The association’s data analysis shows that smaller Asian carriers, following years of dramatic safety improvements, are now suffering more crashes than they did around 2010. This seems to point to how new airlines are assessed as a cause for concern.
Hainan Airlines, China’s fourth-largest carrier, hopes to enter leased 787-9s into service from next year, an industry official familiar with the airline’s fleet plans said.
The carrier uses its full allocation of weekly seats in the Australian market, with five weekly services from Manila to Sydney. Cebu executives have told Aviation Daily they want to increase the frequency of the Sydney flights, as well as introduce new routes (Aviation Daily, Feb. 13).
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] . (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Apr. 27-29—ISAGO Auditors Symposium, (Held in conjunction with the 28th IGHC Ground Handling Conference), Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel, Istanbul, Turkey, www.iata.org/events/Pages/isago-auditors-symposium.aspx
For a complete list of Aviation Week’s upcoming events, and to register, visit www.aviationweek.com/events May 5-6, 2015—MRO BEER (Baltics, Eastern Europe, Russia), Budapest, Hungary Jun. 17, 2015—Commercial Aerospace Manufacturing Briefing C0-located with the International Paris Air Show, Auditorium, (Conference Centre - Hall 2C), 9:00am-11:15am
Aigle Azur finalized a codeshare agreement with Hainan Airlines and will start selling the Chinese airline’s thrice-weekly services between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Xi’an Xianyang International airport via Hangzhou Xiaoshan. The route is operated with an Airbus A330-300 configured with 16 business-class seats and 235 economy seats. Aigle Azur in 2012 revealed it would launch a scheduled Paris–Beijing route, cemented by the acquisition of a 48% stake by HNA Group.
The renegotiated deal with Boeing will see four 787 deliveries shifted from 2016 to 2017, and a fifth pushed into 2018. Aircraft retirements will continue as planned, meaning the moves will reduce projected 2016 capacity by about 0.6%, and widebody capacity will be down 2.5%.
During the company’s first-quarter earnings call, executives at the Chicago-based airline explained previously announced news that United and Boeing have struck a deal to exchange 10 Boeing 787 orders for 10 777-300ERs.
The carrier completed the first aircraft in March, and has now refurbished seven of its 18 717s, CEO Mark Dunkerley said during Hawaiian’s first-quarter earnings call. The rest of the fleet is expected to be upgraded by the fourth quarter.
The increased capacity was not in response to lower oil prices changing the carrier’s strategy, Southwest leadership told analysts during the company’s first-quarter earnings call April 23. The carrier plans to keep its fleet at around 700 aircraft, CEO Gary Kelly said.
As recently as a few years ago, Alaska averaged about one paid first class traveler per flight, despite having 12 or 16 premium seats on each aircraft. Now, the airline sells roughly five or six first-class revenue tickets on each flight, which, fleet-wide, amounts to a paid load factor of about one-third.
ELFAA represents the interest of LCCs including Ryanair, Easyjet, Norwegian and IAG-subsidiary Vueling. Iberia and BA are the first two legacy airlines to join it.
The airline—burdened by large losses over several years as well as negative equity—on April 24 announced the departure of Chief Commercial Officer Goetz Ahmelmann.
FRANKFURT and BEIJING—Airbus’s chances of securing a large order from China for current-version A330 have become very small, according to industry sources, aggravating the manufacturer’s problems to fill production holes through the transition to the A330neo.
BEIJING—Air China’s wholly owned maintenance operation, Air China Technics, will be merged into Ameco—the carrier’s joint venture with Lufthansa—by June, industry officials say.
Norwegian Air Shuttle is in talks with Norway’s civil aviation authorities to transfer its eight Boeing 787-8s from its Irish registry to its Norwegian registry, due to the delay in obtaining a foreign air carrier permit from the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) for its Ireland-based subsidiary, Norwegian Air International (NAI).
Allegiant Air said April 22 the FAA has increased its surveillance of the carrier while management seeks to block the airline’s pilot union from striking, a move that over the long term could limit Allegiant’s ability to grow.
