This week’s top air transport stories include the South American airline group JetSMART walking away from plans to acquire Colombian ULCC Ultra Air and the latest update on JetBlue-Spirit merger developments.
South American airline group JetSMART is no longer interested in acquiring Colombian ULCC Ultra Air—just as regulators have finally issued conditional approval of the acquisition of Viva Air by Colombia’s largest airline, Avianca. JetSMART, which recently gained approval to launch a Colombian subsidiary, said it would continue the process of creating a franchise in the country. Avianca, meanwhile, is reviewing a decision by Colombian regulators regarding its merger with Viva. ULCC Viva was forced to ground operations in February due to the prolonged approval process for its acquisition by Avianca.
However, American Airlines and Chilean ULCC JetSMART have applied to the US Department of Transportation to launch the first phase of their codeshare partnership. The move comes just weeks after Chile’s Fiscalía Nacional Económica (FNE) approved the oneworld alliance member’s minority investment in JetSMART and 20 months since the planned deal was first announced.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) denied an exemption request from JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines, citing the pending lawsuit challenging their merger. The joint request, filed Feb. 9, sought approval to operate under common ownership. New York-based JetBlue’s jury-waived trial to contest the lawsuit begins Oct. 16. The airline announced its intent to acquire the South Florida-based ULCC in July 2022.
In manufacturing news, Embraer is launching a major effort to make inroads into the Chinese market with a visit by CEO Francisco Gomes Neto and is even considering setting up a final assembly line in the country. The move comes as others—Airbus, Boeing and many suppliers—are pondering whether they should place more supplier work elsewhere as tensions between China and the U.S. mount. Embraer sees China as a “big opportunity” to place a large fleet of E2s in Asia, with India being another possibility, complementing larger narrowbodies.
ATR’s CEO Nathalie Tarnaud Laude said securing enough orders to justify a production ramp-up to roll out 80 aircraft per year in the coming years is achievable, despite supply chain and recruitment challenges. The CEO said ATR is preparing to deliver about 40 aircraft this year, up from 25 in 2022.
The Airbus A321XLR concluded two sets of cold weather tests in Canada’s Nunavut territory as the manufacturer progresses toward certification of the aircraft in time for entry-into-service in the second quarter of 2024.
Aircraft purchases and deliveries continue as Taiwanese regional Mandarin Airlines plans to purchase three ATR 72 turboprop aircraft for domestic operations, as the China Airlines (CAL) subsidiary finds capacity after the drawdown of its Embraer E190 in end-2022. CAL said in a Taipei Stock Exchange notice that the deal will not be more than $23 million per aircraft, or no more than $69 million in total, without providing further information.
HK Express received its first Airbus A321neo as the Hong Kong-based airline prepares to exceed pre-pandemic flight levels by summer 2023. The aircraft is the first of 16 A321neos earmarked for the LCC, a subsidiary of Cathy Pacific. The A321neos are part of the 32 aircraft acquired by Cathay Dragon, the former Cathay subsidiary regional carrier that ceased operations in October 2020.
Russia’s privately owned AirBridgeCargo Airlines is reportedly in talks with Ilyushin Finance, a leasing arm of Russia’s United Aircraft Corp., over the purchase of two Ilyushin Il-96-400T freighters, formerly owned by now-defunct Polet Airlines. According to AirBridgeCargo, the first aircraft will be restored to airworthiness and handed over in June 2023. A second aircraft will follow in early 2024. The airline plans to start Il-96 operations with a flight from Moscow in June.
Sun Country Airlines will acquire five Boeing 737-900ERs when their leases [to Oman Air from German Operating Aircraft Leasing] expire beginning in late 2024 through mid-2025 under a $119.2 million term loan facility agreed with UMB Bank. The aircraft will join the Minneapolis-based ULCC’s current fleet of 737-700s and -800s.
The Airbus final assembly line (FAL) in Tianjin, China, handed over its first A321neo on March 24. The A321neo for customer Juneyao Airlines was the first to be rolled out from the facility, which attained assembly capability for the A321neo in 2022 and inducted the first aircraft into production in November. The aircraft is configured with eight business-class seats and 199 in economy.
Aircraft leases continue with Brussels Airlines signing a wet-lease agreement with Irish regional CityJet for the summer season, with two Bombardier CRJ-900s set to join the carrier’s fleet from March 26 to Oct. 28. The agreement, combined with the planned arrival of an additional two Airbus A320s, will make for a 10% increase in the carrier’s European operations in summer 2023, the Lufthansa Group airline said.
Latvian carrier airBaltic plans to wet lease more aircraft through May 31 to mitigate the impact of delays in engine maintenance by Pratt & Whitney. The move comes just a few weeks after the airline had announced a separate wet-lease deal with Avion Express, which it said would help airBaltic meet increasing demand and deal with supply chain issues.
And finally, airline expansions include South Korean LCC T’Way Air growing its international operations by establishing a secondary hub at South Korea’s Cheongju Airport. The airline intends to launch services from Cheongju to Bangkok in April, and then to Osaka in June. T’Way began international flights from Cheongju in January, with a route to Danang, Vietnam.
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