Peach Aviation seeks more pilots to sustain post-merger growth
With the merger with Vanilla Air complete, Japanese LCC Peach Aviation is now looking to hire more pilots as it works to expand its capacity and network. The carrier’s 29 Airbus A320 aircraft are currently flying around 10 hours daily, compared to the targeted 12 hours, and the priority after the Vanilla Air integration is to speed up expansion and pilot recruitment, CEO Shinichi Inoue said. The airline now hires pilots from 26 countries, and Inoue said Japanese regulators are becoming more relaxed with the rules for hiring foreign pilots. Unit costs can be reduced by increasing aircraft utilization and adding capacity and routes, CFO Junya Okamura said, instead of by cutting costs and overhead. Peach — a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways, as was Vanilla Air — x opted to take 13 of Vanilla’s 15 A320s to ensure the aircraft are optimally utilized. The seven-year old airline has 10 A320neos and four A321LRs on order, with deliveries set to begin in 2021. Peach plans to use the A321LRs on six-to-seven-hour routes, such as connecting Tokyo and Osaka to Southeast Asia. Inoue said inner China is also a market the carrier is exploring with the long-range narrowbody.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2019-12-03/unaligned/peach-aviation-seeks-more-pilots-to-sustain-post-merger-growth
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Peach Aviation seeks more pilots to sustain post-merger growth
With the merger with Vanilla Air complete, Japanese LCC Peach Aviation is now looking to hire more pilots as it works to expand its capacity and network. The carrier’s 29 Airbus A320 aircraft are currently flying around 10 hours daily, compared to the targeted 12 hours, and the priority after the Vanilla Air integration is to speed up expansion and pilot recruitment, CEO Shinichi Inoue said. The airline now hires pilots from 26 countries, and Inoue said Japanese regulators are becoming more relaxed with the rules for hiring foreign pilots. Unit costs can be reduced by increasing aircraft utilization and adding capacity and routes, CFO Junya Okamura said, instead of by cutting costs and overhead. Peach — a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways, as was Vanilla Air — x opted to take 13 of Vanilla’s 15 A320s to ensure the aircraft are optimally utilized. The seven-year old airline has 10 A320neos and four A321LRs on order, with deliveries set to begin in 2021. Peach plans to use the A321LRs on six-to-seven-hour routes, such as connecting Tokyo and Osaka to Southeast Asia. Inoue said inner China is also a market the carrier is exploring with the long-range narrowbody.<br/>
