Bahamasair is eyeing an order for brand spanking new jets that would develop its fleet and increase nonstop flight alternatives to the island nation.
“The principle plane that we’re is the Airbus [A]220,” Tracy Cooper, CEO of Bahamasair, stated on the Routes Americas convention in Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday.
The airline is contemplating an order for eight to 10 planes that may exchange its 4 growing old Boeing 737-700s — the plane vary in age from 18 to 21 years previous, knowledge from FlightRadar24 exhibits — and develop its fleet.
An order, Cooper continued, might be unveiled this 12 months relying on the supply of capital for the brand new planes.
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The A220 “offers us alternatives to do issues that we’re not doing presently — that airplane can fly simply to the total [breadth] of the U.S. and get us nicely into Latin America,” Cooper stated.
In accordance with Airbus, the A220-300 can fly round 3,900 miles with a typical two-class structure of 120 to 150 seats. That is additional than Bahamasair’s present 737s and the vary of the A220’s principal competitor, the Embraer E195-E2, which may fly round 3,000 miles with a typical single-class structure of simply 132 seats.
Bahamasair’s 737-700s all have greater than 140 seats. The airline additionally has a fleet of 5 ATR turboprops that it makes use of primarily for home flights within the Bahamas.
Schedule knowledge from aviation analytics agency Cirium exhibits that the service serves 4 U.S. airports: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide Airport (FLL), Miami Worldwide Airport (MIA), Orlando Worldwide Airport (MCO) and Palm Seashore Worldwide Airport (PBI) in West Palm Seashore, Florida. It additionally flies to Cap-Haitien, Haiti; Havana; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Providenciales within the Turks and Caicos islands.
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The A220 is a well-liked plane with airways and passengers alike. Developed by Bombardier within the 2010s earlier than being purchased by Airbus, the jet has half as many center seats as its bigger opponents, the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737, because of its 2-3 configuration in economic system. It additionally advantages from the newest in engine expertise, making it extra fuel-efficient than older fashions and, as Cooper talked about, have a variety able to transcontinental flights in North America.
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North American A220 operators embody Air Canada, Breeze Airways, Delta Air Traces, and JetBlue.
Bahamasair has its sights set first on Latin America with its subsequent plane. The A220s would allow nonstop flights from Nassau’s Lynden Pindling Worldwide Airport (NAS) to airports in Colombia, Mexico and Panama — in different phrases, Latin American hubs — Cooper stated. From there, Bahamasair would search to accomplice with main Latin airways to feed folks onto its flights.
“The intent is admittedly to get [visitors] onto Bahamasair and into beds within the inns right here within the Bahamas,” he stated.
Bahamasair is owned by the Bahamian authorities.
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