Short Takes
March 20th 2020
AirAsiaX has contracted AMS Aircraft Services Ltd (AMS) and EastMerchant Capital GmbH (EastMerchant) to sell two of the LCC’s A330-300s. Read More » The aircraft will be available to a new buyer from April this year.
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) has denied Japan Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines approval for a joint venture alliance on flights between Hawaii and Japan. The application was first submitted in 2018. The DoT’s final order was published on March 13.
Mitsubishi Aircraft's SpaceJet M90 regional jet has moved to the next phase of its certification program, with test aircraft FTV10, registration JA26MJ, taking off from Nagoya airport for a two-hour inaugural flight on March 18. The company said the aircraft was in a final, certifiable baseline configuration and would shortly join the other flight test fleet at Moses Lake in Washington State for the final phase of the certification flight tests.
Cathay Pacific Airways said in a regulatory filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, dated March 16, it had completed a sale and leaseback transaction on six 777-300ERs with lessor BOC Aviation Limited for US$703.8 million. The proceeds would be for general working capital.
All flights to Beijing Daxing International Airport have been transferred to Beijing Capital International Airport. Beijing Capital deputy general manager, Zhao Ying, said Zone D of Terminal 3 had been designated as a special zone for international arrivals from regions with a coronavirus outbreak, with passengers to be screened before being allowed to enter the country.
China Southern Airlines said in its monthly traffic report published on March 18 that revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) fell 84.8% in February compared with the prior corresponding period. Load factor declined 29.6% percentage points to 47.1%.
At Air China, RPKs were down 80.5% in February from a year ago, while load factor tumbled 32.6% to 51.4% for the month.
China Eastern Airlines said RPKs were 83.7% lower in February, compared with the prior corresponding period. Passenger load factors reached 50.3%, a 34.2 percentage point reduction from 84.5% a year earlier.
