Royal Air Maroc has placed a follow-on order for a pair of Boeing 787-9s as part of the airline’s development of long-haul operations. The Casablanca-based carrier already has nine 787s, a mix of the -8 and -9, all fitted with General Electric GEnx engines. Boeing has disclosed that the airline is “confirming” two more 787s in the airframer’s backlog, previously attributed to an unidentified customer. Royal Air Maroc chief Abdelhamid Addou says the twinjets will enable the carrier to “expand in the short-term its long-haul network”, given the current “highly-favourable” market. Addou had recently spoken to FlightGlobal in Riyadh as the carrier embarks on a substantial expansion of its fleet. Royal Air Maroc aims to quadruple the size of its operation over the next 15 years, taking its fleet to some 200 aircraft. Addou says the airline – which is a member of the Oneworld alliance – is preparing a request for proposals, and that widebody aircraft are likely to account for one-third of the total being sought. Royal Air Maroc is a strong Boeing customer, with 737-800s and Max 8s making up two-thirds of its fleet. Boeing senior vice-president of commercial sales Brad McMullen says the airframer has a five-decade relationship with the airline, adding that the 787s are “perfectly suited” to support its modernisation and growth plans.<br/>
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Qantas passengers travelling to Canberra and other smaller cities from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will soon be on board Airbus A220s, with the first of the fleet out of the paint shop featuring new livery. The 29 QantasLink A220s will begin arriving in Australia by the end of this year and will replace the ageing Boeing 717s as part of the long-awaited rollout of the carrier group’s fleet renewal program, Project Winton. Qantas’ A220-300, the larger of the two A220 variants available, seats 137 passengers in a two-cabin configuration, with just 10 business class seats, and will launch on the Melbourne-to-Canberra route before being expanded to the rest of the QantasLink route map. The first is expected to be operating by the end of this year, with six others due to arrive by mid-2025Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson said the new fleet would change the possibilities of domestic travel. Airbus A220s have almost double the range of Boeing 717s and produce 25% less CO2 compared to Qantas’ outgoing fleet. “These aircraft have the potential to change the way our customers travel across the country, with the ability to connect any two cities or towns in Australia,” said Hudson. “That means faster and more convenient travel for business trips and exciting new possibilities for holiday travel. A whole new fleet type also means a lot of opportunities for our people to operate and look after these aircraft.” The first A220 spent two weeks being painted as part of the businesses Flying Art Series which was launched in the 1990s with Indigenous Australian design agency Balarinji.<br/>
Qantas has been accused of continuing to strategically cancel flights to block competition by Sydney airport’s chief executive as he warns the embattled airline is making it difficult for Australians to “fall in love with Qantas again”. Geoff Culbert, who is finishing as CEO at the end of the year, said recent behaviour from airlines “amazes” him despite public awareness of the allegation known as “slot hoarding”. Slot hoarding is where airlines schedule more flights than they intend to run, before cancelling them in a strategic manner so as to not cancel any service more than 20% of the time so they retain the slot at the expense of a competitor (known as the 80:20 rule). Qantas Group and Virgin have previously denied they misuse slots. The frustrations were aired at the Australian Airports Association (AAA) national conference in Melbourne on Wednesday, with pleas for law changes to stamp out the behaviour after months of questions about Qantas’ influence on government.<br/>Culbert said September cancellation data showed Qantas-owned Jetstar cancelled 9.9% of flights, Virgin cancelled 9.3% and Qantas cancelled 7.4% of flights on the Sydney-Melbourne route. “Interestingly, the cancellation rate for Rex was zero,” Culbert said of the formerly regional-only carrier that has recently expanded to compete on capital city routes. Culbert noted that while airlines cite weather delays and air traffic control shortages as reasons for frequent cancellations, there were 17 days in September with no such report disruptions during which there were 184 cancellations on Sydney-Melbourne – 52% of the monthly total.<br/>