Twinjet's Airbus Runs Faster With Shorter Legs

Within 48 hours of winning CAA approval to operate 120 minute ETOPS routes commercially with its Airbus A319 ACJ early this year, Twinjet Aircraft's 30-seater was winging out of its Luton base enroute to Jamaica via Bermuda.

"That brought us a 60 to 90 minute time saving over the great circle route, so we, the passengers and crew were all delighted," says commercial director Steve Wells. Since then, charters have taken them as far as Bangladesh, South Africa and Los Angeles and the ACJ will have logged 800 hours in 15 months. Twinjet is here on Booth 7457-but its BBJ is out working.

The company did not wait for the additional ACJ fuel tanks, intending to retrofit them six months later. "But we found we had something unique. We could carry a prodigious amount of baggage. We decided we could happily stick with 8-1/2 hrs range, which accommodates London-Washington comfortably, as 75% of our traffic is to the U.S. east coast anyway," Wells notes.

By Steve Morris