NewsSoutheast Asia Budget Airlines Bet On GrowthLion Air's record aircraft orders underline the ambitious plans the privately held Indonesian group is hatching to emerge as a pan-Asian low cost carrier, throwing a serious challenge to AirAsia, the region's biggest budget airline. The rivalry intensified on Friday when Lion Air launched its first service in Malaysia, moving onto AirAsia's home turf, but the pace of expansion has raised questions about whether airlines are overextending themselves. Financiers and industry executives, however, say the party is just starting, with the region's budget carriers just beginning on the rapid growth path enjoyed by Ryanair and easyJet in Europe and Southwest in the United States.
LinkJapan Airlines May Buy 20 Airbus A350sJapan Airlines may buy about 20 A350 jets from Airbus for around JPY¥400 billion (USD$4.23 billion), the Nikkei daily reported on Sunday, a move that would reduce its reliance on Boeing. The Japanese carrier is considering using A350-1000s on flights to Europe and the United States to replace its Boeing 777s, and is set to make a final decision on the purchase by around June, the newspaper said, without citing sources. The deal for the 350-seater planes would be the first with Airbus and includes a simulator facility for pilot training.
LinkUnion Rules Out Lufthansa Strikes Over EasterGerman union Verdi said Lufthansa's flights over Easter would not be disrupted by strikes in the ongoing wage dispute at Germany's largest airline. The union said in a statement that no agreement was reached in the latest round of talks and that another walkout was possible before the next round, which is due to start on April 17, but not over Easter. The union's demands and Lufthansa's offers so far have been "far apart", Verdi said.
LinkUS FAA To Close 149 ATC TowersThe US Federal Aviation Administration on Friday said it will close 149 air traffic control towers at small airports across the country beginning on April 7 as it copes with automatic federal spending cuts. The White House and transportation leaders have warned for weeks that the USD$85 billion in federal cuts known as "sequestration" would force smaller airports across the country to curtail operations. The across-the-board cuts started kicking in on March 1 because Congress was not able to reach an alternative budget deal. The FAA must absorb USD$637 million in cuts by September 30. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Friday his department had tried to soften the blow.
LinkJapan Says 787s Not Ready For Test FlightsJapan's Civil Aviation Bureau said on Friday that preparations are not yet complete for any test flight of Boeing's grounded 787 Dreamliner this week. "It's Thursday (in the United States) and nothing has been set," said Shigeru Takano, a senior safety official at the Civil Aviation Bureau (CAB). "There are a number of steps it needs to take before a test flight," he told a news briefing. Boeing plans to conduct two flight tests of its revamped 787 battery system, as soon as the end of the week, three sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The aircraft maker has predicted the 787 could return to operation within weeks.
LinkScoot confirms plans for mixed 787 fleet Singapore Airlines' long-haul, low-cost subsidiary Scoot will convert some of its orders for Boeing 787-9s to the smaller -8 variant. The airline's chief executive Campbell Wilson says that the airline has not determined an exact mix, but it is likely that it will change its order from 20 787-9s to 10 -9s and the same number of -8s. "They're operationally interchangeable so there's no efficiency impact, but the different capacities open more options with respect to network and deployment," he adds.
LinkEmbraer adds third Legacy 500 prototype to flight test campaign The third Legacy 500 has joined Embraer's flight test programme aimed at delivering the midsize business jet in 2014. The aircraft, serial number 003, completed its maiden flight at Embraer's factory in Sao Jose dos Campos Brazil. The third aircraft will be used to test avionics, noise, electrical systems and the interior. The latter was also the subject of ground testing using a mock-up, Embraer says.
LinkAlliance membership, joint venture or both? Airlines must consider the merits of relationships and whether the objectives they have set can be achieved in better ways with other partners says CTAIRA analyst Chris Tarry: We have often debated the benefits and disadvantages associated with consolidation in the airline industry from a range of perspectives, particularly for shareholders, stakeholders and passengers. We have also, where necessary, challenged what some consider to be the accepted wisdom: that alliances, which were initially means to gain greater market access, also represent a process of industry consolidation. Although alliance arrangements, encompassing everything from a simple codeshare to membership of a multilateral grouping, have been a feature of the industry for many years, during the past 25 years or so it has been the big three alliances which have tended to attract the most attention. Recently, there have been a number of potentially game-changing announcements, which are already altering the shape of the alliance landscape.
LinkAviation shouldn't be "poster child for sequestration"The airline industry opposes planned cuts by the Federal Aviation Administration for the agency's air-traffic controllers. Nicholas Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, said the government is making the aviation industry into "the poster child for sequestration, ensuring that the 2 million people and 50,000 tons of cargo that fly every day are impacted by projected delays caused by arbitrary cuts." The FAA said it plans to use flexibility in scheduling to minimize flight delays. "[W]e are working to both ensure the safety of the traveling public and have the least impact possible on the largest number of people," said Michael Huerta, FAA administrator, in a statement. He also said sequestration "leaves us with no other equitable option than to furlough our air-traffic controllers." Airlines for America sent a legal brief to government officials maintaining they can make the necessary budget cuts without significant furloughs.
LinkFedEx Agrees to Buy Boeing 757 Jets From UnitedFedEx Corp. disclosed plans Thursday to buy up to 30 Boeing Co. 757 passenger jets from United Airlines and convert them to carry cargo as part of the freight carrier's fleet renewal strategy. The company agreed to buy an initial batch of 14 jets that will start arriving later this year and continue through 2015, as well as options to acquire an additional 16, according to a regulatory filing. FedEx has slowed purchases of new jets and may even park some jets because of industrywide air-freight overcapacity and a shift by shippers to cheaper delivery options, but it's continuing to shed older, less fuel-efficient planes. The company in 2007 started acquiring 757s, which can carry 20% more freight and burn a third less fuel than the three-engine Boeing 727s they are replacing. Analysts said converting the 757 from passenger use can cost around $5 million per jet.
LinkNew retirements cut RAF VC10 fleet to four The UK Royal Air Force has retired another two of its Vickers VC10 tankers, with the pair's departure reducing its inventory of the Rolls-Royce Conway-engined type to only four examples. K3-model aircraft ZA149 was transferred to Bruntingthorpe airfield in Leicestershire on 18 March from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, the service says. It was followed two days later by ZD241, its final example from five ex-British Airways airliners to have been converted to the K4 configuration for the air-to-air refuelling role.
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