Four A321-200NX belonging to Turkish Airlines are stuck on the ground because of Pratt & Whitney engine supply issues. Footage is circulating online of the four aircraft at remote stands at Istanbul with their windows taped up and missing their P&W geared turbofan engines. All four aircraft were withdrawn from service some time ago, with TC-LTC the most recent, last operating on Match 25, 2023. Including the grounded aircraft, Turkish Airlines has fifty-two A321-200NX in its fleet and a further four A320-200Ns that all use Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines. Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Ekşi flagged grounding the four aircraft in March when speaking to Bloomberg. He said the airline was dealing with engine "technical issues" and would be required to ground the planes. "We are talking with Pratt & Whitney very seriously on this matter," he said, adding that if only four aircraft were grounded this summer, the carrier would consider itself lucky. More recent reports indicate that those talks continue, and concerns at Turkish Airlines grow that more A321-200NX will be towed to remote stands and parked. ch-aviation has approached Turkish Airlines for comment.<br/>
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The fortunes of Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., the flagship airlines of two of Asia’s most important financial hubs, differed during the pandemic and continue to diverge in its aftermath. Their valuations are revealing — Singapore Air’s market value of $17b is almost three times that of Cathay’s. Four years ago the difference was only about $2b. Singapore Air just ended a 12-day run of gains, the longest streak since 2008, and it is up about 40% this year. Cathay has fallen 9.3%. While both are better placed than they were during the depths of Covid, Singapore Air is rebounding much faster and flying high on a relentless wave of travel demand. Its stock price reflects its status as “a poster child for the Asian airline recovery,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tim Bacchus said. Cathay’s rebuild, meanwhile, was severely hampered by the Hong Kong government’s reluctance to drop virus-related restrictions, and it is still struggling to restore staff numbers and services. The airline doesn’t expect to return to pre-pandemic levels of passenger capacity until the end of 2024. A fresh and insatiable appetite for travel after Covid lockdowns hasn’t been dented by eye-popping airfares. That’s helped many airlines recover as they fill their planes with passengers willing to shell out on what has been dubbed “revenge travel.” Singapore Air posted record earnings of S$2.16b ($1.6b) for the year ended March, with revenue of S$17.8b exceeding pre-Covid levels. Cathay’s position is improving too, but revenue of HK$51b ($6.6b) last year was still less than half of what it was in 2019, before the crisis. The company has now, at least, generated enough cash to cover a HK$1.52b dividend payment due to the government at the end of June.<br/>