Etihad Airways has signed a contract with CIT Aerospace for the lease of two new Airbus A320-200 aircraft which are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2008.
"The addition of these two new A320 aircraft will enable Etihad to add new routes to our expanding flying schedule ¨C including Moscow and Almaty in Khazakhstan, where we will launch new services to this December," said Etihad’s chief financial officer, James Rigney.
The two narrow-body aircraft are the first new A320-200s that CIT has leased to Etihad. Currently, Etihad leases two A330s from CIT and has two additional A330-200s on order for delivery in early 2009.
Etihad Airways currently operates four Airbus A320 aircraft, used predominantly on short-haul, high frequency routes within the Middle East and with the addition of these two new A320 aircraft, Etihad have a narrow-body fleet of 10 aircraft by end-2008.