Overview
There have been considerable developments in Asia-Pacific aviation this month as Cathay Pacific Airways navigates 2015 with new vigour and optimism; its ambitions fuelled by healthy profit gains and long-haul expansion. Further north, full-service competitors, Hainan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, have expressed confidence in growth and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner program, with top-up orders for the larger -9 and -10 variants.
Globally, the Germanwings 9525 accident has renewed the focus on air safety procedures worldwide with the days of single pilot operation in the cockpit seemingly numbered. International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general and CEO, Tony Tyler, said in a statement released on March 27: “individual carriers around the world are already looking at their procedures (following the tragic accident). It is imperative the air accident investigation is fully completed in order to determine any and all outcomes which can help prevent a tragedy like this happening again.”
The Germanwings airliner crashed into a mountain in the French Alps on March 24, killing all 150 crew and passengers onboard. It is alleged the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, aged 27, deliberately crashed the airliner. Read More »
Airline News
Hainan orders 30 B787s on 20% profit growth
In a regulatory filing last week, Hainan Airlines, the Mainland’s fourth largest carrier, said it would buy 30 Boeing B787-9 aircraft, valued at $7.7 billion at current list prices, to expand its long-haul fleet from 2021. Read More »
Airline News
AirAsia to open Langkawi base, flymojo announced
Malaysia AirAsia will set up a new regional hub in Langkawi, AirAsia Group co-founder and chief executive, Tony Fernandes, announced last week. Read More »
Airline News
Complaint against Seoul Air, SIA to take stake in Jeju?
Competition among South Korea’s carriers is intensifying as three of the country’s five existing budget carriers – Jeju Air, Eastar Jet and T’Way Airlines – last week filed a complaint with the country’s Transportation Ministry to request they reject Asiana Airlines’ plan to launch budget offshoot, Seoul Air. Read More »
Airline News
THAI Cargo exits, Thai VietJet launches
Thai Airways International (THAI) has ended all freighter operations, with the last B747-400BCF, servicing the Bangkok – Delhi – Frankfurt – Amsterdam – Bangkok route on March 29. Read More »
Financial Round Up
China’s Spring Airlines reported a net profit of 884.2 million yuan ($144 million) in 2014, up 20.8% from 2013, but cautioned that “challenges still remain, which include a possible slowdown of domestic economic growth, a fluctuation in the fuel price, a pilot shortage and increasingly fierce competition from domestic peers and high-speed rail”. Read More »
Airline News
Garuda secures Sharia financing
Indonesian flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia, last week secured $100 million in loans through a Sharia financing agreement with private lender, Bank Internasional Indonesia, a part of Malaysia’s Maybank, the Jakarta Post has reported. Read More »
Financial Round Up
Nok Air reports loss as new chairman takes control
Bangkok-based Nok Air, a subsidiary of Thai Airways International, reported a 472 million baht ($14.5 million) net loss for 2014, a reversal of a 1.07 billion baht profit in 2013. Read More »
People
Chatfield to switch to Costa Group?
Virgin Australia chairman, Neil Chatfield, is in line to lead Australia’s largest privately-owned fruit and vegetable company, the Costa Group, according to speculation in the Australian Financial Review. Read More »
Short Takes
CODESHARES: South America’s TAM has added its ‘JJ’ designator to JAL’s services from Tokyo’s Narita to Fukuoka, Nagoya, New York (JFK) and Osaka (ITM). Subject to government approval, Asiana Airlines is planning to add its ‘OZ’ code to Russian carrier S7 Airlines’ services from Seoul (ICN) to Irkutsk, Novosibirsk and Vladivostok, while S7 wants to place its designator on Asiana’s routes from Seoul (ICN) to Khabarovsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Read More »
