Cathay Pacific Airways is closing in on a deal to lease 18 of Airbus SE’s largest single-aisle aircraft to bolster its short-haul fleet, according to people familiar with the matter. Hong Kong’s main airline is targeting delivery of the A321neo jets from late 2025 through 2027, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. Cathay is tapping lessors that already have orders on their books to get the planes faster than it would directly through Airbus. The European planemaker is nearly sold out of delivery slots for A320neo-family jetliners through 2029. Megadeals from Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo and others have swelled order books for Airbus and Boeing Co., spurring operators to turn to leasing firms to secure planes. A deal for 18 jets would go partway toward fulfilling Cathay’s goal for securing leased planes. Bloomberg News reported in March that the carrier and its low-cost unit HK Express could source as many as 50 A320-family aircraft from lessors. Cathay is in discussions with only a handful of lessors, the people said. Cathay said that it continues to “invest in and grow our fleet with the addition of new, state-of-the-art and fuel-efficient aircraft. We have no specific updates or announcements to make at this time regarding the fleet.” Airbus declined to comment. Cathay Pacific Group, which includes all-cargo carrier Air Hong Kong, operates a fleet of 225 aircraft. It originally ordered 32 A321neos that are split equally between Cathay and HK Express — 12 are flying for Cathay and one so far for its low-cost subsidiary. Airbus is the sole supplier for its single-aisle jets. The airline group is committed to majpr investments in aircraft to renew and expand its fleet as it bounces back financially from its Covid nadir. The growth spurt is timed to coincide with Hong Kong International Airport adding a third runway, boosting capacity by 50% by the end of 2024 when construction is set to be completed.<br/>
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Outgoing Qantas boss Alan Joyce has rejected allegations the federal government is in his pocket, after an application from Qatar Airways to add flights to Australia was rejected without explanation. Qantas rival Virgin Australia has a close partnership with Qatar Airways and would have benefited from additional flights through its code-share relationship with the airline. Joyce said he had often opposed the Albanese government, including whether to introduce multi-employer bargaining, and the outcome had not gone in the airline’s favour. “The chief executive of Qantas or Virgin will always have a relationship with the government,” Joyce said on Thursday. “There are a lot of things I disagree with the government on, as well as lots we do agree on. That’s the way it works. It is just nonsense that we have unbelievable influence and I don’t know how that mindset has developed. If the government was doing the bidding of Qantas it wouldn’t have gone with multi-employer bargaining which is a much bigger issue. The prime minister had a go at me when we grounded the airline in 2011. To think that Qantas has this out-weighted influence on them is nonsense.”<br/>