Short Takes
January 15th 2016
AIRLINES: On Monday, ANA (All Nippon Airways) and Boeing celebrated the carrier's 100,000th revenue flight with the 787 Dreamliner at a gate ceremony at Sea-Tac International Airport in Seattle. The milestone marks another record for ANA. It is the first airline in the world to reach 100,000 787 flights. China Airlines this week said it expected to take delivery of its first A350-900 in July. Read More » Shizuoka-based Fuji Dream Airlines, a domestic full-service carrier with a fleet of nine E170/175s, has said it planned to add another base and international services this year. Outlining its plans for 2016, Garuda Indonesia last week said it would establish a new subsidiary, with a total of 15 unspecified aircraft, to market and charter aircraft to Saudi Arabia during the Hajj and Umrah periods. Ho Chi Minh-based Jetstar Pacific has confirmed a top-up order for two A320s from China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings (CALC), raising its total to four frames sourced from the lessor, with deliveries scheduled for this year. Nanchang-based start-up, Jiangxi Airlines, has set next Monday, January 18, as its tentative launch date. The Xiamen Airlines subsidiary will initially fly two B737-800s on domestic services. After Saudi Arabia formally cut all diplomatic and air links with Iran following invasions of its diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashad, Gulf Air has followed Saudi Arabian Airlines’ (SAUDIA’s) lead and terminated all services to Iran effective immediately. Hawaiian Airlines has struck a five-year deal for better pay and benefits with approximately 2,200 mechanics and related clerical, office, stores, fleet service and passenger service employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). SriLankan Airlines performed its last A340-300 revenue flight on January 7 as 4R-ADF (cn 374) returned from Chennai to Colombo. Narita-based ANA budget subsidiary, Vanilla Air, said it was considering opening a second base at Osaka Kansai as it plans to launch Kansai-Taipei services later this year.
LESSORS: China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings (CALC) this week announced it has entered into the second purchase agreement with Airbus this year after it ordered two additional A320ceos to be delivered before year-end. In separate events, CALC also announced it has signed Letters of Intent with HNA Group subsidiaries, Lucky Air and West Air, for the lease of two A320ceos, respectively, with deliveries expected later this year.
MANUFACTURERS: Mitsubishi Aircraft has confirmed it will delay the first delivery of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) to launch customer ANA Holdings by another year to second-quarter 2018 after it identified several unspecified issues.
MRO: AMECO has completed its fifth B757 freighter conversion at its Chengdu facility. This last reconfiguration is the third for Shenzhen-based SF Airlines, the SF Express subsidiary.
ROUTES: China Southern Airlines has confirmed January 27 as the launch date for thrice-weekly Shenzhen-Sydney A330-300 flights and it will resume four-weekly A330-200 Guangzhou-Sheremetyevo operations from June 20. Etihad Airways will replace the A330 with the B787-9 on the Abu Dhabi-Dusseldorf route from May 1, and it will continue to deploy the B777-300ER daily to Phuket beyond March 27, as originally planned, replacing the A330-200. Hong Kong Airlines will launch a thrice-weekly Hong Kong-Phnom Penh all-economy A320 service commencing February 27. LOT Polish Airlines has launched thrice-weekly Warsaw-Narita B787-8 operations. Malaysia Airlines (MAB) will terminate its daily Kuala Lumpur-Dubai A330-300 service from February 15 as it will instead place its ‘MH’ code on partner Emirates Airline’s four-daily services plying the route. Malindo Air will commence daily Kuala Lumpur-Hong Kong B737-800 operations February 5, and it will add a four-weekly B737-900ER service March 3. Qatar Airways will increase frequency on the Doha-Budapest A320 route from daily to ten-weekly starting July 3. Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) has tentatively scheduled its last B747-400 passenger service for April 1 on the Islamabad-Riyadh route. Singapore Airlines (SIA) will increase frequency on the Singapore-Brisbane A330-300 route from 21- to 24-weekly from May 28, and it will offer premium economy on its daily Amsterdam service beginning June 1. HNA Group’s West Air will launch a thrice-weekly Chongqing-Singapore A320 flight beginning January 27, its first international route. Xiamen Airlines will launch a twice-weekly Xiamen-Melbourne B787 rotation June 30, and it will add a thrice-weekly Xiamen-Cebu B737-800 service from March 28.
