Short Takes
March 16th 2018
Leasing: BOC Aviation has reported a net profit of US$587 million for 2017, up 40%, on the back of a record 74 deliveries. China Aircraft Leasing Group (CALC) this week signed a RMB10 billion (US$1.6 billion) ‘Strategic Cooperation Agreement’ with China Development Bank. Read More »
OEMs: Boeing this week delivered the 10,000th B737, a MAX 8 variant, to Southwest Airlines; it will deliver the first B787-10, to Singapore Airlines, on March 26. Embraer will deliver the first E190-E2 to Norway’s Wideroe on April 4. GE Aviation’s GE9X, the largest turbofan in history, flew for the first time on 13 March, kicking off a months-long certification campaign.
Routes: Air India will launch a thrice-weekly Delhi-Tel Aviv B787-8 service on March 22 and it will increase B787-8 frequency on Delhi-Sydney from four- to five-weekly commencing March 30. Air India Express will increase Madurai-Singapore B737-800 flights from five-weekly to daily starting March 27. Asiana Airlines will replace the A330-300 with the A380 on the daily Incheon-Bangkok route from March 25. China Eastern Airlines will add a thrice-weekly Tunxi-Taipei A320 route on March 27. China Southern Airlines will increase Urumqi-Islamabad B737-800 service from four- to five-weekly starting March 28. Emirates Airline will reduce Dubai-Jakarta B777-300ER from thrice to twice daily beginning May 1. Hainan Airlines will launch a thrice-weekly Changsha-Heathrow B787 route from March 23. IndiGo Airlines will add a daily Thiruvananthapuram-Muscat A320 service from March 25. Nok Air will launch thrice-weekly B737-800 service on Don Mueang-Mae Hong Son and Udon Thani-Ubon Ratchathani from February 28 and March 25, respectively. Shanghai Airlines has launched daily Hongqiao-Macau B737-800 flights. Thai VietJet will launch a twice daily Suvarnabhumi-Krabi A320 route from April 5. Tianjin Airlines will launch twice-weekly Xian-Heathrow A330-200 flights on May 7, replacing service to Gatwick. Vietnam Airlines will start a thrice-weekly Cam Ranh-Phu Quoc A321 service on September 1.
