Aircraft

Leasing firm Aviation Capital Group (ACG) has acquired new Airbus A330s under a sale/leaseback agreement brokered with Colombia's Avianca.

The sale/leaseback deal covers the initial two of 10 Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered A330-200s ordered by the carrier.

The aircraft are the first new A330s purchased by ACG.

Avianca has already taken delivery of the first A330, a 280-seat aircraft registered as N948AC. The second is expected to be delivered in November, says a source.

He says Avianca has agreed to lease the aircraft for six years, but that the contract contains renewal rights.

The carrier already leases a Boeing 767-200ER from ACG.

"We are proud to be part of Avianca's strategic planning for the future and we except to further extend our association with Colombia's leader airline and one of the first of the region," says ACG general director R Stephen Hannahs in a statement.

Avianca, meanwhile, continues to hold orders for eight more A330s with the airframer. The carrier says its first A330 will be assigned to cover the routes from Colombia to Miami, Lima, Sao Paulo and Madrid.

Avianca president Fabio Villegas Ramirez says the carrier's growing new Airbus fleet keeps Avianca "avant garde in the technological advance of this region".