Tunisair: A new A320NEO joins its fleet

The airline Tunisair has taken possession of a second Airbus A320neo, and unveiled the outline of a restructuring plan which should lead to the dismissal of a thousand employees over three years.

After the delivery of the first last December, the Tunisian national company welcomed the second of the five expected copies on February 10, 2022. The Airbus A320neo registered TS-IMY and baptized “Sbeitla” (MSN10631), leased from SMBC Aviation Capital, arrived new from Toulouse at Tunis-Carthage airport. Equipped like the previous one to accommodate 12 passengers in Business class and 138 in Economy, the aircraft has since been deployed by Tunisair to Brussels, Lyon, Marseille and Nouakchott. The next two A320neos are expected to join its fleet in August and September, with the fifth and final due to arrive in April 2023.

Tunisair CEO Khaled Chelli took the opportunity to elaborate a bit more on the restructuring plan announced last fall. In front of the Tunisian media, he mentioned in particular the social plan which will see a thousand employees be “liberated” within three years, “as part of a series of global reforms”, which the company wishes to carry out “in order to reduce operating costs and comply with international air transport standards”.

Tunisair has also unveiled a cabin renewal project throughout the fleet. No details, however, on the abolition of non-profitable Tunisair routes, the manager again evoking a “concentration” on those which are beneficiaries (with a priori the opening of lines to Africa and the strengthening of that to Montreal).

Remember that this restructuring must involve a capital increase and a revaluation of Tunisair’s assets, with the possibility of privatizing certain activities that are not essential to the operation of air operations. It also plans to reduce the number of aircraft in service and the types of aircraft operated (a priori A320s and A330s), with the aim of reducing maintenance and pilot training costs.