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American Airlines said on Friday it plans to further trim its summer schedule due to Boeing’s delay in delivering 787 Dreamliner jets. In a regulatory filing, the Texas-based carrier said it now expects to receive only 10 Dreamliner planes this year, not the 13 expected earlier. The remaining jets are now scheduled for delivery next year, it said. As a result, American said it would temporarily suspend routes between Seattle and London, Los Angeles and Sydney, and Dallas and Santiago. The company will also delay the launch of service between Dallas and Tel Aviv, and reduce the frequency of flights between Miami and São Paulo to one a day. In December, the carrier had announced plans to scrap, reduce or delay the introduction of flights to several international destinations, including Hong Kong, saying the delays in deliveries of the 787s had crimped its ability to ramp up capacity. Reuters reported last month that deliveries of the 787 are expected to remain frozen for months as US regulators review repairs and inspections over structural flaws in the jets. American was expecting to receive the first delivery in April. However, Boeing has said that the timing would be set by the FAA. The Chicago-based planemaker last month unveiled a $3.5b pre-tax non-cash charge related to 787 delivery delays and customer concessions. In the filing on Friday, American said the 787 Dreamliner jets remain an “essential” part of its fleet and that Boeing would compensate it for the delivery delays.<br/>

Qatar Airways plans to fight the cancellation of an aircraft order by planemaker Airbus SE in court, the latest escalation of an acrimonious dispute. The Middle East airline asked the court for an injunction to stop Airbus from trying to cancel the contracts because it will “severely affect” the airline and is “misguided and legally invalid,” according to documents prepared by Qatar’s lawyers for a London hearing on Friday. “My clients have been in the queue now for four years,” Philip Shepherd, Qatar’s lawyer, said in court. “It’s only on Jan. 17 that this changed.” The fight between the manufacturer and one of its biggest customers is playing out in court after Qatar sued Airbus over surface-paint defects on A350 jets. The planemaker responded by canceling a separate contract to deliver its hard-to-get A321s, as well as two A350s due for delivery. Airbus has said it’s within the company’s rights to scrap the order due to a “cross-default” clause in the contract. The company’s lawyers said Friday that it warned Qatar in December that failing to take the outstanding A350 aircraft would be “at its own risk.” Airbus canceled the first A350 and the A321neo contract on Jan. 17, according to the documents, and then scrapped another A350 on Jan. 28. Qatar is seeking to “preserve the status quo” before the first cancellation was made, while the broader court battle gets underway. The company’s lawyer argued that canceling the contract for the popular A321 model would be an advantage for the manufacturer, while it would harm Qatar. The airline repeated its argument that Airbus has not produced a full accounting of the causes of the surface issues with the A350s and referred to a “campaign of terminations and disruptive behavior” by the manufacturer. It said it had already paid more than $330m to Airbus for the 50 A321neo due. <br/>

Cathay Pacific saw its passenger traffic plunge to a new low in a “difficult” January, as Hong Kong tightened restrictions to stamp out an insurgent wave of Omicron infections. The embattled airline carried under 24,700 passengers during the month, an average of just 797 passengers a day. More dramatically, the number of passengers carried in January was a mere 0.8% that of pre-pandemic 2019, underscoring the impact Hong Kong’s strict zero-infection policy has had on its home carrier. Traffic was down 23.4% year on year, while capacity fell nearly 75% as the airline operated a skeletal network in the month. Against January 2019, traffic plummeted 99%, with capacity falling nearly 98%. Hong Kong — one of the remaining places in the world to doggedly pursue a zero-Covid strategy — recently reimposed social gathering restrictions, including shutting gyms, bars and other public spaces, as well as prohibiting dine-in in the evening. It effectively shut its borders, banning flights from countries like the USA, UK, as well as Australia, all of which are key markets for Cathay. As at 17 February, Hong Kong reported a record 6,116 confirmed cases. Cathay’s chief commercial and customer officer Ronald Lam says the carrier was hit by weak inbound, outbound and transit traffic in January. “We’ve had a very difficult start to 2022 with the accelerated spread of the Omicron variant and the further tightening of travel and operational restrictions, notably stricter quarantine requirements for Hong Kong-based aircrew,” he states. Cargo, once the sole bright spot in Cathay’s dismal traffic results, was also heavily impacted by Hong Kong’s tightened restrictions. <br/>

Cathay Pacific is to require all passengers flying to mainland China from Hong Kong to present a negative Covid-19 test result within 48 hours of departure, according to a statement Saturday. The move is a “precautionary measure to reduce the risk of exposure” for passengers and Cathay employees, and will start on Feb. 23, the Hong Kong-based airline said. Hong Kong is set to a report a record 7,000 daily Covid cases along with 7,000 preliminary positive infections, local media earlier reported.<br/>

Discussions with Qantas about firming up its order for Airbus A350-1000s to operate ultra-long-haul flights are still ongoing, but Airbus is optimistic of the outcome. At a media briefing during the Singapore Airshow, Alexis Vidal, Airbus’ vice president for widebody marketing, touted the A350’s ultra-long-range credentials, including A350-900s flying for Singapore Airlines on direct flights between Singapore and the USA. However, he declines to comment further on discussions with the Australian carrier. Qantas selected the A350 for its ultra-long-haul ‘Project Sunrise’ operations — non-stop flights from Australia to cities like London, Paris and New York — and had disclosed intentions to order up to 12 A350-1000s. It paused the programme just as the coronavirus hit, but has reiterated its commitment to it. Airline chief Alan Joyce has said the carrier would revisit the programme at end-2021, but Qantas has not disclosed any firm orders yet. At the 18 February briefing, the European airframer also maintained its bullish outlook about its widebody aircraft family, which also includes the A330neo, in the Asia-Pacific region. Airbus’ 20-year commercial outlook through 2040 forecasts demand for around 9,400 medium to large aircraft. Of these, more than 40% — or around 4,000 aircraft — would go to Asia-Pacific operators. Airbus has also indicated its intentions to hike production of its widebodies — albeit at a slower rate than its narrowbody family. With the A330s, the airframer says will raise production rates from two to three aircraft per month by end-2022. <br/>