Tag: NEO (Page 15 of 15)

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euros (1.84 billion pounds), including up to six Airbus (AIR.PA) A320ceo’s to make up for delivery shortfalls in a newer version of the jet and four long-haul Boeing (BA.N) 777’s.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

Airbus looks to land IndiGo A330neo order

March 8, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, plans to order as many as 50 Airbus A330 wide-body jets as it seeks to expand beyond short-haul flights, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The carrier aims to take the upgraded A330neo version of the plane, according the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions aren’t public. The deal would be worth $13 billion at list prices for the smaller of two variants, though some of the aircraft are likely to options to be confirmed later.

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Airbus IndiGo A330neo order

Airbus fights to defend A330neo market

March 6, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

PARIS (Reuters) – Imminent airline decisions on $10 billion of wide-body plane orders could influence the fate of Airbus’ (AIR.PA) A330neo even before the recently upgraded jet completes flight trials, industry sources said.

American Airlines said in January it was reviewing the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and shorter-range Airbus A330-900, which is in test flights before entering service this summer.

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Airbus fights to defend A330neo market

Hawaiian Airlines rumored to be dumping Airbus for Boeing

February 21, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

Boeing Co. has reportedly convinced Hawaiian Airlines to cancel an existing order with overseas rival Airbus in favor of an unspecified number of the Chicago-based aerospace giant’s 787-9 Dreamliners.

Scott Hamilton, editor of aerospace website Leeham News & Comment, was the first to report that the Honolulu-based carrier will cancel its order for six A330-800 wide-bodies built by Airbus and flip its order to Boeing. An official announcement could come by the end of this week.

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Hawaiian Airlines switching to Boeing 787

Hong Kong Express expects six-month A320neo delivery delay

February 18, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Hong Kong Express Airways Ltd expects at least a six-month delay in deliveries of new Airbus SE (AIR.SE) A320neo jets due to issues with engines made by Pratt & Whitney, according to an internal memo issued by the airline.

The budget carrier has grounded one plane in Hong Kong until May due to a lack of spare engines after the jet made a mid-air turn-back due to engine issues last month, said a person with knowledge of the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly and so declined to be identified.

Another one of its five A320neos remains on the ground at the Airbus final assembly line site in Hamburg and has yet to be delivered to Hong Kong because one of its engines needs a fix, according to a memo to pilots seen by Reuters on Thursday.

The U.S. aviation regulator on Wednesday said the engines from Pratt & Whitney – a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) – posed a potential shutdown risk, in a formal warning that followed similar action by European regulators on Feb. 9.

India’s largest airline, IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd (INGL.NS), said on Feb. 10 it had grounded three jets due to issues with Pratt & Whitney engines.

Pratt & Whitney’s priority is to obtain replacement engines for all of the affected jets globally, said the Hong Kong Express memo, the contents of which were first reported by the South China Morning Post earlier on Thursday.

The memo said that could take months, while new A320neos on the production line could be delayed for “six months or more”.

Because replacement engines will need testing, Hong Kong Express is “seriously considering” not introducing any new A320neos into its fleet until next year at the earliest, the memo said.

Representatives of Hong Kong Express – part-owned by HNA Group Co Ltd – were not immediately available for comment. The South China Morning Post reported that Hong Kong Express said the memo had been issued to provide relevant details about the fleet and operations to its cockpit crew.

Airbus on Thursday said it was assessing the impact the engine issue would have on 2018 deliveries.

Pratt & Whitney did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The engine maker on Monday said it would discuss the potential affect of the problem on 2018 engine production after regulators respond to its proposed fix. (Story by Jamie Freed)

Norwegian Air plans new routes from London to South America

February 13, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

LONDON (Reuters) – Norwegian Air (NWC.OL) plans to serve new destinations in South America from London, prompted by strong demand for flights to Buenos Aires which begin this week as it ramps up its budget operation on long-haul routes.

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Norwegian Air to South America

WestJet Sees Boeing’s Max 7 as Key to Savings

February 12, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

Boeing’s slow-selling 737 Max 7 has a big fan in Western Canada. WestJet Airlines will become the second carrier next year, after Southwest Airlines Co., to operate the smallest version of Boeing’s upgraded workhorse. The Calgary-based company is set to receive five of the single-aisle jetliners next year.

“We love those planes,” WestJet Chief Executive Officer Gregg Saretsky said in an interview, citing the aircraft’s range and 12 additional seats compared with the Boeing 737-700, a linchpin of the airline’s fleet. “It’s great for long, thin markets.”

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WestJet High on Boeing 737 Max7

Avianca cuts Airbus delivery schedule

May 16, 2016 / WIL BALDWIN

Avianca cuts Airbus A320 NEO delivery schedule. The airlines parent, Avianca Holdings, released the following press statement on May 3, 2016:

“In an effort to improve its profitability, achieve a more efficient capital structure and reducing the current levels of indebtedness, Avianca Holdings S.A. reached an agreement with Airbus S.A.S. to reduce the number of aircraft deliveries scheduled for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The agreement with the European aircraft manufacturer represents a CapEx reduction of approximately USD1.4 billion for the next 30 months. During this same period, Avianca Holdings S.A. will continue to pursue its cost reduction initiatives, seeking to strengthen its balance sheet and generate greater cash flow.

Avianca Holdings S.A. reaffirms its leverage goal, measured as the net adjusted debt over EBITDAR, of no more than 5 times for 2019”.

It was just one year ago that an order for 100 A320-NEO aircraft was firmed up by the airline for the Airbus jets. The order for the 100 Airbus jets was the single largest order ever placed by an air carrier in Latin America, and brought the total number of A320-NEO jets the airline had on order to 133.

Avianca struggles with Latin American woes

The change in fortunes shows just how quickly the Latin American economy has declined. While it seams that falling global oil prices should be good for airline economics, the fact that that drop in prices leads to layoffs and cost cutting in the oil industry negatively impacts business travel expenditures. Brazil and Mexico rank ninth and tenth in global production of petroleum and other liquid Production, respectively. Venezuela (twelfth) and Colombia (nineteenth) follow on that list. In addition to its name sake airline and cargo operations, the airlines parent holding company also controls Aerogal in Ecuador, Avianca de Brazil, Aviateca de Guatemala, LACSA de Costa Rica, TACA de Honduras, TACA de Peru, and TACA de San Salvador. LACSA is an abbreviation for the latin “Lineas Aéreas Centroamericanas Sociedad Anónima”. TACA is an abbreviation for the latin “Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano”.

Avianca

Image from www.avianca.com

Avianca struggles with Latin American woes

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