AirAsia could postpone A350 deliveries

Malaysia's AirAsia X will cut flights on unprofitable routes, reorganize staff and defer some aircraft deliveries to turn around the loss-making long-haul budget carrier, said the airline's acting chief executive.

"Capacity reduction and cost-cutting within the organization would be 2 strategies this year," Benyamin Ismail, the acting CEO of AirAsia X said. Squeezed by intense competition in Southeast Asia's crowded aviation business, the airline has lost money for the last 5 quarters.

Benyamin was named acting CEO for an indefinite period after former chief Azran Osman Rani resigned following a management reshuffle last month.

Hit with 3 disasters last year - the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, the same carrier's MH17 shot down over Ukraine, and the crash of the QZ8501 jet operated by an AirAsia X affiliate in Indonesia - demand for air travel in the region has dampened, Ismail said.

Ismail said the airline may look at deferring some plane deliveries and selling slots to potential buyers. "If there are reasonable and keen buyers for those aircraft, we may sell the slots," he said.

AirAsia X will also assess capacity requirements based on plane orders and deliveries coming up in the next few years, he said. This would include looking again at orders for Airbus A350 and A330neo jets, Benyamin said.

The carrier has 10 A350s on order and also ordered 50 A330neo aircraft last year. Ismail declined to give specific details but said the airline would focus on using A330neo for its operations.

Based on the article “Malaysia's AirAsia X to cut costs, may defer plane deliveries: Acting CEO” published in Reuters.

Russia & China begin preliminary design of the A350 future competitor.

Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) and China’s Comac have begun preliminary design of their proposed joint 250-280-seat widebody airliner, which Moscow now expects to enter service in 2025.

This phase should be completed by July/2015, said UAC President Yury Slyusar, while Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov suggested that full-scale development will begin in 2016.

“We have the money for this,” Manturov said, referring to the preliminary design.

Last November Slyusar, who was then Russia’s deputy industry and trade minister, said that the aircraft would make its first flight in 2021-22. Development cost is now estimated at $13 billion before the ruble’s recent fall in value, he said. Russian industry is keen to work with the Chinese since Beijing can afford to help fund the program.

UAC and Comac, both state-owned, signed a memorandum on cooperation for the program in May/2014. A joint feasibility study was completed in autumn 2014 with positive results, said a UAC official.

UAC is likely to develop and build the composite wing and fin for the widebody while Comac handles the fuselage, said Slyusar.

Although that blueprint assigns the most difficult part of the airframe to Russia, the UAC president pointed out that not all of the technology is coming from his side. “China is now not only a market and investor but is also providing some expertise in technologies needed for our joint project,” he says.

Still, UAC has more experience in major composite structures than the Chinese industry has, although Avic owns Austrian composites specialist FACC.

UAC subsidiary Aerocomposit has developed the carbon-fiber wing for the MS-21 in cooperation with FACC and Diamond Aircraft, another Austrian company. That wing completed fatigue testing at the government aeronautical engineering institute TsAGI near Moscow last spring.

The UAC president hopes that most of the work on the aircraft will be done in Russia. That point should be settled soon, since detailed work distribution will be defined during the current, preliminary design phase.

UAC estimates that the world will need 8,000 widebody airlines through 2033, with 1,000 bought by Chinese airlines.

Although in November/2014 Mikhail Pogosyan, who was then president of UAC, said the joint airliner would have a range of up to 12.000 km and seat 250-300 passengers, current UAC president Slyusar has refined that to 250-280 seats in the basic version and a moderate range of 7.400 km.

Based on the article “Widebody Duo” published in Aviation Week

Emirates could order 50-70 A350s or 787s.

Emirates Airline is looking at an order for around 50 to 70 twin-aisle A350 or 787 aircraft, its president said last week.

Emirates canceled an order for 70 A350 aircraft last year, saying the new plane from Airbus did not fit its original specifications, and Tim Clark said Emirates was now looking at both Airbus and rival Boeing for twin-aisles.

"We'd be looking at 50 to 70. We have to establish exactly what it would be but much would depend on the Dubai hub growth," Clark told journalists at an event during the ITB travel fair in Berlin.

He also said the airline was considering Rolls-Royce engines for an order of 50 Airbus A380 aircraft. Its first 90 A380 aircraft are supplied by Engine Alliance, a joint venture between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney .

Emirates CEO Tim Clark  has previously said there will be no nexus between A350/787 order and the A380neo order, Airbus will be in a position to offer a deal that has cross-connections, as will RR.

All pictures Source : Alexander Hassenstein

Based on the article “Emirates airline eyes order for 50-70 A350 or 787 aircraft” published in Reuters.

Qatar Airways is happy with A350 performance in the first 2 months from EIS

Qatar Airways CEP Al Baker praises A350's performance during the first 2 months of operation, saying dispatch reliability has been "over and above" Qatar's expectations.

The 2^nd A350 delivered to Qatar has joined the 1^st one in Doha-Frankfurt route, to "rub salt in the wound" of Lufthansa, said the Gulf carrier's chief executive Akbar Al Baker at the ITB travel trade show in Berlin.

Source: pibracais

7 additional A350s are to join the first two in Qatar's fleet by year-end.

Source: David Barrie

The airline is planning to deploy the type to Singapore when it operates a third daily service to the city state from June.

Based on the article “Second A350 to up ante in Qatar's battle with Lufthansa” published in FlightGlobal

Germany pays 2nd tranche of loan for A350 development.

Germany has agreed to pay Airbus €623 million ($690 million) in loans for the A350, a spokeswoman for the economics ministry said last week.

Source: Sebastian Sowa

The move was expected after Airbus-Group CEO Tom Enders said a deal was pending during company´s full-year results presentation in Munich.

An Airbus spokesman said that the company welcomes the agreement.

Source: JV

The loan runs until 2031 and up to 1,500 deliveries, the ministry said.

Talks between Airbus and Berlin on the 2nd loan broke down ahead of federal elections in Germany in 2013 amid acrimony between the company and the government over guaranteed work and jobs.

According to the ministry spokeswoman, the 2 parties came to agreement late last year, and Germany’s parliamentary budget committee approved the payment last week.

Airbus has received billions of euros in preferential loans from European governments to support the development of new jetliner models over the past 4 decades.

That included an initial €500 million loan from Germany for the A350.

The process on agreeing a 2nd loan, for €623 million, proved protracted because Airbus Group balked at the terms demanded by the German government.

Source: RyanFlyer

The issue of loans for new planes has been controversial as the U.S. and Europe battle at the World Trade Organization over subsidies given to their respective plane makers.

The WTO has said both Boeing Co. and Airbus have received subsidies not compliant with international trade agreements.

Based on the article “Germany to Pay Airbus €623 Million in Loans for New Jet” published in The Wall Street Journal.

Rolls-Royce production over-capacity for A350-900 ramp-up.

British engineer Rolls-Royce has warned profits this year could fall by as much as 13% on top of an 8% drop last year, saying the low oil price had increased uncertainty for many of its markets and customers.

Rolls-Royce had already cut its 2015 forecasts in October/2014, when it shocked the market by warning there would be no growth in 2015.

Rolls-Royce said the market for its main aircraft engine business would strengthen but customers in the oil and gas, mining, construction, industrial and agricultural sectors were cancelling or delaying orders.

In widening the range for its profit forecast for this year the company reiterated it was also seeing lower demand for propulsion systems and related services in its marine business which supplies the offshore oil and gas industry, as well as cutbacks from customers who use its equipment in power generation, construction and mining projects.

Additionally the company said that past delays in some aircraft development projects, the 2 biggest being Boeing's 787 and Airbus's A350 widebody jets, has meant new engine production capacity which Rolls-Royce has already put in place is being underutilized.

"We're clear about how to address the short-term challenges and we're taking decisive action that will make us a stronger company and return us to profitable growth," said Chief Executive John Rishton.

The company is already in the throes of a rationalization program to improve profitability in its aerospace division, which accounted for almost half of 2014 revenues and has benefited from soaring demand for more fuel-efficient engines for passenger jets but has lagged market leader General Electric on profit margins.

Based on the article “Rolls-Royce warns profits could fall further this year” published in Reuters.

Aer Lingus to receive three A350/year from 2018 to 2020.

Aer Lingus has agreed a revised delivery schedule with Airbus for the delivery of nine A350s, with the first aircraft now set to arrive in 2018.

Source: One Mile at a Time

The Irish flag carrier will now receive its nine A350s in batches of 3 per year between 2018 and 2020.

Source: Lee Haltford

Dublin-based Aer Lingus had initially expected the deliveries to take place between 2015 and 2018.

Source: Alexander Hassenstein

Any possibility the carrier ordering A330neos is now “off the table”, it says.

Based on the article “Aer Lingus revises A350 delivery dates” published in FlightGlobal.