KLM takes first E195-E2, Air France to add A220 in 3Q21

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) took delivery of its first E195-E2 on February 23 kicking off the Air France-KLM group’s small jet fleet renewal drive. Sister carrier Air France (AF, Paris CDG) is due to take its first A220-300 during the third quarter of this year. KLM’s first new-generation Embraer regional jet, PH-NXA (msn 19020045), was formally handed over at the manufacturer’s site at Sao Jose dos Campos airport, although it has yet to be ferried to Europe. The aircraft is dry-leased from ICBC Financial Leasing and will be operated by KLM cityhopper (WA, Amsterdam Schiphol), a regional production carrier owned by KLM. The Dutch flag carrier expects to take a total of twenty-five E195-E2s, including ten dry-leased from ICBC and fifteen from Aircastle. It has options for a further ten units. KLM’s E195-E2s will seat up to 132 passengers. The carrier’s smallest mainline aircraft, the B737-700, seats up to 142 passengers. KLM cityhopper’s fleet comprises seventeen E175s and thirty-two E190s, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. It owns all the E175s and eighteen E190s with the remainder dry-leased from a variety of lessors. In turn, KLM’s sister airline Air France plans to take its first A220 in September 2021. This was confirmed by engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in a press release announcing the French carrier’s selection of its PW1500G engines. Air France has sixty A220-300s on firm order from Airbus Canada. The aircraft will replace its eighteen A318-100s and thirty-two A319-100s and will become the only sub-150-seat type in its mainline fleet. The airline’s regional production carrier HOP! operates thirteen E145s, nine CRJ700 Srs 701s, fourteen CRJ1000ERs, fifteen E170s, and seventeen E190s. Air France continues to express interest in a stretched variant dubbed the A220-500.