Story ID: GPlatama320delivery08302016
Latam Takes Its First A320neo
By: Gregory Polek
Caption: Geared turbofan-powered narrowbody to arrive in Brazil on August 31
Word Count: 250
Latam Airlines Group has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320neo, the airline and manufacturer announced on Tuesday. Airbus president and CEO Fabrice Brégier presented the airplane, fitted with Pratt & Whitney PW1100 geared turbofan engines, to Latam Airlines Group CEO Enrique Cueto and other Latam executives during a ceremony Monday at Airbus’s headquarters in Toulouse, France. Latam Group also received its fourth Airbus A350-900—and the first to bear its livery. The group's first A350-900 arrived in Brazil last December in the livery of Latam subsidiary TAM. It became the first A350 to enter revenue service in the Americas in January.

Plans call for Latam’s first A320neo to fly from Toulouse on Tuesday night for a morning arrival in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The airline plans first to operate the aircraft on domestic routes in Brazil, serving destinations including Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Campo Grande, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. It expects to start flights on international routes in South America this November. 

The aircraft features a 174-seat cabin layout with Airbus’s Space-Flex cabin configuration.

Latam has ordered 67 A320neo-family jets, including A320neo and A321neo variants, and expects to receive one more aircraft before the end of 2016. In total, the airline group operates more than 250 Airbus aircraft.

Latam’s first A320neo bears the manufacturer serial number (MSN) 7126 and registration prefix PT-TMN.