Orient Aviation’s Week in the Asia-Pacific
By Dominic Lalk
Asia-Pacific carriers and lessors wrote the big cheques at this week’s 52nd Paris Air Show in Le Bourget. BOC Aviation, CALC, CDB Leasing, AirAsia, Lion Air Group and Xiamen Airlines signed major aircraft orders with Boeing and Airbus. ATR, Bombardier and Embraer also received endorsements from the region.
In China, start-up LJ Air could be without aircraft soon after CALC sent termination notices to the airline last week. Troubled SriLankan Airlines is close to reaching an order conversion deal with Airbus over four unwanted A350s and Qatar Airways said it would “never” cancel orders as a result of Qatar’s political standoff with its Gulf neighbours.
Boeing wins order battle at Paris Air Show Read More »
News
ATRs popular with provincial Chinese start-ups
Turboprop manufacturer, ATR, secured contracts with two Mainland Chinese customers at the Paris Air Show: Shaanxi Tianju Investment Group (Tianju) signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for 10 ATR 42-600s to develop commuter services in China’s remote Xinjiang Province. Read More »
News
Hong Kong-based CALC to acquire 50 B737 MAXs
Hong Kong-headquartered China Aircraft Leasing Corp. (CALC) has signed a purchase agreement with Boeing for 50 B737 MAX series aircraft, including 15 MAX 10s, listed at US$5.8 billion. Read More »
News
Qatar Airways “will never cancel orders” because of diplomatic issues
Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker, said the Doha-based airline would “never cancel orders” because of the diplomatic issues it is facing with the neighbouring governments in Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Read More »
News
SriLankan A350s bound for Sichuan Airlines
The SriLankan Airlines A350 saga continues. After the airline managed to terminate contracts with AerCap for four A350-900s due last year and costing US$170 million, four XWBs remain listed in Airbus’ order book. Read More »
News
Longjiang Airlines soon to be grounded?
Harbin-based Longjiang Airlines (LJ Air) could soon be without aircraft. The carrier’s fleet of two A321ceo are on lease from China Aircraft Leasing Corp. (CALC), but they will have to be returned to their owner. Read More »
News
Ethiopian considers A350 good fit for Asia flights
Ethiopian Airlines this week placed a top-up order for 10 additional A350-900s, adding to an existing order for 12 XWBs of which six have been delivered. Read More »
News
Lion Air orders 50 MAX 10s, resists wide bodies
Indonesia’s fast-expanding Lion Air Group this week ordered 50 B737 MAX 10s, Boeing’s latest narrow body that is designed to compete with the A321neo. Read More »
News
Most in the industry would agree that Boeing stole the show from Airbus at this week’s Paris Air Show. But Airbus landed two major orders from Iran in Le Bourget and is leading the Iranian order race. Read More »
People
Sabre Airline Solutions makes two leadership appointments
Singapore-based Sabre Airline Solutions is splitting its Asia-Pacific operations into three separate regions – South Asia, North Asia and South-East Asia; the Pacific and Japan; as well as Mainland China. Read More »
Short Takes
MRO: Airbus has launched the Airbus MRO Alliance (AMA), designed to address the increasing demand for MRO services forecast in the next 20 years; the first alliance members are AAR, Aeroman, Sabena Technics, Etihad Airways Engineering, GAMECO and China Airlines. Read More »
