Avianca has retired its last Airbus A330 aircraft, phasing the type out of its fleet after almost 15 years of service.
The last few A330s, namely frames registered as N974AV and N279AV, were flown from Bogota El Dorado International Airport (BOG) to Cali Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport (CLO) on February 21 and February 15, 2023, respectively. These were the Colombian airline’s last two active passenger A330s. Two others, registered as N342AV and N968AV, were sent to storage at CLO in August 2022 and May 2020, respectively.
“It was almost 15 years of carrying passengers, you were so reliable that you did not even stop in pandemic and connected Bogotá 🇨🇴 with great destinations: Miami 🇺🇸, Mexico 🇲🇽, Buenos Aires 🇦🇷, Sao Paulo 🇧🇷, Madrid 🇪🇸, Barcelona 🇪🇸, Los Angeles 🇺🇸, and New York 🇺🇸,” read Avianca’s post on LinkedIn.
Currently, Avianca’s cargo subsidiary, Avianca Cargo, operates six Airbus A330F freighters.
Its first Airbus A330, registered as N948AC, was delivered on September 30, 2008. Throughout the next 10 years, it received the remaining passenger variants, which included the A330-200 and A330-300.
The other long-haul aircraft it flies is the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, of which it currently has 13. Avianca’s current order book only includes 88 Airbus A320neo aircraft, not including lessor-associated orders.