star

Aircraft lessor BOC Aviation said Monday it would buy five new planes from Air China, worth a combined $1.5b at list prices, and would lease them back to the carrier. Asia's second-biggest aircraft lessor, with a fleet of more than 260 planes, said it would buy three new Boeing B777-300ERs and two new Airbus A330-300 aircraft. The company expects to take delivery of the aircraft before the end of 2016. An expanding air travel market in Asia has helped many regional airlines improve their financial performance which in turn is fuelling growth in the leasing sector, BOC Aviation Chief Executive Officer Robert Martin said in August.<br/>

Mitsubishi Aircraft may delay the delivery of Japan’s first domestically made passenger plane to the first customer ANA Holdings because of possible technical modifications to the aircraft. The builder of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, set for delivery in mid-2018, is conducting a close study on whether there may be a delay in development with involved parties, Miho Takahashi, a spokeswoman for Mitsubishi Aircraft, said Monday. The company informed ANA of the possible holdup in late September, and the carrier will decide on a response only if a delay is confirmed, said a spokeswoman at the airline. The Mitsubishi Regional Jet, aimed at challenging the dominance of Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier in the market for planes with fewer than 100 seats, suffered recent setbacks after two flights to the US were aborted following faulty air-conditioning sensors. Its third attempt was a success, with the plane arriving at Moses Lake, Washington, on Wednesday to start flight testing. While a delay is possible, Mitsubishi Aircraft and its parent Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said no decision has been made to change the delivery schedule at present.<br/>

All Nippon Airways is aggressively strengthening international operations with the 787 Dreamliner, but its heavy reliance on Boeing’s high-tech plane appears to be a double-edged sword. ANA adopted the Boeing 787 in 2011, becoming the first airline in the world to do so. It received its 50th 787 in mid-August, giving it 20 more than rival JAL. Thanks in part to the new plane, ANA’s international passengers eclipsed JAL’s for the first time in the business year ended last March. For ANA, the 787 is “a dream airplane” because the airline was allowed to file its own requests when the jet was still in development, said Senior VP Hideki Kunugi, ANA’s GM in New York. The fuselage was lightened using a composite material made with carbon fiber, which is also incredibly strong. This allows the cabin pressure to be set higher to more closely emulate conditions at ground level, increasing passenger comfort. In addition, the 787’s fuel efficiency and cruising distance are better than conventional midsize planes — about 20 percent better than the Boeing 767, for example — making nonstop flights possible to Europe or the US East Coast. “With the expansion of our international routes, it was no longer possible for large aircraft like the Boeing 777 to be economically viable. The 787 enabled us to take customers to new markets that the 767 couldn’t do,” Kunugi said. Ironically, ANA’s heavy reliance on 787s began to backfire in late August, about a week after it accepted delivery of its 50th 787, as engine defects caused it to cancel domestic flights. There also was a slew of cases in which the twin-engine 787s were forced to turn back when engine abnormalities were detected.<br/>

Even by the fraught standards of global aviation, 2016 has been tough for Turkish Airlines. In June, its main hub Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul was hit by suicide bomb attacks blamed on jihadists, and then on July 15 putschists seeking to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tried to take control of Ataturk. Both incidents caused the temporary closure of Turkey’s biggest airport, but the airline managed to resume flights the subsequent day, in a crucial message of business as usual and a symbol of Turkish Airlines’ importance for the country’s image and economy. Yet while Turkish Airlines proudly boasts of its resilience in the face of the repeated attacks and the coup bid, Turkey’s traumatic 2016 has taken its toll on the group and its ambitions. After years where it was one of the few global airlines to reliably make profits, it recorded a $647m loss in H1 to June, even before the effects of the coup are taken into account. Meanwhile, brakes have been slammed on its exponential growth, which has seen the ambitious carrier move from being a low-scale outfit taking just 10.3m passengers in 2002 to 61.2m in 2015. Growth this year has been far slower and the company expects to take a total of 63.4m passengers in 2016, with most of that increase coming in domestic flights. “In the last decade Turkish Airlines was one of the most profitable airlines in the world,” company chairman Ilker Ayci said Thursday. “Turkish Airlines will continue to be an engine of growth,” he vowed. “But this year is a hiccup, a very challenging year.”<br/>

Airlines often frustrate road warriors with delays and cancellations. But this week United did something more egregious: it temporarily stopped serving free booze at two of its lounges. This wasn't the result of some cost-cutting measure or attempt to rein in drunk, unruly passengers. It was an administrative error: somebody at the airline never renewed its liquor license. So on Wednesday and Thursday the two United Clubs in Terminal C of Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey couldn't serve any beer, wine or spirits until the matter was resolved with Newark City Hall. The license issue was resolved by Friday morning and travellers were once again able to get free cocktails before jetting off. "We resumed service this morning and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience," said United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson.<br/>