Short Takes
February 1st 2013
AIRLINES: Singapore Airlines (SIA) has firmed up an order for 25 widebody Airbus aircraft, five A380s and 20 A350-900s. Read More » SIA currently has 19 A380s in service. Taiwan’s China Airlines announced in December that it is to order six new B777-300ERs and lease another four from GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) as part of a fleet renewal and expansion plan. The first of the planes will arrive in 2014. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has ordered 36 ATR 72-600s for its regional subsidiaries, Firefly and MASwings, in a deal worth US$980 million. Currently, Firefly has 12 ATR 72-500s and MASwings 10 similar aircraft. MAS chief executive, Jauhari Yahya, said Firefly was expected to grow rapidly in the next five years. Japan’s Starflyer has taken delivery of the first of three A320s. They will be powered by CFM56-5B4/P engines. Fuji Dream Airlines, of Japan, has signed a contract for two Embraer 175 jets in a deal worth $81.6 million at list price. The aircraft will join six other Embraers in Fuji’s all E-jet fleet.
CODE-SHARES: Garuda Indonesia launched services to six destinations in December as a result of a newly-signed code-share agreement with Etihad Airways. Through its partnership, Garuda will serve London, Manchester, Paris, Moscow, Athens and Muscat. As part of the agreement Garuda has moved its international hub from Dubai to Etihad’s headquarters, Abu Dhabi.
ENGINES: Rolls-Royce has signed a $1 billion contract (at list prices) with Japan’s Skymark Airlines for Trent 900 engines to power six A380 aircraft. The aircraft will enter service in 2014. Skymark has also signed a Letter of Intent for Trent 700 engines to power up to 10 leased A330s, the first in its fleet, and also to begin delivery in 2014. Both deals include long-term TotalCare service support.
LEASING: AWAS delivered a third B737-800 to Japan’s Skymark Airlines last month, its 28th aircraft. The carrier received the first two B737-800s last year. Meanwhile, AWAS delivered an A320 to Qantas Airways for use by its Jetstar Asia subsidiary. It is the first of three A320s being delivered to Qantas by AWAS in the first quarter of 2013 to be flown by their Singapore and Australian Jetstar operations.
INFLIGHT: Cathay Pacific Airways wholly-owned subsidiary, Dragonair, is to spend “hundreds of millions” of dollars on improving the cabins of its fleet. Chief executive, Patrick Yeung, is playing his cards close to his chest, but said the investment would be “much higher” than the HK$195 million (US$25.5 million) spent on a 2003 upgrade. Dragonair’s fleet has almost doubled in that time to 38 aircraft. The improvements will include wider business and economy class seats, a video-on-demand inflight entertainment system and a new uniform for the growing number of flight crews and cabin staff. When the airline starts its service to Da Nang, Vietnam, next month, it will be Dragonair’s 12th destination launched or resumed in the last 12 months. Singapore Airlines is investing almost S$95 million (US$76.9 million) to refit 10 B777-200ERs with new long-haul cabins.
ROUTES: Dragonair is to launch a three times weekly service from Hong Kong to Da Nang in Vietnam late March. The carrier currently flies 10 times a week to Hanoi while its parent carrier, Cathay Pacific, operates 16 services a week between Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City. Singapore Airlines’ low-cost subsidiary, Scoot, launched its eighth and ninth routes - to Chinese cities Qingdao and Shenyang - last month. The Singapore-Qingdao-Shenyang service will operate three times weekly. Scoot also flies to Tianjin in China. Its network includes Sydney, the Gold Coast (Australia), Bangkok, Tokyo and Taipei. Korean Air is to launch three times weekly services between Seoul and Colombo, Sri Lanka and on to Male in the Maldives from March.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) is to increase services to Australia, Asia and Europe during the northern summer (March 31-October 26). A fourth daily flight to Melbourne (up from three) and 12 flights a week to Adelaide (up from 10) will raise the number of services to Australia by SIA and subsidiary, SilkAir, to 121 a week. Within Asia, SIA will increase flights to Japanese cities Fukuoka (from five a week to daily) and Osaka (from 11 a week to twice daily). Between May 20 and August 11 the Singapore-Moscow-Houston frequency will increase from five flights a week to daily. Services to Copenhagen will rise from three flights a week to five from March 31.
TRAINING: Singapore Airlines (SIA) has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with three local polytechnics related to cabin crew recruitment and training. The MOUs with Nanyang Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic also will cover other areas of potential cooperation such as curriculum development related to service, operations and safety and security. Singapore’s ST Aerospace Academy (STAA) has won a contract to train pilots for Xiamen Airlines. The first group of 30 cadet pilots will begin their 60-week training course next month at STAA’s flying school in Ballarat, Australia. The intake for subsequent courses is expected to take at least 50 cadets. ATR inaugurated its new Singapore training centre for pilots and maintenance crew at the Seletar Aerospace Park, in December. It has the capacity to train more than 600 pilots and maintenance personnel a year. Its Full Flight Simulator enables training for the ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 variants.
