São José dos Campos, Brazil, January 30, 2020 – Embraer and SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ: SKYW) signed a firm order for 20 E175 jets in a 76-seat configuration. The order has a value of USD 972 million, based on 2019 list prices, and is already included in Embraer’s 2019 fourth-quarter backlog. Deliveries are expected to begin in the second half of 2020.
“Embraer and SkyWest enjoy a partnership marked by a longstanding history of service to the mainline carriers, and we relish the opportunity to break new ground,” said Charlie Hillis, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, North America, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “Today, we are excited to announce that these 20 new aircraft will be the first E-Jets operated by SkyWest within the American Airlines network.”
“We’re pleased to continue advancing our position in the industry with this latest order of new Embraer aircraft,” said Chip Childs, President and Chief Executive Officer of SkyWest, Inc. “We appreciate the long-standing partnership with Embraer and look forward to operating this outstanding aircraft for all four of our mainline partners.”
Embraer’s relationship with SkyWest dates back to 1986, when SkyWest began operating the EMB 120 Brasilia turboprop. With this additional order for the E175, SkyWest has purchased more than 180 aircraft of this model since 2013 alone.
Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial jets with up to 150 seats. The Company has 100 customers from all over the world operating the ERJ and E-Jet families of aircraft. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged almost 1,800 orders and 1,500 deliveries, redefining the traditional concept of regional aircraft.
Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:CZR) (“Caesars Entertainment” or “Caesars”) and VICI Properties Inc. (NYSE:VICI) (“VICI Properties” or “VICI”) today announced they have signed an agreement to sell Harrah’s Reno Hotel and Casino (“Harrah’s Reno”) to an affiliate of CAI Investments (the “Buyer”) for $50 million. The proceeds of the transaction shall be split 75% to VICI and 25% to Caesars, while the annual rent payments under the Non-CPLV Master Lease between Caesars and VICI will remain unchanged.
Under the terms of the agreement, Caesars will continue to operate the property upon closing of the transaction pursuant to a short-term lease with the Buyer, which will allow Caesars to cease operations at the property during the second half of 2020. At the end of the term, Caesars will deliver the property to the Buyer to be redeveloped into a non-gaming hotel and mixed-use development.
“We recognize the long legacy of Harrah’s in Reno, where the brand began 82 years ago and our role in the community. We are pleased the Buyer is committed to the community and supports the redevelopment of this wonderful asset. We have worked closely with the Buyer to provide a reasonable closure plan that allows our great staff in Reno ample time to secure their next jobs, including priority consideration for relevant openings at our other properties in Nevada, including Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas,” said Tony Rodio, CEO of Caesars Entertainment.
“The sale of Harrah’s Reno demonstrates our ability to continuously work constructively with our tenants to improve our individual businesses. This disposition will allow VICI to optimize the quality of our real estate portfolio and redeploy the proceeds toward other attractive growth opportunities while maintaining the existing financial terms of the Non-CPLV Master Lease with Caesars,” said John Payne, President and COO of VICI Properties.
“Being originally from the Reno/Sparks community, it is with great pride that we are investing in the Reno area by redeveloping this property,” said Christopher Beavor, CEO of CAI Investments. “CAI is excited to be working with Gryphon Private Wealth Management as capital partners for the project. Kirk Walton and Philip Oleson, Principals of GPWM Opportunity Zone Funds, which will be investing the required capital for the project, believe in the long-term growth potential of Reno.”
The agreement allows for Caesars to retain its guest data and places no restrictions on Caesars’ marketing activities. Reno will continue to be part of the Caesars Rewards network during the term of the short-term lease with Buyer.
The transaction is subject to the closing of the Eldorado/Caesars combination, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Workers leave the General Motors CAMI car assembly plant where the GMC Terrain and Chevrolet Equinox are built in Ingersoll
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – General Motors Co <GM> will revive the Hummer name to sell a new family of electric pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles and will tout the return with a Super Bowl ad featuring NBA star LeBron James, two people briefed on the matter said on Friday.
The vehicles will be sold under the GMC nameplate. Reuters reported in October that GM planned to build a new family of premium electric pickup trucks at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant beginning in late 2021 and was considering reviving the Hummer name, citing several people familiar with the plans.
The Wall Street Journal reported GM’s decision to move forward earlier on Friday. GM declined to comment.
The electric truck and SUV program is the centerpiece of a planned $3 billion investment in the Detroit-Hamtramck plant to make electric trucks and vans, and part of a broader $7.7 billion (5.9 billion pounds) investment in GM’s U.S. plants over the next four years that was part of a new contract signed with the United Auto Workers union last year.
The investment moves the automaker into a part of the EV market that is largely untested and where GM has a higher likelihood of turning a profit, analysts said.
Reuters reported GM plans to first build EV pickups in late 2021 and then an electric SUV in 2023.
Tesla <TSLA> CEO Elon Musk in November unveiled an electric pickup called “Cybertruck” it plans to build starting in late 2021.
Rivian, a start-up electric company backed by Amazon.com <AMZN>, will begin building 100,000 electric delivery vans for Amazon starting in 2021.
Hummers were rugged civilian utility vehicles with low gas mileage that were inspired by military vehicles and were popular with such celebrities as actor Arnold Schwarzenegger but derided by environmentalists as gas-guzzlers. GM shut down its Hummer brand after a deal to sell the SUV-line to an obscure Chinese machinery maker was blocked by Chinese regulators in 2010.
Michael Harley, executive editor for Kelley Blue Book, noted “the original Hummer was ostracized out of showrooms for being heavy and ponderous with an insatiable appetite for gasoline. An all-electric powertrain essentially exonerates the truck on all charges.”
Electric pickups and SUVs – the heart of the U.S. market – could help Ford Motor Co <F> and GM generate significant sales of EVs needed to meet tougher California emission standards and electric vehicle mandates.
The Trump administration is moving to roll back those standards – and eliminate extra credits that automakers receive from EV sales but electric trucks are a hedge if California prevails.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sandra Maler and Alistair Bell)
U.S.-based Spirit Airlines has finalised a purchase agreement with Airbus for 100 A320neo Family aircraft. In October, the two parties had signed and announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the purchase of up to 100 of the aircraft – a mix of A319neo, A320neo, and A321neo – to meet the airline’s future fleet requirements.
Spirit is based in South Florida and is the fastest-growing airline in the United States, with flights throughout the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. The airline will announce an engine selection at a later date.
Featuring the widest single-aisle cabin in the sky, the best-selling A320neo Family, comprising the A319neo, A320neo, and A321neo, will deliver a fuel-burn reduction of approximately 20% as well as 50% less noise compared to previous-generation aircraft, thanks to incorporating the very latest technologies including new-generation engines and Sharklets.
Firm orders worldwide for the A320neo Family now have surpassed 7,300 from more than 110 global customers.
Alstom has delivered in Morocco the first Prima M4 locomotive in the frame of the contract signed in 2018 with ONCF to supply 30 electrical Prima locomotives. While the 30 locomotives will be manufactured in Alstom’s Belfort plant, the Alstom team in Morocco will ensure the testing, the warranty service and maintenance.
The 30 Prima M4 locomotives have a nominal power of 5.5 MW, a maximum operating speed of 160 km/h and operate under 3 KV DC voltage. They are equipped with ETCS level 1, require minimum maintenance and provide a high reliability level with low lifecycle cost thanks to the modular design.
“Over the past 10 years, 20 Alstom electrical locomotives have been put into commercial service by ONCF. We are proud, today, to contribute to grow up the fleet and to support ONCF in this major project to develop the railway infrastructure solutions throughout the country,” said Nourddine Rhalmi, Managing Director of Alstom Morocco.
Alstom has been manufacturing locomotives for more than 100 years with the first electric locomotive produced in 1926. To date, the company has sold more than 3,000 locomotives from its Prima range.
Six French sites are participating in the production of the locomotives: Belfort (assembling), Le Creusot (bogies), Ornans (motors), Petit-Quevilly (transformers), Tarbes (traction chain components) and Villeurbanne (on board electronics). The ETCS components are produced in Madrid.
Present in Morocco with 580 employees, Alstom has contributed to several major railway projects, such as the delivery of first Citadis trams to the cities of Rabat and Casablanca, and 12 Euroduplex VSHT for the High Speed Line which is linking Tangier to Casablanca. In its plant in Fez, Alstom produces cable bundles for rail applications and electrical switchboxes that are supplied to its European plants and mounted on trains exported around the world.
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, December 10th, 2019 – Embraer and Congo Airways have signed a firm order for two E175 aircraft, with purchase rights for a further two. The deal has a total value of USD 194.4 million at current list prices with all purchase rights exercised, and will be added to Embraer’s 2019 fourth quarter backlog.
Desire Bantu, CEO of Congo Airways said, “These new jets will replace our current turboprop offering and allow us to serve routes both within the Democratic Republic of Congo, and regionally to West, Central, and Southern Africa, from our hub in Kinshasa. We will now have the flexibility and the right sized aircraft to serve our market, which is growing so rapidly an additional order may be required, for which the E2 is a particularly compelling option.”
Raul Villaron, Vice President Sales, Africa and Middle East, Embraer Commercial Aviation, said, “It’s great to welcome another airline to the Embraer family of operators, especially in Africa where the demand for regional travel is growing strongly. We look forward to supporting Congo Airways as they continue to upgrade their offering to their customers.”
The aircraft will be configured in a dual class layout seating 76 passengers in total, with 12 in business class. Deliveries will begin in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial aircraft up to 150 seats with more than 100 customers across the world. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,800 orders and 1,500 aircraft have been delivered. Today, E-Jets are flying in the fleets of 80 customers in 50 countries. The versatile 70 to 150-seat family is flying with low-cost airlines as well as with regional and mainline network carriers.
SKY, a Chilean-based ultra-low-cost carrier, has signed a Purchase Agreement with Airbus for 10 A321XLRs. The airline will expand its international route network with the new aircraft.
The A321XLR is the next evolutionary step in the A320neo/A321neo Family, meeting market requirements for increased range and payload in a single-aisle aircraft. The A321XLR will deliver an unprecedented narrow-body airliner range of up to 4,700nm, with 30% lower fuel consumption per seat compared with previous-generation competitor jets, allowing airlines to expand networks by making new longer routes economically viable.
“This new aircraft fleet will allow us to expand our offer of international and wide-ranging routes, always under our successful low cost model and its extremely convenient ticket prices. Now passengers can enjoy new and very attractive destinations on the most modern airplanes in the market,” said Holger Paulmann, CEO of SKY.
Arturo Barreira, President of Airbus Latin America, said: “We are delighted that SKY has selected the A321XLR to further expand its fleet of all Airbus aircraft. The A321XLR will allow SKY to offer its customers new destinations, such as direct flights from Santiago in Chile to Miami in the U.S.”
According to the latest Airbus Global Market Forecast (GMF), Latin America will need 2,700 new aircraft in the next 20 years, more than double today’s fleet. Passenger traffic in Latin America has doubled since 2002 and is expected to continue growing over the next two decades. Specifically in Chile, traffic is expected to increase from 0.89 trips per capita to 2.26 trips in 2038.
In parallel to the growing fleet, according to Airbus’ latest GMF, there will be a need for 47,550 new pilots and 64,160 technicians to be trained over the next 20 years in Latin America. To cover this necessity SKY also selected Airbus as its flight training provider, making the airline the launch customer for the new Airbus Chile Training Centre. The centre will offer flight crew training for Chilean pilots and will include a full-flight A320 simulator.
SKY has been an Airbus customer since 2010 and became an all-Airbus operator in 2013. The airline’s fleet of 23 A320 Family aircraft serves national and international routes connecting Chile to Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Uruguay.
Airbus has sold 1,200 aircraft, has a backlog of more than 600 and more than 700 in operation throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, representing a 60% market share of the in-service fleet. Since 1994, Airbus has secured nearly 70% of net orders in the region.
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd said it had obtained 34 more orders and purchase agreements for its Dash 8-400 plane at last months Dubai Airshow, as it revives the recently acquired turboprop business from Bombardier Inc.
Aurora, a subsidiary of Aeroflot-Rossiyskiye Avialinii PAO , signed a letter of intent to purchase up to five Dash 8-400 aircraft, while the Republic of Ghana agreed to buy six aircraft during the Dubai Airshow, which ran between Nov. 17-21.
ACIA Aero Capital Ltd also signed a conditional purchase agreement to buy three Dash 8-400 aircraft, the company said in a separate statement.
Longview Aviation Capital closed its deal for the Q400 turboprop aircraft program from Canada’s Bombardier this year and revived its previous model name – Dash 8 – under a restored corporate brand of De Havilland Aircraft of Canada.
On Monday, De Havilland landed an order for 20 Dash 8-400 turboprops from lessor Palma Holding at the ongoing Dubai Airshow.
(Reporting by Dominic Roshan K.L. in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
One of the world’s leading airlines firms up future fleet with 787-9, 777-8 and 777-9 models
Announcement includes update of Emirates’ 777X order book; and agreement for replacement parts for 777 airplanes
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Boeing [BA] and Emirates announced today they have finalized a purchase agreement for 30 787-9 Dreamliner airplanes, valued at $8.8 billion according to list prices. The agreement, signed at the Dubai Airshow, culminates discussions between the two companies on the best 787 Dreamliner model to meet the requirements of one of the world’s leading airlines.
Emirates had previously signed an initial agreement for the larger 787-10 variant. In officially selecting the 787-9 today, Emirates adds a medium-sized widebody airplane to complement the airline’s larger 777 aircraft. Both airplane families lead their respective category for superior range and fuel efficiency.
HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Chairman and Chief Executive said: “I am pleased to announce a firm order for 30 Boeing Dreamliners. This is an important investment and addition to our future fleet and it reflects Emirates’ continued efforts to provide the best quality air transport services to our customers. The 787’s will complement our fleet mix by expanding our operational flexibility in terms of capacity, range and deployment. We are also pleased to reaffirm our commitment to the Boeing 777X programme and look forward to its entry into service.
Sheikh Ahmed added: “Our Boeing fleet is key to our business model to serve international demand for travel to and through our Dubai hub, as we continue to contribute to the UAE’s strategy to become a global destination for business and tourism by providing high quality air connectivity.”
As part of the agreement, Emirates will update a portion of its large order book by exercising substitution rights and converting 30 777 airplanes into 30 787-9s. With this conversion, Emirates remains the world’s biggest 777X customer with 126 airplanes on order and the largest 777 operator with 155 airplanes today.
“We are excited to finalize this important order from one of the world’s leading airlines. Our agreement solidifies Emirates’ plan to operate the 787 Dreamliner and the 777X, which make up the most efficient and most capable widebody combination in the industry,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President & CEO Stan Deal. “It is an honor to build on our successful partnership with Emirates and continue to sustain many jobs at Boeing and our supplier partners.”
To support Emirates’ current-generation 777 airplanes in the coming years, the companies announced that Boeing Global Services will leverage its worldwide supply chain to provide timely replacement parts, reducing maintenance times and keeping aircraft in service.
At 63 meters (206 feet), the 787-9 Dreamliner can fly 296 passengers, in a typical two-class configuration, up to 7,530 nautical miles (13,950 kilometers), while reducing fuel costs by more than 20 percent compared to previous airplanes they replace. Designed with the passenger in mind, the 787 delivers an unparalleled experience with the largest windows of any jet, large overhead bins with room for everyone’s bag, comfortable cabin air that is cleaner and more humid, and soothing LED lighting.
The Dreamliner’s superior efficiency and range have allowed airlines to open 257 new non-stop routes around the world. More than 80 customers around the world have ordered more than 1,400 Dreamliners since the program’s introduction, making it the fastest-selling widebody jet in history.
Flag carrier of Kazakhstan intends to order the 737 MAX for its new low-cost airline FlyArystan
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Air Astana intends to order 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8 airplanes to serve as the backbone of its new low-cost airline FlyArystan, the Kazakh flag carrier and Boeing announced at the Dubai Airshow. The companies today signed a letter of intent for the 30 airplanes with a list price value of $3.6 billion.
Since beginning operations in May 2002, Air Astana has steadily grown its business from its hubs in Almaty and Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana), sprouting a network that serves major cities across Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Asia, China, Europe and Russia. It operates a growing fleet that includes the Boeing 757, 767 and the Airbus A320 family.
In May, Air Astana launched FlyArystan to better compete in the growing low-cost segment. The company says the new airline has seen strong ticket sales in just the first few months of operation. The plan is to expand the fast growing domestic network, with international services to Moscow commencing next month.
“Since its launch in May this year, FlyArystan has exceeded all expectations and it is clear that low cost air travel has a great future in Kazakhstan and Central Asia,” said Peter Foster, President and CEO of Air Astana. “Air Astana has had a strong relationship with Boeing ever since the airline started flying in 2002 with a pair of 737NGs. Today we operate both 757s and 767s and we believe that the MAX will provide a solid platform for the growth of FlyArystan throughout our region, once the aircraft has successfully returned to service”.
“Air Astana has become one of the leading airlines in Central Asia with its deep focus on safety, reliability, efficiency and customer service. At Boeing, we share those same values and are honored to expand our partnership with the 737 MAX,” said Stan Deal, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We believe the efficiency and reliability built into the 737 MAX will be a great fit for FlyArystan. We look forward to working with Peter and his team finalize an agreement that meets their fleet and operational requirements.”
The 737 MAX 8 is part of a family of airplanes that offer 130 to 230 seats and the ability to fly up to 3,850 nautical miles (7,130 kilometers). With improvements such as the CFM International LEAP-1B engine and Advanced Technology winglets, the 737 MAX provides operators a 14% improvement over today’s most efficient single-aisle airplanes and extended range to open up new destinations.
3D imagery, 737 MAX, MAX, 737 MAX 7, 737 MAX8, 737 MAX 9
