December 1st 2023

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SEPTEMBER

This year’s long farewell for Alan Joyce ahead of his resignation as Qantas Group CEO in November was abruptly cut short this month. Read More » The veteran CEO stepped down two months earlier than previously announced following tumultuous criticism of the airline group’s handling of travel credits as well as declining service levels and lobbying efforts against an application by Qatar Airways to increase flights to Australian destinations.

Then, not long after Vanessa Hudson took the reins as CEO on September 6, Australia’s highest court upheld a previous judgement that Qantas illegally outsourced 1,700 ground handling jobs in 2020.

Airlines with 737 MAX orders heard disappointing news from Boeing this month when chief financial officer, Brian West, told an industry conference deliveries of the type were expected to be at the low end of its previous guidance of 400 to 450 deliveries for several reasons including a problem with aft pressure bulkheads on the MAX identified by Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosytems.

There were concerns too from operators of the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM geared turbofan (GTF) engine after parent company, RTX, announced additional inspections would be required for 600 to 700 GTF engines to correct a rare condition in the powder metal used to manufacture certain parts of the power plant.

In response, Cebu Pacific Air flagged fewer aircraft deliveries and slower growth in 2024. Air New Zealand forecast its domestic, trans-Tasman and Pacific Island services are expected to be impacted from the start of 2024 by the GTF issue and that more service disruptions may follow.

Two aircraft orders of note were announced in the month. China Eastern Airlines signed a purchase agreement for 100 C919s from the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, with deliveries from 2024 to 2031 and Vietnam Airlines, an A320 operator, said it will acquire up to 50 737 MAXs from Boeing.

The aviation community said farewell to veteran executive, Man Swee Was this month, who retired as Singapore Airlines (SIA) executive vice president and chief operations officer after a 40-year career with the airline group. SIA has appointed executive vice president for finance and strategy and chief financial officer, Tan Kai Ping, as Mak’s successor.

There also were executive changes at Airbus,including the appointment of chief commercial officer and head of international, Christian Scherer, as CEO of the company’s Commercial Aircraft business.