Overview
It has been a fast paced week in Asia-Pacific aviation as China Aviation Supplies firmed up an order for 130 Airbus aircraft during Angela Merkel’s visit to the country, and the HNA Group emerged as a likely buyer of Starwood Hotels. In Singapore, Airbus and Singapore Airlines opened the first A350 full flight simulator which will be part of Airbus’ largest training facility outside Toulouse when fully operational in March. Further north, in neighbouring Thailand, controversial but perhaps necessary questions have been raised about the country’s open skies policy, while in Indonesia, flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia, continued to produce black ink in its third-quarter earnings.
Thailand’s Open Skies too liberal? Read More »
Airline News
China firms up 130 Airbus jets order as Air China-China Southern merger rumours denied
Air China and China Southern Airlines have dismissed media reports of their merger, which had caused share prices to close at their upper limits in Shanghai last Thursday. Read More »
Airline News
Garuda reports $51.4 million third quarter profit and governments limits movements at Soekarno-Hatta
Garuda Indonesia has reported a net profit of $51.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, sharply reversing losses in the year-ago period, helped by lower fuel prices and cost reductions, from $3.08 billion to $2.72 billion, due to its Quick Wins program. Read More »
Airline News
Airbus and SIA open first A350 training facility in Asia
The new Airbus Asia Training Centre (AATC) at Singapore’s Seletar Aerospace Park, the largest Airbus training facility outside Toulouse, is on target for completion in the first three months of 2016, although courses on Asia’s first operational $18 million A350 XWB full flight simulator are available from this month at the nearby Singapore Airlines (SIA) Training Centre. Read More »
Airline News
China Airlines reconsidering B737 order, Far Eastern Air Transport plans fleet renewal
The ruling, and pro-Beijing, KMT party is expected to lose the January 2016 elections in Taiwan. Under the KMT's leadership, Beijing and Taipei have forged closer ties, including the launch of charter and scheduled cross-strait flights. Read More »
Airline News
South Korea signs traffic deals, Hawaiian poised to beat Jin
At the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO’s) Air Service Negotiation Event in Istanbul last week, South Korea and Austria agreed to lift limits on direct passenger flights, allowing unlimited capacity and frequencies between the countries and their respective carriers, the second such agreement South Korea has struck with a European nation after it signed a deal with Spain last year. Read More »
Airline News
Tokyo/Haneda airport expands China slots
Tokyo’s downtown Haneda Airport has steadily expanded from mostly domestic flights into a full-fledged international airport in the past five years. Read More »
Airline News
Mainland traffic up 11.7% and on-time performance improves in September
China's civil aviation sector saw steady growth in both passenger and cargo traffic in the first nine months of 2015, according to statistics released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Read More »
Airline News
Funding for third Shenzhen runway approved
Shenzhen’s Bao'An International Airport was allocated a “special fund” of 11.2 billion yuan ($1.76 billion) for the construction of a third runway, involving extensive sea reclamation and soft soil treatment, according to the city's budget adjustment scheme report released October 27. Read More »
Airline News
China Southern plans $300 million bond issuance, HNA plots Starwood acquisition
Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines is seeking up to 19 billion yuan ($2.99 billion), via private placement, to retire debt and support the carrier’s development, it announced last Monday. Read More »
Airline News
SAUDIA to order the A380 in Dubai?
Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) is looking at ordering A380s to replace four ageing B747s and could also purchase more current-day B777s, or the re-engined and enlarged 777X, chief Abdul Mohsen Jonaid has told Bloomberg. Read More »
People
GE Aviation Capital Services (GECAS) has appointed Alec Burger as its new president and chief executive. Read More »
Short Takes
AIRLINES: Cathay Pacific Airways “at this stage has no decision to change the seat width and seat pitch of our 777 fleet as indicated in the said media report,” the carrier told This Week in Asia-Pacific Aviation after a South China Morning Post article last Sunday suggested it might add more economy seats in exchange for improved amenities and services. Read More »
