Corendon Airlines is considering the acquisition of aircraft of the type Airbus A321 XLR, in order to be able to rely on its own long-haul aircraft in the future. This was confirmed by company founder and CEO Yildiray Karaer in an interview with Airliners.de. The airline currently operates an Airbus A350 on a wet lease, but in the long term, the company aims for a fleet change and significant growth.
Karaer specified the plans to the effect that Airbus is currently making an offer for Corendon Dutch for a fleet transition to the A320 Neo family, one of which would be an A321 XLR. This is part of Corendon Airlines' broader fleet growth strategy, which envisions increasing the fleet from the current 35 to 60 aircraft over the next five years. However, Karaer noted that the current supply problems of the major aircraft manufacturers, namely Airbus and Boeing, must be overcome, as this is not an opportune time to expand the company's fleet.
The current fleet of Corendon Airlines consists mainly of aircraft of the Boeing 737 family, including the 737 Max 8 and 9. Should Corendon Dutch take over the A320 Neo family aircraft, the 737 Max 9 aircraft registered there would be relocated to Malta. A fundamental component of the current fleet strategy is also the wet leasing business. During the pandemic, Corendon had already sold and leased back its own 737 aircraft, and recently the wet lease agreement with World2Fly for an Airbus A350 for flights from Amsterdam to Curaçao by five years.
Corendon Airlines also uses wet-lease models for seasonal adjustments. For example, during the South African winter, Global's European subsidiary, based in Lithuania, deploys A320 aircraft for Corendon, which fly for the low-cost airline Lift in South Africa during the southern summer. Conversely, during the northern hemisphere winter, ten aircraft from Corendon's Turkish and Maltese subsidiaries are transferred to India to operate under wet lease, along with their crews, for the Indian airlines. Indigo and SpiceJet Corendon intends to further expand its presence in this business segment and, similar to Sun Express, deploy its aircraft to South Africa during the southern summer.
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