Short Takes
September 25th 2020
China Southern Airlines (CSA) said in a regulatory filing to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong this week the China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved its issue of up 16 billion yuan (US$ 2.3 billion) of convertible bonds with a term of six years. Read More » The approval is valid for 12 months. CSA said the board would select an appropriate time to proceed with the proposed issuance.
Beijing Daxing Airport welcomed its 10 millionth passenger on September 22, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in a statement this week. The airport is operating about 660 flights a day from 18 local and foreign airlines, the CAAC said, with the maximum number of daily passengers reaching about 92,000. The CAAC said Beijing Daxing was expected to process 16 million passengers by the end of calendar 2020. The airport’s first commercial flight was on September 26, 2019.
Pratt & Whitney said this week Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Corporation (AMECO) would provide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for its PW1100G-JM geared turbofan (GTF) engine. AMECO, a joint venture between Air China and Lufthansa, will build a facility at its Beijing workshop for the work, marking the first GTF MRO network shop in China, Pratt & Whitney said in a statement. It will be the fourth facility in Asia providing MRO services for the GTF alongside two in Japan and one in Singapore.
Cathay Pacific Group's LCC, HK Express, this week ferried 10 A321s from Hong Kong to Alice Springs in Australia, flight tracking websites showed. The aircraft are to be placed in long-term storage.
Airbus said this week the last A380 to be built has rolled out of the company's Final Assembly Line in Toulouse. In attendance for the occasion was Airbus CEO, Guillaume Faury, along with executive vice president for programmes and services, Philippe Mhun, as well as current and former staff who had worked on the A380 program.
Aerospace and defense aftermarket services provider, AAR Corp, has reported a net loss of US$14.5 million for the three months to August 31 2020, slumping into the red from a net profit of US$4.4 million in the prior corresponding period. Revenue fell 26%, to US$400.8 million, AAR said in a regulatory filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week. The company said the first quarter results reflected the impact of COVID-19. "While the environment for the airline industry remains uncertain, we are focused on managing working capital and are pleased with our ability to generate positive cash flow in the quarter," AAR Corp CEO, John Holmes, said in a statement.
Asiana Airlines has commenced freight operations with a reconfigured A350-900 that had its economy seats removed to boost the aircraft's cargo-carrying capacity. The A350-900, which Asiana said in a statement was the first of the type to undergo such a conversion, had it first cargo flight this week when it operated from Seoul Incheon to Los Angeles. It is expected to operate to Ho Chi Minh City in October. Asiana said it had also reconfigured two 777-200ER passenger aircraft for freighter operations.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said this week its annual general meeting (AGM) due to be held in Amsterdam on November 24 would now take place as a virtual event. The World Air Transport Summit that usually accompanies the AGM has been cancelled. "When we postponed this year’s AGM from June until November, it was with the expectation government restrictions on travel would have been sufficiently eased to enable a physical meeting," IATA director general and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, said in a statement. "That now seems unlikely and alternative plans for a virtual event are being activated."
