Orient Aviation’s Week in the Asia-Pacific
By Dominic Lalk
It has been an eventful week in Asia-Pacific commercial aviation. On Monday, Virgin Australia Group CEO, John Borghetti, announced he would relinquish his role by January 1, 2020 and that a global search for his successor would soon commence. Borghetti’s resignation follows major disagreements with previous shareholder, Air New Zealand (Air NZ), a declining bottom line and last week’s codeshare deal between Virgin arch rivals Qantas Airways and the New Zealand flag carrier.
Also in the news, Airbus said it would finalise its acquisition of a 50.01% stake in the Bombardier C Series programme by July 1, months earlier than scheduled. The European aircraft maker this week also launched the Airbus MRO Asia Alliance, with Taiwan’s China Airlines as its first official partner.
At airlines, Etihad Airways posted a US$1.52 billion loss, Air China and Air Canada have signed a trans-Pacific joint venture, Delta Air Lines announced a Seoul-Minneapolis route, Turkish Airlines formed a mail and logistics joint venture with ZTO Express in Hong Kong and Mainland carriers continue to add monopolistic routes to their growing networks. They include Sanya-Heathrow by China Southern Airlines.
Borghetti to resign as CEO of Virgin Australia by year end 2019 Read More »
News
Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 issues widen
There is no end in sight to the Trent 1000 durability issues besieging Rolls-Royce and keeping affected B787s on the ground. Read More »
News
Turkish Airlines and ZTO Express become partners
Turkish Airlines, Shanghai-based ZTO Express and Hong Kong-headquartered PAL Air this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a global express mail and freight forwarder joint venture (JV) to be based in Hong Kong. Read More »
News
Route explosion continues with Sanya-London and Guiyang-Moscow announced
There is never a shortage of route announcements from Mainland China. Read More »
News
Air China and Air Canada sign trans-Pacific joint venture
Air China and Air Canada have signed a trans-Pacific joint venture (JV). Read More »
News
Airbus to close Bombardier C Series acquisition ahead of schedule
Airbus plans to close its acquisition of a 50.01% stake in the Bombardier C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership (CSALP) early, on July 1, after obtaining all relevant regulatory approvals. Read More »
News
Delta Air Lines announces Minneapolis-Incheon and cancels Hong Kong
On Thursday Delta Air Lines announced a daily St.Paul/Minneapolis Seoul’s Incheon route will be launched in “in 2019” in cooperation with joint venture partner Korean Air. Read More »
News
Airbus launches MRO alliance with China Airlines
Airbus this week launched the Airbus MRO Asia (AMA) Alliance with Taiwan’s China Airlines (CAL) as the first of six launch partners. Read More »
News
THAI and Rolls-Royce agree to Trent MRO shop deal
Thai Airways International (THAI) will perform maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) works on Rolls-Royce Trent 700 and Trent 1000 engines from 2020 after signing a deal with Rolls-Royce to establish an Authorized Maintenance Center (AMC) at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport. Read More »
News
Etihad reports US$1.52 billion loss amid reports of B777X order cancellation
On Thursday, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways reported a full-year 2017 net loss of US$1.52 billion. While a bad result, the numbers are an improvement on the 2016 loss of US$1.95 billion, which Etihad restated from the previously reported US$1.87 billion. Read More »
Short Takes
Manufacturing: Airbus this week opened a fourth A320 Final Assembly Line at its facilities in Hamburg German. Read More »
