Chinese demand is a factor behind Airbus’s keenness to build the A350 faster than the 2018 target of 10 aircraft per month. “We don’t have many early delivery slots to offer customers in China,” and none before 2020, Eric Chen, president of Airbus China, said. Chen added that more A350s would have been sold to Chinese airlines had additonal slots become available.
Wing repaired and engines modified, the first CSeries airliner returned to flight on November 6 and two days later was ferried to Bombardier’s test center in Wichita, joining two other aircraft. But while flight testing is finally gathering momentum after delays, the Canadian manufacturer says it will not ramp up the production line until mid-2015 at the earliest. FTV1 is the third CSeries to return to flight after the fleet was grounded on May 29 following the uncontained failure of a Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofan during ground testing.
LONDON — Airtanker, the company which operates and supports the U.K. Royal Air Force’s (RAF) fleet of Airbus A330 Voyager aerial refueling aircraft, is now working to push its spare capacity out to the civilian charter and leasing community. The consortium is currently operating nine A330s—known as Voyagers—for the RAF. But as part of the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft program, a U.K. government private finance initiative, Airtanker is introducing another five aircraft which will be used to bring in third-party revenues.
Korean Airlines plunged to a steep third-quarter net loss, thanks mainly to unfavorable currency shifts that outweighed gains from lower fuel prices. The airline’s net loss of 392 billion won ($361.4 million) was a dramatic reversal from a profit of 335 billion won in the same period last year. This swing was almost entirely due to non-operating items, as the carrier actually managed to post an operating profit of 241 billion won for the third quarter—50% higher than the previous year.
Air Canada may place five additional widebody aircraft with its leisure-oriented Rouge subsidiary and may substitute larger narrowbody aircraft in place of the current Airbus A319s, but cannot increase the size of the subfleet beyond 50, according to the terms of its new contract with the Air Canada Pilots Association.
American Airlines plans to grow its Los Angeles hub but expects to mostly serve local customers, said Chuck Schubert, the carrier’s vice president-network planning. Schubert was short on specifics, but signaled American may add additional flights to Asia to complement current service to Shanghai and Tokyo. “Over time we would like to be able to grow that portfolio a bit,” he said. “L.A. is very important market to and from Asia, and we want to make sure we are player in it.”
BEIJING—To help reduce costs, Chinese freight company SF Express will build a hub for western China at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. The plan follows the Chengdu government’s issuance of a policy guideline this year for promoting the city’s aviation-logistics industry by encouraging domestic and international airlines to set up business there.
