Virgin Atlantic to lease ex-airberlin A330s

Virgin Atlantic plans to supplement its fleet with four leased-in Airbus A330-200s to cope with unanticipated downtime for its Boeing 787-9 fleet powered by the troubled Rolls-Royce Trent 1000. The A330-200s are ex-airberlin aircraft. The first is undergoing renovations at Virgin Atlantic’s London Gatwick base before entering service at the start of the summer schedule in late March. All four will come into service throughout the spring. “These aircraft will add resilience to our flying program in light of an industry-wide shortage of Trent 1000 engines used on our Boeing 787 aircraft,” Virgin Atlantic EVP operations Phil Maher said. A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson added that the decision had been taken to bring in the A330-200s “so we could carry on operating the full schedule over the summer months.” The Trent 1000 has experienced service issues caused by premature wear and corrosion, most of it in elements of the intermediate pressure compressor and turbine, which has resulted in a parts replacement initiative on up to 500 engines. The A330-200s will be used on Virgin services from Manchester, in northwest England, to New York, Boston, San Francisco and Barbados.<br/>