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Airbus News

Discussion in 'Airbus Jet' started by Jet News, Apr 23, 2013.

  1. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    The Hong Kong unit of China's Bohai Leasing has signed a deal worth about USD$7.76 billion to buy 70 A320neo aircraft from Airbus, the Chinese company announced. Subsidiary Hong Kong Aviation Capital signed the agreement on July 17 and it was approved by a special meeting of its board of directors the following day, Bohai Leasing said in a statement. This month, BOC Aviation, the aircraft leasing arm of the Bank of China, ordered 43 planes from Airbus, including 36 A320ceos and seven A320neos.

    (Reuters)
  2. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Airbus supposedly leading the way in regards to sustainable fuels? At least that's what they say anyway.

  3. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Airbus began what it described as the final stage of safety trials for its A350 on Thursday as Europe's newest aircraft took off for a series of "route-proving" tests. The tour of 14 world airports, including a trip over the North Pole, is designed to demonstrate the readiness of the new wide-bodied jet for passenger operations. Safety certification by Europe's aviation safety regulator is on track for the third quarter, Airbus said in a statement, with the first delivery to launch customer Qatar Airways expected before the end of the year.

    (Reuters)
  4. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Airbus A350XWB route proving tests...

  5. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Airbus is set to to lose its only Japanese customer for the A380 as Skymark Airlines prepares to cancel an order for six jets worth more than USD$2 billion, industry insiders said on Monday. Skymark was due to take delivery of its first A380 around the end of this year, but the airline said in June the delivery was pushed back by up to six months because of problems in fitting out the interior. Industry insiders say Skymark, which has reported its first loss in five years, faces a challenge in taking delivery of the A380s, which were worth around USD$350 million each at list prices when the carrier placed its firm order in 2011.

    No one at Skymark Airlines was available for comment. An Airbus spokesman declined to comment on the threat to the Skymark order. The news comes as aerospace sources say several other orders for the A380 are already hanging in the balance, including 10 aircraft earmarked for Hong Kong Airlines. It was reported earlier this month the Hong Kong carrier no longer wanted the jets after an associated leasing company struck an expanded deal to buy 70 smaller A320-family aircraft. Since March the order has no longer been attributed to Hong Kong Airlines, but to an "undisclosed" customer, raising questions over its status, according to a review of Airbus data.

    Airbus officials said at the Farnborough Airshow this month that the Hong Kong order remained on its order book. The A380 has so far attracted little interest from low-cost carriers, which operate with fewer of the partnership agreements and loyalty programmes that help traditional network airlines sell tickets and make the 525-seat jet profitable.

    The Centre for Aviation (CAPA), an airlines consultancy, has warned that Skymark could encounter "significant losses" if it put the A380 into service without such agreements, and that the airline would need changes in strategy to make it viable. Adding a new aircraft type adds cost and complexity in training, maintenance and spare parts. Even large airlines can take years and dedicate large teams to preparing for the huge jet. Skymark, which mainly flies Boeing 737s, has already tested its flexibility by adding two leased wide-bodied A330s.

    (Reuters)
  6. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Airbus Group on Wednesday reported first-half underlying operating profit up 10 percent and reaffirmed its forecasts for the year, seeking to dampen concerns about the health of the commercial airliner market. In the first half, core operating profit rose 9.6 percent to EUR€1.769 billion but this included a capital gain of EUR€60 million on the sale of its Paris headquarters building, following the move of its headquarters to Toulouse. Half-year revenues rose six percent to EUR€27.2 billion, led by increased deliveries of commercial jets and helicopters, but pared by a 1 percent fall in the military and space business, which is undergoing restructuring. For the second quarter, Airbus Group reported revenues of EUR€14.552 billion and operating profit of EUR€1.12 billion.

    Its basic 2015 business outlook remained unchanged before the cost of developing a new version of the A330 passenger jet announced at this month's Farnborough Airshow. Launching the revamped version of its most profitable wide-bodied airliner, Airbus said its development costs would trim 0.7 percentage points off its 2015 return-on-sales target of 7-8 percent. Airbus said its A350 was on track but there were delays in adding military capabilities to its A400M airlifter.
  7. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    A look at one of the A350XWB test aircraft being painted in the 'carbon' livery.

  8. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Airbus overtook Boeing in unadjusted aircraft orders for 2014 after last month's Farnborough Airshow, but continued to lag its US rival when taking into account cancellations, company data showed on Monday. Airbus won 980 aircraft orders between January and July, with 705 net orders, beating its newly introduced net order target for the year. Airbus has said its haul of orders at Farnborough marked its best ever performance at the UK's biennial aerospace event.

    Boeing, whose officials argue net orders are the most sensible benchmark for the fiercely contested order race between the world's largest plane makers, reported 837 gross orders and 783 net sales after cancellations between January 1 and July 29. On July 31, Boeing added an order for 40 wide-body jets from Japan's All Nippon Airways. Airbus has added 8 wide-body orders to Iberia parent IAG since its latest monthly order sheet was compiled.

    In an effort to reassure investors following a rise in the number of cancellations and amid growing industry concerns over a cyclical downturn, Airbus said last week that these included conversions between models and showed no underlying weakness. It told analysts that some cancelled current-generation A320s would be replaced by orders for the A320neo model, due to make its first flight in September. In its latest monthly order table, Airbus set out in more detail the way its order book has been evolving. It reported 44 new cancellations of its A320 model in July. Of these, 39 represented conversions between the two different models of A320, including 23 for AirAsia and 16 for Latam Airlines. However, a comparison of monthly data suggested that Latam had converted 12 aircraft and cancelled 4. Airbus declined further comment, saying it did not discuss decisions by its customers. Airbus confirmed the cancellation of six A380 superjumbo aircraft for Japanese airline Skymark Airlines.

    The latest totals exclude 127 provisional orders for the newest version of its wide-body A330 jet, the A330neo, which was launched at Farnborough. Firm contracts are expected to be negotiated in the coming weeks and months. The latest tally included 40 out of 43 aircraft announced as additional orders for BOC Aviation at the air show. Of these, three had already been placed in the order book in May. On top of orders announced at the air show, Airbus reported a sale of 45 A320-family aircraft to at least one undisclosed customer. The data also showed that Australia's Qantas had cancelled five A320s. Industry sources have said that approximately that number of aircraft, assigned to Qantas unit Jetstar, have been sitting in Toulouse for some time awaiting delivery as the airline struggles to get regulatory approval for a Hong Kong venture.

    Airbus declined comment.

    Airbus switched to a net order target for the year with its first-half results published last week, saying net orders should exceed deliveries and that these should be around the same as the 626 deliveries seen in 2013. Airbus said it had delivered 352 planes between January and July, including 16 A380s. In the latest period for which Boeing delivery figures are available, the US plane maker handed over 342 aircraft between January and June. Boeing targets 715-725 deliveries in 2014.

    (Reuters)
  9. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    A project to build the world’s highest-flying glider was unveiled at EAA AirVenture on Monday, July 28 by Airbus and the Perlan Project research organization.

    The sailplane will surf enormous mountain air waves to fly at more than 90,000 ft, with a mission to break all wing-borne altitude records for sustained flight by manned aircraft. It will also gather data on the atmosphere and the ozone layer. The flights are planned to take place next year, or in 2016.

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  10. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    More route proving action from the A350XWB

  11. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Route proving... Hong Kong and Singapore

  12. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Final trips for route proving of the A350XWB.

  13. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Qatar Airways first Airbus A350 XWB just came out of the paint shop, looking great!

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  14. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Another view of the first Qatar Airways A350XWB outside the paintshop.

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    TommyTrughman likes this.
  15. TommyTrughman

    TommyTrughman New Member

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    Lookin good! How many did they buy originally?
    Jet News likes this.
  16. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    How Airbus May Put a Japanese Budget Airline Out of Business

    Nearly four years ago, Skymark Airlines (9204:JP), a Japanese budget airline with a meager but profitable domestic business, decided to buy the world’s largest airplane, the Airbus A380, with grand ambitions of becoming an international, premium-class player.
    Skymark’s A380 order was ridiculed by industry observers before the ink had even dried on the 2011 contract—and may now prove to be the company’s demise. “They had rocks in their heads when they ordered it,” a Credit Suisse Group analyst told Bloomberg News this week.

    On Tuesday, Airbus (EAD:FP) canceled the order, which had expanded to six A380s, amid negotiations for delivery that have turned acrimonious, according to media reports. The first two A380s have been built, and Airbus apparently grew concerned about Skymark’s ability to pay for the double-decker jets, which have a list price of $414.4 million each, making it the most expensive commercial aircraft in service. Airbus wanted to quash the order before interiors customized to Skymark’s specifications were installed, which would make finding a new customer difficult.

    VIDEO: Skymark May Collapse If Ordered to Pay A380 Fine
    Airbus is likely to retain the $260 million Skymark has paid so far and could seek additional penalties of 70 billion yen ($681 million), according to Japanese media reports. As a result, Skymark shares have plunged, and the airline warned today there is uncertainty about its ability to remain a “going concern” given its potential exposure to Airbus. The airline also reported a quarterly loss today and said it may borrow money and quit flying unprofitable routes.

    “We of course understand that Airbus puts [its] first priority on delivering the aircraft to us in accordance with the purchase agreement and collecting the bill,” Skymark President Shinichi Nishikubo said in a statement (pdf) after Airbus announced the cancellation. That suggested the manufacturer was seeking radical changes in the airline’s business plan and ownership. “However, we definitely cannot accept their forceful way of negotiation threatening our independent business management,” Nishikubo said.

    (Businessweek)
  17. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    The State of Qatar’s national airline, Qatar Airways and Airbus have signed an amendment to convert its existing firm order for twenty (20) A350-800s, forty (40) A350-900s and twenty (20) A350-1000s to forty three (43) A350-900s and thirty seven (37) A350-1000s. Qatar Airways’ total order for A350 XWB aircraft remains at eighty (80) aircraft. “We have taken the time necessary to come to today’s decision in favour of the larger A350 XWB models which we believe are best suited to our business model,” said Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways’ CEO. (As of Dec 3 2012)
  18. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Emirates is prepared to order more A380s if Airbus updates the aircraft with new engines, the airline's chief commercial officer said. Emirates is the world's largest operator of the A380 with 51 currently flying and a further 89 on order. "We believe that with the way the world's population is developing we can operate more A380s," Thierry Antinori said at an event at Frankfurt airport to mark the first use of an A380 on the Dubai-Frankfurt route. But while Emirates has said it would like to see an upgraded version of the A380, Airbus has said there are no plans to do so at present.

    (Reuters)
  19. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Airbus said that new orders topped 1,000 aircraft in the first eight months of the year as airlines ordered fuel-saving models. Airbus took orders for 21 aircraft in August, a traditionally quiet month following the busy Farnborough Airshow in July, bringing its total gross orders for the year to 1,001 aircraft. Adjusting for cancellations, it reported 722 net orders between January and August.

    Airbus says the total of 279 cancellations it has announced this year are boosted by conversions from one product to another, as airlines convert from the current-generation A320 to the newer and more efficient A320neo. The A320neo is being readied for its first test flight with engines from Pratt & Whitney expected in the second half of the month.

    August's order figures included four more upgrades from the A320 to the A320neo from AirAsia, bringing the total number of A320 order conversions this year to 73. Cancellations also reflect the loss of an order for 70 A350s from Emirates in June, though Airbus is ahead of its net order guidance for the year. Airbus has now reached 750 orders for the A350, its next generation of long-distance aircraft, with IAG ordering eight A350-900s for its Spanish subsidiary Iberia in August. Airbus delivered 389 aircraft between January and August, and is targeting around the same number of deliveries in 2014 as last year, when it delivered 626 passenger jets.

    (Reuters)
  20. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Aegean Airlines, Greece’s largest airline, has signed a firm contract with Airbus for two additional A320ceo aircraft, adding to a previous order for five A320s aircraft placed in September 2007. All aircraft will be equipped with Airbus “Sharklet” fuel saving wing tip devices and will be powered by IAE V2500 engines. The aircraft will also be the first A320s in Aegean’s fleet to feature the enhanced take-off weight capability of up to 78 tonnes, thus enabling the carrier to expand its route network with even longer range operations.