinitely due to ongoing Pratt & Whitney engine problems and has adjusted its July flight schedules on regional routes, using its last functioning A220-300 and long-haul aircraft, the airline announced. The operational challenges come at a particularly inopportune time - the start of the European summer holiday season.

F-OLAV (msn 55106) last flew on July 3, serving the regional network between St. Denis de la Réunion and St. Pierre de la Réunion and Mauritius, Dzaoudzi, Nosy-Be and Antananarivo, ADS-B data reveals. F-OTER (msn 55125) has been parked since November 2023. This leaves one remaining A220-300, F-OMER (msn 55116), in service.

In a statement, the airline said it had devised a regional schedule using its single A220 and its long-haul fleet. It operates three B777-300ERs and two B787-8s. It said cooperation from air navigation services, particularly at Dzaoudzi (Mayotte), had been crucial in extending airport hours to support these operations effectively.

Schedule adjustments include maintaining twice-daily flights between Réunion and Mayotte, using its long-haul fleet as necessary, consolidating certain Réunion-Mauritius flights onto widebody aircraft and rescheduling Friday-night flights to Johannesburg O.R. Tambo for Saturday evenings.

Réunion-Paris CDG and Mayotte-Paris flight schedules remain unchanged.

Airbus Updates No.3937

 

Air Senegal cancels A220-leases

According to Italian aviation news site ItaliaVola, Air Senegal has decided to cancel its lease-agreement with Macquarie AirFinance for five Airbus A220-300s. The reason for the cancellation is the continuous grounding of its single A220 and the late delivery of two new A220-300s, which were scheduled to occur in December last year. The late delivery and grounding of its single aircraft of the type is due to issues with the Pratt & Whitney PW1100 Geard Turbo Fan-engines.

Although issues with the engines have been resolved according to Pratt & Whitney, supply chain restraints prevent a quick upgrade to already produced engines. Air Senegal is not the only customer impacted by these engine issues. KLM cityhopper, for instance, has seven of its fifteen Embraer E195-E2s grounded, which use the same type of engines as the Airbus.

Air Senegal took delivery of its first, and now most likely, A220-300 on 27 December 2021. Now, the aircraft, registered 6V-AOA (55089), has been parked at the airline's base at Dakar since 19 November of last year.

The airline is now considering its options and is actively considering the Embraer E195-E2, although is wary of this option due to the similar engines, as well as that it has less range than the A220-300.