Tampa Cargo. QT. TPA

Airbus fait part de la livraison de son premier A330 cargo sur le continent américain à Tampa Cargo.

Tampa Cargo, la filiale fret d'AviancaTaca Holding basée en Colombie, a reçu son premier avion-cargo A330 (A330-200F) sur les quatre appareils commandés au total, sur le site Airbus de Toulouse.

L'appareil est équipé des réacteurs Trent 772B de Rolls-Royce.

Ce nouvel avion, qui fait partie de la stratégie de renouvellement de flotte de la compagnie, permettra à Tampa d'accroître sa présence tant sur de nouveaux marchés internationaux que sur des marchés existants, dont le Brésil, l'Equateur, le Mexique, les Etats-Unis et l'Uruguay.

The delivery will be the first of seven ordered by Tampa and its corporate parent, the Rio de Janiero-based Synergy Group, during 2011 and 2012.

The first order for four was placed on Sept. 27, 2011 - one year to the day after the A330-200F entered service.

The second order came as part of an order for nine A330s - six passenger and three freighter - for the AviancaTaca group as a whole in July of 2012.

Tampa became part of the Avianca group in 2008, but further consolidation saw Columbia's Avianca merge with TACA, primarily of El Salvador (TACA was actually a consortium of several central American airlines including Salvadoran TACA, LACSA of Costa Rica, Aviateca of Guatemala, and several others).

The group became Bogota-based AviancaTaca Holdings in 2010, itself part of the large Brazilian Synergy Group, which owns 66% of AviancaTaca.

In addition to Tampa, Avianca, and TACA, the group also operates Avianca Brazil (previously known as OceanAir Brasil), Avianca Ecuador (formerly VIP Ecuador), and owns the defunct Brazilian Cargo airline VarigLog.

As of last month, the Synergy Group's European subsidiary was also looking to acquire TAP Portugal.