Embraer has signed a firm order with United for twenty-five 70-seat E175 jets, the Brazilian planemaker said Monday, providing a boost to the company shortly after JetBlue Airways opted to replace its fleet of Embraer jets with ones made by Airbus. Under the contract, worth $1.1b at current market value, Embraer is set to deliver the jets in Q2 2019, Embraer said. <br/>
star
Ethiopian Airlines has shelved plans to establish a fleet of smaller jetliners as gains in demand suggest that the routes where they’d be deployed would be better served using larger planes. Africa’s biggest airline had been looking at Bombardier’s C Series aircraft -- since taken over by Airbus and renamed the A220 -- together with Embraer’s E195. An order, which had been mooted as likely at this week’s Farnborough air show, is now off the agenda, CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said. “We have decided to suspend the evaluation of the 100-seater regional aircraft acquisition project, since the market size of the selected regional routes is growing faster than we expected,” he said. Boeing 737 jets from the current fleet will instead be used while the airline studies passenger trends. Tewolde also said there’s no prospect of an order for the Airbus A350-1000 wide-body or Boeing’s rival 777X at the Farnborough expo, with Ethiopian still evaluating the two planes for its latest long-haul requirements. A purchase of more of the US company’s current-generation 777s or the 787 Dreamliner remains an alternative, he said. The CEO said that privatisation plans, sanctioned by Ethiopia’s ruling politburo last month, are more likely to see foreign involvement in various operating units than an outright stake sale, given that Ethiopian Air already makes a significant economic contribution to the nation while being efficient, competitive internationally and able to raise capital for growth.<br/>
Austrian leisure airline Laudamotion said Monday it had always paid its bills for planes leased from Lufthansa in full and on time, rejecting allegations made by the German rival. The German flagship carrier said Friday that Laudamotion repeatedly failed to meet its contractually agreed lease payment obligations and that it plans to end the leasing agreement for 9 Airbus A320s, nearly half of Laudamotion's fleet. "These accusations are unfounded," Laudamotion MD Andreas Gruber said. "We have paid all our bills on time." A first hearing at a court in Britain regarding the lease agreement is scheduled for Friday. Asked about a plan B in case the court decides in favour of Lufthansa, Gruber said: "There is no need for a plan B."<br/>
EgyptAir said Monday that it will operate flights to Hong Kong on September 17. Chairman of EgyptAir Captain Ahmed Adel said the national carrier aims to open new markets in one of the important international cities, noting that the Far East market is a promising one for aviation movement. The new route between Cairo and Hong Kong will launch as a twice-weekly service on Mondays and Fridays with a stop over in Bangkok, he added. He also said Egyptair will fly its Airbus A330-300 aircraft on the route, which it configures with two classes. <br/>