Acropolis Aviation received its first Airbus ACJ320neo in January 2019 but the aircraft only began flying in March 2020 as it spent 13 months getting its ultra-luxurious cabin installed in Switzerland.
The cabin, designed by Yves Pickardt of Alberto Pinto Interior Design, is the pinnacle of luxury travel designed with comfort and space in mind, comparable to a penthouse suite than an airliner.
While a passenger-configured Airbus A320neo can seat upwards of 180 people, this corporate-configured variant seats a mere 19 and can sleep 17. The design is aimed at exclusivity rather than capacity.
The apartment-like design of Acropolis' ACJ320neo is complete with a master bedroom and en-suite bathroom, with the latter being the largest ever featured on an Airbus aircraft.
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdThe ACJ320neo can fly up to 6,000 nautical miles, able to connect city pairs such as New York and Tokyo, London and Seattle, and Los Angeles and Auckland.
The ACJ320neo and A320neo family is based on Airbus' popular A320 product line, featuring a new engine offering and fuel-efficient additions. The aircraft's unit cost is $110 million.
The first Airbus A320neo flew in 2014, following 27 years of its predecessor's reign with the previous generation A320 having flown its first flight in 1987.
Lufthansa later took delivery of the first A320neo, integrating it seamlessly with its existing fleet of Airbus narrow-body aircraft.
Thanks to an identical cockpit and avionics system, pilots can fly the A320neo with minimal additional training, a key marketing feature of the aircraft that Boeing sought to replicate with its 737 Max aircraft leading to fatal consequences.
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdThe aircraft has since joined the fleet of major airlines across the world including British Airways...
And Scandinavian Airlines.
The aircraft has also debuted globally, seeing success in the US with low-cost carriers such as Frontier Airlines.
Thanks to its efficiency, airlines have touted the A320neo in fleet renewals and some are using the aircraft as a platform for new airline liveries and branding, as was the case for Aegean Airlines in Greece.
The key innovation of the aircraft is in its name, with "Neo" being an acronym for new engine option, one of them being the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM,...
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdAnd the other being the CFM International LEAP-1A engine.
While new private jets such as the Gulfstream G650ER can fly farther than the ACJ320neo with a similar passenger load, the latter is a more remarkable status symbol compared to the former intended for the elite of the elite.