Short Takes
March 29th 2018
Airlines: Several media reports this week suggested American Airlines will cancel its entire order for 22 A350-900s (inherited from US Airways) in favour of additional B787-9s. Read More » Japan Airlines (JAL) has renewed its long-term distribution agreement with Sabre, adding group booking tools to the bag for the first time. Malaysia Airlines Group CEO, Izham Ismail, has said the airline is speaking to both Airbus and Boeing about a potential widebody order. Thailand’s NewGen Airways is considering switching its base from Don Mueang to Suvarnabhumi Airport, capacity constraints allowing. Thai Lion Air, the launch operator of the B737 MAX 9, has rostered the new variant on the Don Mueang-Chiang Mai route from April 2, followed by Don Mueang-Guangzhou and -Hat Yai from May 7 and Don Mueang-Jakarta and -Jinan from June 1.
MRO: AFI KLM E&M and Vietnam Airlines have signed a 12-year flight hour support contract covering the GEnx engines equipping the carrier's B787 fleet, which will grow to 19 aircraft by 2021; the deal includes spare engine access. Sichuan ServiceAero Engine Maintenance Company (SSAMC), the joint venture between Air China and CFM International, has inaugurated a new 43,880sqm facility in Chengdu, expanding its MRO capability for CFM56 and LEAP engines to 300 engines a year.
Routes: AirAsia will increase Kuala Lumpur-Padang A320 service from twice- to thrice-daily starting May 8. Etihad Airways will replace the B787-9 with the A330-200 on the daily Abu Dhabi-Perth route from April 16 and it will reduce Abu Dhabi-Los Angeles B777-300ER frequency from daily to four-weekly beginning October 28. Hainan Airlines will increase Beijing-Brussels A330-300 service from five-weekly to daily starting July 2.
Training: Ansett Aviation Training has ordered Australia’s first ATR72-600 full-flight simulator from TRU Simulation + Training.
