Lao airline seals A320 deal

 Lao Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus to purchase two A320 aircraft with the first due to be delivered this October to operate a three weekly service on the Vientiane-Singapore route.

Aviation Week filed the initial report quoting Lao Airlines deputy commercial director, Noudeng Chanthaphasouk, who said the MOU was signed earlier this month.

The two A320s were initially destined for Libya’s Afriqiyah Airways but the airline suspended all services after NATO imposed a no-fly zone over the country last March.

The two aircraft have 16 business class seats and 126 in economy. Lao Airlines will use the first of the two Airbuses to launch a service to Singapore, 1 November.

Flights will operate Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. QV535 will depart Vientiane at 1420 and arrive in Singapore at 1820, while QV545 will depart Singapore at 1930 and arrive in Vientiane 2130.

Laos Airlines had earlier announced a deal for two ARJ21-700s from the Chinese manufacturer Comac.

But in the interview with Aviation Week, Mr Noudeng down played that move saying it was a government-to-government deal, but there had been delays over aircraft type certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Lao Airlines decided it could not wait until that issue was resolved.

In July Lao Airlines resumed services from Luang Prabang to Xishuangbanna in China’s Yunnan province operating the route twice weekly, on Friday and Sunday, using an ATR72-500 aircraft.

Source - ttrweekly