Fleet planning is becoming an increasingly pertinent topic at South Africa-based regional airline Airlink, as the carrier looks ahead to the future shape of its aircraft portfolio.
The company’s fleet has been simplified over recent years, with types such as the Avro RJ and BAE Systems Jetstream 41 leaving the flightline – the last of the latter type was only retired late last year.
The airline now has an all-Embraer fleet – its thicker routes are served by three E170s plus 28 E190s and six E195s. The E170s are being phased out and will be replaced – at least in the short-term – by four of the marginally larger E175s.
These are supplemented by 27 smaller, older-generation ERJ-135/140s that are used both to develop fledgling routes and to increase frequencies on sectors.
The E190s and E195s have 98 and 107 seats respectively, which Airlink’s CEO & MD, Rodger Foster admits is “not much of a gap.” It is likely, he says, that Airlink will “probably want to standardize on 98 [seats] and do something different with the 195s.”
Speaking at this year’s IATA AGM in Dubai, Foster described the E190 as “an exceptionally competent aircraft” that can cope with a wide variety of routes and airports, including that on the isolated South Atlantic island of St Helena, which can be subject to severe windshear on the approach.
He added that the E190’s range and payload/range capabilities are good and its smaller size compared to narrowbodies meant that it can be operated at high frequencies.
However, Airlink’s main South African competitor, LCC FlySafair, operates larger Boeing 737-800s, which give it a lower unit cost.
Eventually, therefore, Airlink will have up-gauge and operate narrowbodies.
The smaller ERJ135s and 140s still have several years’ life remaining. When they are pensioned off, the E175 may be their replacement, “but we have to think how close the 175 is to the 190; you want to create an entry-gauge aircraft.
“Fleet planning is quite a topical thing at Airlink at the moment. There are lots of options to what [the future fleet] looks like.”
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