Cyprus, the chairman and chief executive of Cyprus Air, the flag carrier of an island country in the Middle East, recently said that the persistent problems with Pratt & Whitney turbofan GTF engines on Airbus A220 aircraft have not been effectively addressed, forcing the airline to reconsider its aircraft purchase strategy.
The airline currently has two A320ceo aircraft and two A220-300 aircraft, with two more leased A220s due to arrive this summer, with two more scheduled to arrive in 2025.
Cypriot Airlines' number one Thasos Michael said on June 28 during the London Aviation Symposium that plans to buy six more A220 aircraft directly from Airbus starting in 2027 have been cancelled.
Michael's complaints about the Pratt & Whitney GTF engines on the A220 aircraft said: "If it weren't for Pratt & Whitney, we would have been profitable this year. Given Pratt & Whitney's continued technical failures in engines, "we are rethinking our purchase strategy." All aircraft will have some problems in the early stages, but in a small airline where we need to live within our means, we may buy more A320 aircraft until the problems with the A220 aircraft are finally resolved. ”
This means that Cyprus Air may replace the A220 aircraft with an A320 aircraft. Michael said this would be a disappointment for some of Cypriot's passengers, who would complain if they found out they were flying on an A320 instead of an A220.
The airline's first A220 aircraft will have a two-class layout with a total of 128 seats. However, Michael said that the next batch of airliners will have an all-economy layout with a total of 140 seats, while ensuring that the seat pitch remains large and that passenger comfort is maintained.
Cyprus Air has positioned itself as a full-service airline, but has recently had to sell fares at a discount on some routes in order to compete with low-cost airlines. This is because low-cost airlines tend to advertise low prices at the top of the list of ticket buying websites, even though their fares are similar to those of Cyprus Airways when added to the base price.
The airline flies to major cities in Western Europe, but its routes to Israel, Lebanon and Dubai are also popular. CEO Michael said: "Dubai is one of our best routes. When the temperature in Dubai reaches 50 degrees, the temperature in Cyprus is 36-38 degrees, so people come here in the summer to escape the heat. ”
The Airbus A220 is an excellent airliner, with very good fuel economy and is very popular with aviation, and the American low-cost airline Breeze Air said this year that it plans to replace its fleet with A220 aircraft in the future.
But the aircraft is currently suffering from Pratt & Whitney GTF engines. In July last year, Pratt & Whitney said that the powder metallurgy materials used in the high-pressure turbine components of the GTF engine were detected with microscopic contaminants, which may cause accelerated wear and tear of the components, and that the presence of contaminants in the high-pressure turbine components, which is the core component of the engine, may cause some parts of the engine to rupture.
The GTF engine problem has led to the grounding of many A220 aircraft around the world, which is undoubtedly a real economic loss for airlines! Especially for this small airline in Cyprus, it is completely unable to withstand such a blow, and it is completely reasonable for it to consider abandoning the purchase of more A220 aircraft.