Airbus delivered to Sichuan Airlines the very first widebody aircraft, an A330-200, to add capacity to its existing all-Airbus single aisle fleet. The A330 is the first of three brand new Airbus A330- 200s that Sichuan Airlines has leased from the Netherland’s-based AerCap Aviation Solutions.

While expanding its regional and international network, Sichuan Airlines intends to compete on high density routes with a fleet of A330s to be deployed on domestic trunk routes from the airline’s home base of Chengdu to major cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen; on regional routes within Asia; and on international long haul routes from Chengdu to Europe.

“In the past decades, Sichuan Airlines has evolved from a regional airline to a national airline connecting Chengdu to all provinces across China as well as more than 20 popular tourist destinations. The reliable and efficient Airbus Single-Aisle aircraft were decisive in this success. It was then a natural choice for us to select the A330s to help us to become one of the top five Chinese airlines,” said Lan Xinguo, chairman of Sichuan Airlines.

During its long standing relationship with Airbus, Sichuan Airlines has recorded a number of firsts in China. The airline was the first to introduce a fly-by-wire aircraft, an A320 in 1995, the first to operate an A321 and is flying the first A320 assembled at FALC in Tianjin. Sichuan Airlines currently operates 44 Airbus A320 family aircraft, including 13 A319s, 21 A320s, 10 A321s.