Category: Airbus news (Page 47 of 48)

Hi Fly Airbus A380: Boom or Bust?

May 12, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

Lisbon, Portugal based charter airline Hi Fly has announced that it plans to acquire an Airbus A380. The carrier plans to configured the aircraft with 471 seats, with 12 in first class, 60 in business class, and 399 in economy class. The A380 is scheduled to begin flights with the airline in mid 2018, and is a leased aircraft that was returned by Singapore Airlines.

Hi Fly will become the fourth airline based in Europe to operate the aircraft along with Air France, British Airways, and Lufthansa, but will be the first as a dedicated charter airline. The A380 has seen slow sales, as the logistics of continuing to be able to fill 550 plus seats on a consistent basis has been a challenge for most operators. One has to wonder how a charter airline will be able to operate the aircraft with not only enough paying passengers, but also enough of a schedule frequency to be able to cover the acquisition and operational costs?

Hi Fly currently operates a fleet of 8 Airbus aircraft, including 1 A321-200, 3 A330-200’s, and 4 A340’s. The carrier also has 12 A330’s on order, with 2 A330-200’s also scheduled to enter service starting this June. The other 10 are A330-900neo’s, as well as plans for a second A380. This seems like a huge increase in capacity for the carrier, but they also provide “for hire” services to other airlines. If another airline is unable to operate a flight due to maintenance or scheduling issues, they can call Hi Fly to operate that flight for them. Only time will tell if the increase in the carrier’s revenues can cover their costs.

Alaska Airlines Delaying Aircraft Deliveries

May 9, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK) has experienced severe margin compression over the past several quarters, due to a combination of rising fuel costs, stiff competition, and merger pains following its 2016 acquisition of Virgin America. However, management is laser-focused on rebuilding the company’s profitability. Toward that end, Alaska Airlines is set to reduce its growth rate until it starts hitting its margin and return on invested capital goals.

Last quarter, Alaska Airlines began taking concrete steps to align its fleet plan with its new target of 4% annual growth and $750 million of annual capital expenditures for 2019 and 2020. The carrier restructured its orders with Boeing (NYSE: BA), Airbus (NASDAQOTH: EADSY), and Embraer (NYSE: ERJ) to better fit its projected needs.

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Alaska Airlines Delaying Aircraft Deliveries

Lufthansa Places $2.5 Billion Plane Order

May 7, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) ordered up to 16 new planes worth 2.1 billion euros (1.84 billion pounds), including up to six Airbus (AIR.PA) A320ceo’s to make up for delivery shortfalls in a newer version of the jet and four long-haul Boeing (BA.N) 777’s.

Lufthansa is among airlines hit by delivery delays to the Airbus A320neo, a version of the best-selling plane with new engines, and has partly curtailed growth plans as a result.

It therefore plans to order up to six of the older version of the jet, the A320ceo, depending on availability.

Lufthansa needs the planes because it is expanding capacity fast this year, mainly through its Eurowings budget brand, as it seeks to fill the gap left by the collapse of local rival Air Berlin.

“The plan is to deploy them at Lufthansa this year already, in order to offset delivery delays for Airbus A320neo aircraft,” Lufthansa said in a statement. It also said it would convert six options for A320neos to firm orders.

In total, the orders for up to 16 planes have a combined list price of around 2.1 billion euros, although buyers usually negotiate discounts, and were approved by the group’s supervisory board on Monday.

Along with the A320s, the orders include two Boeing 777-300ER long-haul jets for its SWISS subsidiary that are expected to enter service at the beginning of 2020, and two further Boeing 777F for Lufthansa Cargo, which will replace older MD-11 planes.

Both SWISS and Lufthansa Cargo reported improved first quarter results last month and Lufthansa said the order reflected their economic success.

The 777 orders will also be a boost for Boeing, which last month moved to ease concerns over output of the jetliner.

The aircraft are expected to be delivered through 2022 and the orders should have no impact on Lufthansa’s 2019 investment plans, the company said in a statement.

Reported by Victoria Bryan & Douglas Busvine; Edited by Mark Potter & Adrian Croft

JetBlue Ready to Refurbish Airbus A320 Fleet

May 7, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

At a late 2014 investor day event, JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) unveiled a plan to boost its annual earnings by adding seats to each of its 130 Airbus (NASDAQOTH: EADSY) A320s. This “cabin refresh” project was designed to reduce unit costs while maintaining best-in-class legroom and adding new enhancements to the customer experience.

After a series of delays, JetBlue has finally completed the first A320 cabin retrofit. Last week, the carrier provided more details about its schedule for completing the project, as well as some design changes it is adopting. The cabin refresh will be a significant contributor to JetBlue’s efforts to keep unit costs roughly flat over the next few years.

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JetBlue Ready to Refurbish A320 Fleet

First Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Completes Test Flight

May 3, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

03 MAY, 2018 FROM: FLIGHT DASHBOARD LONDON

The first of 20 A350-1000s for Cathay Pacific has completed its initial test flight from Airbus’s Toulouse plant. Deliveries of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered aircraft to the Hong Kong carrier are scheduled to begin in June. It will become the second operator after launch customer Qatar Airways to receive Airbus’s biggest twinjet.

The new twinjets will be operated alongside Cathay’s existing fleet of smaller A350-900s, 22 of which are currently in service with six more on order, according to Flight Fleets Analyzer.

Cathay will deploy the A350-1000 on its new route to Washington DC from September. The airline says that at “8,153 miles” (7,095nm/13,126km), the new service to Dulles will become the longest in its network.

Airbus (via Cathay Pacific)

American Airlines Splits New Regional Jet Order

May 3, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

American Airlines Group has split a $1.4 billion order for regional jets from Bombardier and Embraer to further update its fleet of short-range aircraft. The world’s largest carrier announced its plan to buy 15 Bombardier CRJ900 and 15 Embraer E-175 jets. American included options for up to 15 additional airplanes from each company.

The new order shows American’s commitment to larger regional aircraft that are able to accomodate the two passenger classes that are present on the airline’s larger single-aisle planes. The Bombardier CRJ900’s will be operated by the regional affiliate PSA Airlines, while the Embraer E-175’s will operate under the Envoy Air umbrella, according to the airline. Deliveries from both manufacturer’s are slated to begin next year.

Missing from the Bombardier piece of the order is it’s latest CSeries jets. The CSeries has struggled the last couple of years. Airbus announced in October of 2017 that it would acquire a 50.01% majority stake in the aircraft program. The view was that orders for the CSeries would surge once the might of Airbus was behind the aircraft. However, after receiving just 12 new orders total for the aircraft in 2017, no additional sales have been announced since.

You can read more about Airbus acquiring its stake in the CSeries program by clicking the link below!

Airbus to revive CSeries

PearsonLloyd redesigns economy-class seating

April 26, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

PearsonLloyd has designed a new business class cabin environment for German airline Lufthansa, which will launch alongside the new Boeing 777-9 aircraft in 2020.

Aiming to provide better privacy and comfort for business class passengers, the redesigned cabins will feature larger and more ergonomic seats, positioned inside V-shaped, suite-like enclosures.

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PearsonLloyd redesigns economy-class seating

Ryanair to buy 25 more Boeing 737 MAX aircraft

April 24, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ryanair (RYA.I) has agreed to buy a further 25 Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX planes, worth $3 billion at list prices, lifting its order of the U.S. planemaker’s flagship short-haul plane model to 135, the two companies said on Tuesday.

The Irish low-cost carrier, which is the largest operator of Boeing planes in Europe, purchased 100 737 MAX planes in 2014 and took out options on 100 more.

Ryanair said the order leaves it with 75 more options.

It purchased 10 additional MAX planes in June last year, which were on top of the 2014 order.

Chief Executive Michael O’Leary in March said he expected to exercise “pretty much all” of its options.

Ryanair has dubbed the MAX a “game changer” for its business, due to a fuel consumption improvement it says could be up to 16 percent and a greater number of seats.

The configuration Ryanair has ordered has 197 seats compared to 189 in its current fleet of 737s.

Ryanair rivals easyJet (EZJ.L) and Wizz (WIZZ.L) have ordered Airbus (AIR.PA) A321 planes, which seat up to 239 passengers.

Ryanair (RYA.I) has held talks with Boeing about its new larger version of the 737 airliner, the MAX 10, which can carry up to 230 passengers, but has made clear it would only be interested if the price is lowered.

The first of Ryanair’s 737 MAX planes are due for delivery in the first half of 2019 and will use CFM Leap-1B engines.

Ryanair, which currently operates around 430 Boeing 737 planes, says the MAX order will allow it reach its target of carrying 200 million passengers per year by 2024.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by Jason Neely and Adrian Croft)

Germany raises fears over Airbus A400M capabilities

March 29, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s military fears that the Airbus (AIR.PA) A400M aircraft will not fulfill its needs in time as the troubled program faces further problems, a report seen by Reuters reveals.

The confidential German military report said there was a “significant risk” that the A400M would not meet all its tactical requirements by the time the armed forces retires a fleet of aging C-160 Transall transport planes after 2021.

“It is not clear whether, when and how many mature deployable A400M will be available with the contractually required suite of tactical capabilities,” the report said.

“There are significant risks associated with the availability of the required tactical capabilities at the time of the retirement of the C-160. A capability gap cannot be excluded after 2021,” it added.

Problems included data such as fuel usage needing to be entered into multiple systems, meaning it could take up to 50 man-hours to plan medical evacuations and other missions, which the report said was “not acceptable” operationally.

Airbus, which last month took a new 1.3 billion euro charge on the multinational A400M program, declined to comment.

The program was initially valued at 20 billion euros ($25 billion) but has reached well over 30 billion euros, sources told Reuters last year.

Germany, the largest buyer of the A400M, has received over 17 of the 53 A400M aircraft it plans to buy.

“CRITICAL” PROBLEMS

The German report said the mission planning process meant that certain tasks, such as providing disaster relief or evacuating wounded soldiers, “cannot be executed”.

Although planning could be shortened to six to 10 hours, this was only possible by reducing the load of passengers and equipment, said the report.

The latest setback for Airbus comes after a preliminary deal by which Germany and six other NATO nations agreed to slow the planned delivery schedule and negotiate removing certain difficult to achieve requirements for the aircraft.

In return, Airbus has pledged to provide “all necessary support and resources” to Europe’s largest defense project.

The report cited continued concerns about the plane’s inability to meet requirements, such as the ability to drop parachute troops. It said Airbus could also seek additional funds to complete work on the self-defensive capabilities.

It also cited delays in carrying out testing of the plane due to insufficient infrastructure in Europe, and said a site in Yuma, Arizona was now being considered.

There were also “critical” problems with the production of sensor chips for the plane’s airborne warning system that had not been resolved, the report said, noting that Germany had received five A400M aircraft without the warning system.

($1 = 0.8114 euros)

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Madeline Chambers and Alexander Smith)

Hawaiian Airlines Begins Code-Sharing With Japan Airlines

March 26, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

Last year, more than 1.5 million visitors traveled from Japan to Hawaii. That makes Japan the biggest source of international tourists to Hawaii, nearly equaling all other international markets combined.

For more than seven years, Hawaiian Holdings (NASDAQ: HA) and Japan Airlines have been fierce competitors in this massive travel market. However, they recently decided to team up. On Sunday, the two carriers began code-sharing — selling flights on each other’s aircraft — for dozens of routes.

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Hawaiian Airlines code-share with Japan Airlines

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