XL Airways A330neos

Planned routes of XL Airways a330neo:
www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/78706-xl-airways-france-eyes-more-asian-routes-with-a330neo
full text:
"XL Airways France (SE, Paris CDG) is planning to use the two A330-900s due for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2020 to launch new routes particularly to Asia, VP Sales and Marketing Frédéric Revol told ch-aviation at the sidelines of the IATA AGM in Seoul.

"The first aircraft will deliver in October 2020, the second in December. We signed for the High Gross Weight version of the -900. The aim is to grow so the aircraft will increase our fleet and not replace the current A330s," Revol said.

He added that XL Airways France needs to grow its fleet to be able to compete with larger competitors, such as French Bee (BF, Paris Orly), Air Caraibes (TX, Pointe à Pitre), Corsair (SS, Paris Orly), but also Norwegian (DY, Oslo Gardermoen).

"Ordering the A330neo will allow us to fly further with more capacity on the passenger and the cargo side," Revol added.

"Asia is our next continent to conquer. China clearly is a country we want to expand in. We have a few routes on the agenda. South Asia and South-East Asia are also on the map - we are studying Thailand, Viet Nam, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. The A330neo will be great for the long sectors to South-East Asia," he added.

Currently, the carrier's Asian network includes a single weekly route between Paris CDG and Jinan, which was launched in 2018 and operates with an A330-200.

"That was an opportunity which we did not plan. This is mostly inbound traffic from Chinese tour operators," Revol explained.

The carrier will also use the -900s on its route to St. Denis de la Réunion, where it currently can only use the A330-200 due to the range limitations of the larger A330-300. However, XL Airways France sees market demand for more passenger and cargo capacity on the route than it currently proffers.

XL Airways is also looking at expanding its network from secondary French cities.

"French airlines had a tendency to focus exclusively on Paris. But we are talking about big regional capitals. A lot of people and companies who once moved to Paris are now moving back to regional cities. We started operating flights from Lyon St. Exupéry to the Caribbean and Réunion and from Nantes to the Caribbean. We are looking at more destinations from the provincial capitals but for that, we need more aircraft," Revol said.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, XL Airways France currently operates three leased A330-200s and a single -300."