December 1st 2021

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November

The cautious optimism that emerged at the Dubai Airshow early in the month turned to nervousness shortly afterwards from the arrival of a new COVID-19 variant, Omicron. Read More » While little was known about this latest mutation of the virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) quickly designated Omicron a “variant of concern”.

The reaction from various governments worldwide was swift, announcing bans or more testing and quarantine requirements for arrivals from selected countries to slow the spread of the virus.

Nonetheless, cases began to appear outside of the African continent, including in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and elsewhere.

In the first few days of the Dubai Airshow the mood was upbeat. Airbus announced the first customer for its recently launched A350F freighter after Air Lease Corporation committed for seven of the type. The Toulouse-headquartered air frame manufacturer also confirmed an order for 255 A321neo family aircraft from Indigo Partners, which has Frontier, JetSMART, Volaris and Wizz Air in its airline portfolio.

Boeing’s Dubai orders included 72 737 MAX family aircraft from new Indian carrier, Akasa Air, which is planning to start commercial flights next year. The Chicago-headquartered aerospace giant also announced DHL Express had signed for nine more 767-300 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF). Boeing will establish three new conversion lines for its 737-BCF, as a result of soaring global demand, at London Gatwick (1) and KF Aerospace in Canada (2).

It was a busy month for Singapore Airlines with a number of announcements to the market, including that its net loss narrowed to S$837 million (US$610 million) in the six months to September 30, from an S$3.5 billion net loss in the prior corresponding half from an improving business outlook. The Singapore flag carrier also unveiled a new lie-flat business class seat and the latest generation economy class seat for its 737 MAX fleet.

Japan Airlines (JAL) said the domestic market had a slow recovery in the September quarter. It reported a 105 billion yen (US$922 million) net loss for the six months to September 30, but it was an improvement from the 161.2 billion yen net loss in the same six months in 2020. Its full-year loss will be in the vicinity of 146 billion yen compared with a net loss of 286.6 billion yen in the prior year, the airline said.

In lessor news, AerCap’s acquisition of rival GECAS, announced earlier this year, closed this month. The combined company has about 2,000 aircraft, 900 engines and 300 helicopters in its portfolio.

In China, domestic air travel continued to recover as a result of pent-up demand. Although the impact of Omicron had yet to emerge, analysts said once cases of the virus, including new variants, subside, Mainland domestic demand picks up rapidly.