Aigle Azur (Paris Orly) has taken delivery of its first widebody aircraft, A330-200 F-HTAC (msn 493). The 16-year-old jet was positioned to Paris Orly from Lourdes/Tarbes and will shortly be joined by sistership F-HTIC (msn 444) in May. Both aircraft are ex-Air Berlin (1991) (Berlin Tegel) stock and are leased from AerCap.

“We are very pleased to support Aigle Azur’s fleet expansion plan," AerCap President and Chief Commercial Officer Philip Scruggs said. "The addition of the A330-200 will allow the airline to start their first long haul operations to China and Brazil. We wish our partners at Aigle Azur continued success."

The Airbus widebodies will make their commercial debut on April 28 on flights from Orly to Porto, Portugal, to be followed by Oran Ahmed Ben Bella on May 1 and Algiers from June 30. Longhaul services are provisionally scheduled to begin on June 21 with a 3x weekly flight from Orly to Beijing Capital, China, to be followed by a 3x weekly Orly-São Paulo Viracopos, Brazil, service on July 5.