Yesterday, photos emerged of World2Fly's future Airbus A330 painted in the airline startup's livery. The Spanish tourist group Iberostar (through one of its companies, W2M), introduced the new airline, World2Fly, almost exactly one month ago. The airline intends to connect Spain with tourist hotspots in Latin America. Let's take a look at the airline's first aircraft and where it came from.
World2Fly's first aircraft
A photo of the airline startup's new jet with its new livery was posted to Twitter via the account JetPhotos, as can be seen below:
The leased aircraft, according to Planespotters.net, is a 10-year-old Airbus A330-300 registered as EC-LXR. The aircraft has had a fairly diverse history, flying with quite a few airlines over the past decade. They include:
- Spanish carrier Iberworld
- Orbest Orizonia, another Spanish carrier
- PAL-Principal Airlines of Chile
- Garuda Indonesia
- and XL Airways France
The aircraft most recently flew with Air Europa, which has had the aircraft since 2013 - sub-leasing it to other airlines for short periods periodically. Since its very first airline, data shows that the jet has been configured with an all-economy layout of 388 seats. However, we're not 100% sure that World2Fly will keep this configuration.
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A temporary measure until the A350 arrives?
According to the airline's website. it intends to use an Airbus A350 for its leisure services, citing the latest technology and the aircraft's efficient and sustainable operation. Indeed, the airline boasts of having a "new generation fleet with the latest technology."
While a 10-year-old Airbus A330 isn't exactly a fuel-hungry, inefficient aircraft, it's certainly not an Airbus A350 with the latest technology.
We're not exactly sure if the airline's leasing of an A330-300 is a temporary measure until it can acquire an A350, or if the airline has decided to settle for something cheaper. It's likely to be the former, as its marketing on social media has promoted the A350 as recently as January 8th.
Where World2Fly will fly
Posted on the landing page of its website, the airline makes the following statement:
“We expect to be taking off in spring 2021, to destinations such as Punta Cana – Dominican Republic, Cancun – Mexico, and La Habana – Cuba.â€
As a subsidiary of Iberostar, we're almost certain that the airline is flying to destinations that will support its parent company's hotels.
Based in Majorca, Spain, Iberostar Group has many hotels across Europe and America, including three hotels in Cuba (two in Cayo Coco and one in Varadero), one in Punta Cana, and one in Cancun.
The international company also has one hotel in New York, one in Miami, and two in Praia do Forte, a small leisure village near Salvador, Brazil.
How do you think World2Fly will manage, launching in a post-pandemic world? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment.
The airline was not available to comment at the time of publication.