flee

Garuda orders six A330s By David Kaminski-Morrow Garuda Indonesia has ordered six Airbus A330-200s which will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2012. The aircraft will be fitted with Rolls-Royce Trent 700 powerplants. Airbus confirmed the deal at the Farnborough Air Show today.

Well it may be out of MH's hands as the govt. has its own "logic" for allocating routes. Perhaps they felt that with D7 serving KUL-HND, MH should be serving the East Malaysia travelling public with the BKI-HND flights.

R-R-powered 787 departs show flanked by Spitfires The past and future of aerospace's UK standard bearer Rolls-Royce formed up in the skies over Farnborough when Boeing's Trent 1000-powered 787 Dreamliner overflew the airfield with twin Merlin-powered Supermarine Spitfires off its carbonfibre wingtips. The twinjet peeled off the warbirds, climbing into the skies bound for its first stop in Shannon on its way back to Boeing Field in Seattle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONAPUmSQhzw&feature=player_embedded

I suspect that the leased A333's will be terminated as MH transforms to a 33-67 owned vs leased fleet. The only reason why they might want to retain some of the newer A333s (those with fewer cycles) is for expansion of services. However, until they make a decision on the B772 replacements (by the end of the year), it would be hard to tell.

Cost, NRT is more expensive!

By Max Kingsley-Jones When Airbus was created four decades ago, Europe's civil aircraft manufacturing sector looked very different to today. But one thing is as true now as it was then - France and Germany were the power behind the organisation. As Europe's aircraft manufacturers reeled from a decade dominated by US rivals, it was clear that collaboration was the way forward. Although this had begun in earnest with the Anglo/French Concorde, this ground-breaking project was fast proving to be a blueprint in how not to do collaboration. But while the glamorous delta-winged airliner promised to propel Europe to the forefront of the supersonic era, if and when it materialised, it was clear to many that something more rudimentary was needed in the subsonic sector. "There was no European manufacturer that had ongoing designs or manufacture of an aircraft that could effectively compete worldwide with the American products," Roger Béteille, founding Airbus Industrie executive and former president, told Flight International a decade ago. Faced with what seemed like unstoppable passenger growth, all Europe's leading airlines had similar requirements for the 1970s - a 250- to 300-seat, twin-aisle "air bus" to fly their short-haul trunk routes between capital cities. Europe's state-owned airlines had two choices, turn again to the US airframers (in this case Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas) - or champion the creation of a home-grown rival. The latter option prevailed, and Europe's various widebody airliner project studies were drawn together into single offering that crystalised as the A-300 in September 1967, when an inter-governmental memorandum of understanding was signed between France, Germany and the UK. The MoU also stipulated that the A-300 would not be launched unless the three national airlines, Air France, BEA and Lufthansa, agreed together to buy a minimum of 75 aircraft. By the time the go-ahead for this project was cemented with the creation of Airbus Industrie on 18 December 1970, the UK had dropped out as a partner because of its concerns over the market prospects for what was to become the world's first widebody twinjet. Crucially, Hawker Siddeley remained on the A-300 programme as a subcontractor, with responsibility for the wings and a 20% share of the widebody's production. INITIAL STRUCTURE Airbus Industrie was created under French law as a Franco/German 50/50 partnership or Groupement d'Iterêt Economique. Spain joined in 1971 taking a 4.2% share. This GIE structure would serve it well for 30 years, until Airbus's integration into a single company in 2001. With Aerospatiale chairman Henri Ziegler at its helm, Airbus settled down at its Toulouse headquarters in France to build and deliver its first product - albeit in the shadow of the more sexy Concorde programme that was going on next door. The A300B entered service with Air France in 1974 and, after a slow start, finally began to attract the kind of sales outside its home territories that had been denied to most previous European airliners. As the 1970s drew to a close, the UK manufacturing sector, which had consolidated as British Aerospace, wanted to formalise its production subcontract, so negotiated a 20% stake in the consortium and the Franco/German shareholdings were adjusted appropriately. The A310 "shrink" arrived in 1983, and this later became the first airliner to have a primary structure (the fin) made of carbonfibre. Airbus then took its boldest step yet with the decision to enter the somewhat crowded - and US dominated - narrowbody sector with the A320. In parallel with the creation of the industry's first all-new single-aisle for a decade, Airbus took a huge technological gamble, deciding to equip the 150-seater with fly-by-wire flight controls - technology that had previously been the preserve of fighter jets and Concorde. Introduced in 1988, Airbus's A320 gamble paid off, and the hugely successful single-aisle family was central to propelling the consortium towards the market-leading position it achieved in the 21st century. With its single-aisle foray under way, Airbus - by now headed by the charismatic Jean Pierson - turned its attention to the long-range segment with the introduction of the A340 quad in 1993, and its twin-engined sister with shorter range, the A330, the following year. Evolutions of these types into the highly successful A330-200 - Airbus's first proper long-range twin - and the enlarged/ultra-long range A340-600 and -500, respectively, finally gave it the product-line spanning 100 to 350 seats that it had yearned - almost. SECOND EVOLUTION Airbus had always looked on enviously at Boeing's monopoly in the large airliner sector with its 747 Jumbo Jet. So, by the late 1990s, having propelled itself into a strong second position at the expense of McDonnell Douglas, which became part of Boeing in 1997, Airbus felt ready for its final assault. After years of studies under the designation A3XX, Airbus finally launched its own superjumbo - the 550-seat A380 - in December 2000, with the backing of commitments from six customers for 50 firm orders. But rather than being the culmination of Airbus's fight, it was just the start. By the end of the 20th century, the airliner market had boiled down to a duopoly, and as Airbus began its ambitious new project, the original GIE structure was beginning to creak. Three of the four shareholders had themselves come together to form the Franco/German-Spanish EADS conglomerate, which simplified the ownership, so the next step was to integrate the many parts of Airbus itself into a single unit and eliminate national boundaries. This was achieved, on paper at least, in 2001, but it would take many more years, and a near disaster with A380 production through mismanagement of the partner divisions, for the integration goal to be fully realised. But amid the crisis, Airbus had finally established itself as the market leader by a measure that even its rival could not dispute - output. Airbus broke through the threshold in 2003, when it delivered 24 more airliners than Boeing's total, and has kept this lead throughout the decade. This success went down like a dose of salt in Seattle, prompting the USA to finally lose patience with what it saw as a state-subsidised European job-creation scheme and file a complaint to the World Trade Organisation. Europe issued a counter-claim, pointing to Boeing's federal and research grants funding. Adding to Boeing's frustration was Airbus's victory, albeit brief, in the US Air Force's KC-X tanker competition. Round one of the WTO fight went the USA's way, but the row rumbles on as the verdict of Europe's counter-case is awaited. Boeing's product development was not making life easy for Airbus either. Just as Toulouse thought it had got the measure of its US rival, Boeing struck back with a successful update of the 777 and its radical 787 twinjet, forcing Airbus into a flat spin as it tried to work out how to respond. As Airbus watched market share sliding away, it came up with a widebody of its own, dubbed the A350. But it took several attempts, and some very public trips down blind alleys, before the programme crystalised into the now successful XWB family. CRISIS MANAGEMENT The A380 production problems broke in 2005 and the situation seemed to worsen with every update. Around about that time, Noel Forgeard - who had succeeded Pierson as boss of Airbus in 1998 - was promoted to co-chief executive of EADS, alongside defence division head Tom Enders, and replaced at Airbus by chief operating officer Gustav Humbert. The A380 problems, combined with A350 indecision, served to magnify ongoing Airbus and EADS management issues and led to a series of shake-ups. Forgeard and Humbert became the first casualties in 2006 when they were replaced by former Aerospatiale boss Louis Gallois and French industrialist Christian Streiff, respectively. But Streiff only lasted four months, with Gallois succeeding him in the interim until the final reshuffle in July 2007, when Enders took the helm. The straight-talking German brought a breath of fresh air with him to Toulouse as he buckled down to resolving the A380 production crisis, which he summarises simply: "We underestimated the complexity of the aircraft and had to adapt." The key part of the jigsaw in the current reshaping of Airbus occurred in 2006, when BAE Systems - which had been angered at the way Airbus had handled the A380 crisis, called time on its involvement and sold its 20% stake to its majority partner, making EADS the sole owner. Amid the management crisis and BAE's departure, Airbus launched its "Power8" cost-reduction and reorganisation drive in 2007 as it tried to counter the weak dollar and shake off the last remnants of the old GIE trading arrangements. The plan involved staff cuts and the sell-off of non-core factories - a process that, three years on, is only half completed. These businesses have been spun off into separate companies - France's Aerolia and Premium Aerotec of Germany - but the global banking crisis forced Airbus to abort the sell-offs, which will be revived when opportunity prevails. The turmoil Airbus has suffered during recent years has not been limited purely to A380, management and cost-reduction issues. When, in 1998, the airframer took over the management of the former Future Large Aircraft programme, which it renamed A400M, little could it have imagined the move into the military sector would threaten its very future. That programme has proved just as difficult to manage as the A380 - although some of the A400M problems were not entirely of Airbus's making - but it now looks to be finally on the right track, if delayed and well over budget. So, as Airbus celebrates its 40th year, and EADS its 10th anniversary, there are many challenges ahead. The company must balance the completion of its mission to fix the A380, while preparing the A400M transport for military service and bringing the A350 into production. But the superjumbo remains in sharp focus, says Enders: "We must not take attention away from the A380. It is still a very challenging phase as we ramp up and manage the supply chain." Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/20/344479/eads-10-airbus-history.html

I think that other business considerations are playing a part here, not just technical considerations. They also signed some MRO agreement (for engine nacelles) with PW, didn't they? Malaysia Airlines signs up for Thales satcom system Malaysia Airlines is to install the Thales TopFlight Satcom system on the five Boeing 737-800s it has on order, which start arriving in September. The system provides the hardware and communications software connecting the aircraft cockpit and cabin to the ground. Thales UK's avionics business head Peter Hitchcock says it marks another landmark for the TopFlight Satcom programme as the Malaysia Airlines installation will be the first SwiftBroadband system to be installed and fully integrated on the 737. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/19/344717/farnborough-malaysia-airlines-signs-up-for-thales-satcom.html

Emirates orders 30 more 777-300ERs Middle Eastern carrier Emirates has ordered another 30 Boeing 777-300ERs, adding to a previous order total of 71 of the type. The airline, which disclosed the deal at the Farnborough Air Show, values the agreement at $9.1 billion. Report: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/19/344690/farnborough-emirates-orders-30-more-777-300ers.html

Malaysia Airlines to Equip Boeing 737-800s with Blended Winglets FARNBOROUGH, England, July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglets will be installed on all 35 of the 737-800 aircraft that Malaysia's national carrier, Malaysia Airlines, has on order with Boeing. The first aircraft will deliver later this year, with deliveries continuing into 2013. "We are very pleased that Malaysia Airlines decided to install Blended Winglets on its entire fleet of 737-800 aircraft," says Aviation Partners Boeing CEO John Reimers. "This commitment assures they are operating the most efficient aircraft available with greater flexibility to meet the changing needs of the industry in Southeast Asia." Malaysia Airlines already has experience with Blended Winglets on a small fleet of leased 737-800 aircraft. APB's operational performance claims were verified in the daily operations of the aircraft and led to the fleet-wide investment decision. "We hope this is the first of many orders from Malaysia Airlines," says Reimers. "Blended Winglets will differentiate them from the aggressive low cost market in the region and provide a visible cost advantage over their competition." Blended Winglets are ideal to address the challenging operating conditions in Southeast Asia as they provide takeoff weight capability improvements of up to 6 tonnes from high altitude, hot and obstacle-limited airports while dramatically reducing fuel and engine maintenance costs on normal operations. More than 3,600 Blended Winglet Systems are now in service with over 120 airlines in more than 80 countries. APB estimates that Blended Winglets have saved airlines worldwide more than 2.1 billion gallons of jet fuel to-date. Aviation Partners Boeing is a Seattle based joint venture of Aviation Partners, Inc. and The Boeing Company. Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1893014/malaysia_airlines_to_equip_boeing_737800s_with_blended_winglets/

Large pix here: http://www.airliners.net/photo/Boeing/Boeing-787-8-Dreamliner/1743725/L/ Dreamliner lands at Farnborough The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has landed at Farnborough for its first appearance at an international air show. Boeing's flagship aircraft is different from conventional aircraft, having been built largely out of light-weight composite material. "This is the first time we've had a new airplane at an air show since the early 1990s," Jim Albaugh, boss of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told the BBC. The plane has been delayed by more than two years after a series of hitches. When it was first conceived, the Dreamliner was a revolutionary concept, but rivals have since done much to catch up. Airbus is building a similar series of planes dubbed A350, while newcomers in Russia and China are gearing up to enter the fast-growing market for single-aisle aircraft. "The market is changing," said Mr Albaugh in a BBC News interview. "There are a lot of companies that have a lot of technology and ambition, but competition is good. Competition makes us better. Competition makes us more innovative." Long Life The Dreamliner is scheduled for delivery to its launch customer All Nippon Airways later this year, though this deadline could slip into early 2011, Boeing told BBC News last week. The plane is currently conducting daily flight tests in the US after its first flight in December 2009. By then, the plane was already more than two years late, so Boeing is eager to avoid further delays. However, the delays are not important in the bigger scheme of things, Mr Albaugh insisted. "This is an airplane that's going to be in the market for 50 years," he said. New orders Optimism about the Dreamliner's performance in the market is mirrored by high hopes of a revival in the fortunes of the civilian aviation industry. During the past two years, airlines in difficulty have held back from ordering new planes, though production schedules have been largely unaffected as aircraft manufacturers have order books stretching several years into the future. This year, predicted Mr Albaugh, the customers will be back. "We're going to hear a lot of orders being announced this week, both from Airbus and from Boeing," he said. John Leahy, head of sales at Airbus, said on Saturday that he had bet parent company EADS chief Louis Gallois that the planemaker would match the number of orders it had taken in the year so far during the Farnborough show. Industry watchers are also waiting for announcements from the world's leading airplane makers about whether and when they will update their best-selling but ageing Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 series of planes. "We've got three options," Mr Albaugh said. "Do nothing, re-engine or build a new airplane." A decision should be taken later this year, he said. Airbus will also announce its decision after the middle of September, Mr Leahy said, hinting that it would probably fit its A320 jets with engines that should help it deliver fuel savings and thus emission cuts of about 15% from 2015. "We think that is the way to go and that Boeing will be behind us before the end of the year," he said. More videos here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10676791

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmzX_qlnvnI&feature=player_embedded

This airport tax madness started with the British. So it is not surprising to see the Germans getting on the bandwagon too. But their new rates are still relatively low compared to the UK airport taxes!

Yes, this is fleet diversification and something that SQ and other airlines have done successfully. Unless an aircraft type is so vastly superior, it would be prudent to have different aircraft types in the fleet. MH has to learn that aircraft fleet management is an ordinary day in, day out business activity and not something that they do once every 10 or 15 years! Hopefully they will look at more fleet acquisitions by the end of the year (as stated by their CEO).

Many here in MW criticised MH for not ordering brand new designs like the B787 and A350. After experiencing severe delays with the A380, I think MH could not risk having another aircraft experiencing delivery delays. So their decision to order proven existing designs is prudent under the circumstances. New aircraft designs and technologies take time to mature. Responsible companies like Airbus and Boeing will not deliver products that are not fully tested or developed. Here is the FlightGlobal report: Boeing cautions 787 first delivery could slip to 2011 With its debut at the 2010 Farnborough air show days away, Boeing has issued a "cautionary note" that the first 787 delivery could slip into early 2011, citing slower than anticipated instrumentation configuration changes and inspections of the horizontal stabiliser. Boeing vice president and general manager Scott Fancher says some of the recent issues have "stacked up" and "could see [first delivery] move a few weeks into the new year". Fancher says the schedule has not officially slipped beyond the fourth quarter timeframe to early to 2011, but adds the airframer will provide more information "as we get closer to the conclusion of flight test". "None of the issues have to do with airplane performance," says Fancher, who emphasises the aircraft continue to perform as expected, adding the fleet of five flying 787 test aircraft has accumulated more than 1,100h of flight testing over 365 flights. Boeing aims to complete 2,400h of flight testing on its four Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 powered test aircraft. Fancher declined to say which instrumentation configuration changes had slowed the flight test programme that began in December 2009, though preparation for flight test aircraft ZA004's flight loads survey and returning ZA001, which last flew on 12 June, to flight testing, are believed to have taken significantly longer than first planned. "We'll do one block of testing with one [instrumentation] configuration, then change," says Fancher who adds the changes have "taken a bit longer than first planned". Additionally, Fancher says that inspections of the horizontal stabilisers of the test fleet are now complete, but that process has "led to a little bit of schedule pressure". Following the revelation of the workmanship issue on 24 June that prompted the inspections, Boeing insisted the "issue will be addressed within the existing programme schedule," though that expectation appears to have shifted. As a result, first flight of the sixth flight test aircraft, ZA006, the second General Electric GEnx-1B powered 787, has slid to August, says Fancher. Boeing confirms ZA003, which will represent the company at the Farnborough air show, and ZA001, have both required re-work of their horizontal stabilisers. In April a source at launch customer ANA indicated the carrier anticipated a slide in the schedule that could result in an early 2011 delivery. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/15/344496/boeing-cautions-787-first-delivery-could-slip-to-2011.html

Spotted this pix of PK-AXL at STN on A.Net - comment was "Seen on delivery routing TLS-STN-DXB-SIN-CGK". I wonder why are there so many stops. I would have thought two stops would be enought, right? http://www.airliners.net/photo/AirAsia/Airbus-A320-216/1741889/M/

With so few slots available, they should be using an A333 (or even a B744) for the service. It should do the KUL-BKI-HND-BKI-KUL

Qantas Airways has reached a deal with Boeing to bring forward delivery of eight Boeing 787-8s, so its low-cost carrier Jetstar can start operating the aircraft in mid-2012. The Oneworld carrier has 50 787s on order and the first was due to be delivered in 2014, but Qantas now says the first will be delivered in mid-2012. Altogether eight 787-8s on order have been brought forward by about two years, it says. These will be assigned to Jetstar which plans to use the aircraft for international flights to Asia and southern Europe and to replace its Airbus A330s. Qantas says the remaining seven 787-8s and 35 787-9s on order will be delivered from 2014. Jetstar will have 25 787s altogether and the other 25 787s will be for Qantas mainline. Qantas plans to use the 787s and A330s for domestic flights and international services to Asia. These aircraft will replace its Boeing 767s, adds Qantas. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/14/344383/qantas-gets-earlier-delivery-slots-for-eight-787s.html

We should also not forget that when Firefly first started, their hub was in Penang. Since then their business model has evolved as the management found its feet. It has also found that the real "action" is coming from the Klang Valley.

No one can beat us when it comes to the worst airport taxi facilities...

I would have thought that they would do it at Farnborough to milk maximum publicity. Still it is good to see MH finalising the procurement of new aircraft for their fleet renewal.

Very doubtful because Firefly already serves these two airports.

It would be interesting to see how this is implemented. I also wonder if transit pax connecting to another flight at LCCT would also be accorded transit facilities at LCCT.

That was not a commercial service - it was a special flight to seal the sponsorship deal. D7 has just taken delivery of 9M-XXF, and I wonder where they will deploy this aircraft. Looks like it will be to India/Iran first and then Japan/Korea?

I think that the main reason why "Promo" tix do not permit pax name change is due to fraud going on in the past. Many people book tons of zero fare tickets and re-sold them. Even with the name change fee, it is still cheaper than non-zero fare tickets. So they put a stop to this and only regular tix allow name change these days.

By David Kaminski-Morrow Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has put pressure on flag-carrier Aeroflot to acquire domestically-built aircraft during the renewal of its expanding fleet. During a meeting Putin told Aeroflot chief Vitaly Savelyev that it was unacceptable for the flag-carrier, with its aim to dominate the Russian market, not to support its own country's aircraft industry. Aeroflot is taking over management control of six other Russian airlines, including Rossiya and Vladivostok Avia, and is turning its attention to modernising their aircraft. Putin has questioned Aeroflot chief Vitaly Savelyev over the process. A transcript of their meeting, released by the prime minister's office, shows that Savelyev told the prime minister that the fleets of the six carriers were "severely outdated" and needed renovation and "unification". Just six aircraft in Aeroflot's mainline fleet, all Ilyushin Il-96s, were Russian-built, he said, although he added that the jets - which had just undergone heavy maintenance over the winter - were "profitable". Savelyev stated that the rest of Aeroflot's fleet - comprising 11 Boeing 767s, 10 Airbus A330s and another 64 A320-family aircraft - were imported, added that the airline was also acquiring 22 Boeing 787s and 22 Airbus A350s. He told Putin that Aeroflot's strategy was to take first place in the Russian market and "occupy a dominant position at home". But Putin wanted to understand the extent to which Aeroflot would purchase Russian-built aircraft, countering: "You want todominate the domestic market, but do not want to buy domestic equipment. That will not do." Savelyev pointed out that Aeroflot was a customer for 30 Sukhoi Superjets, and had signed a lease agreement covering 10 of these. He added that Aeroflot was working with Rostekhnologii and, under a memorandum between the two companies, was formulating a marketing strategy to determine how many aircraft were needed to modernise the carriers being consolidated. Putin mentioned the United Aircraft MS-21 project, as an example of upcoming Russian-built aircraft, and told Savelyev: "The modernisation of the fleet should still focus primarily on domestic equipment." Savelyev said that Rossiya would be acquiring Boeing 737-800s through industrial firm Rostekhnologii but had already started introducing Antonov An-148s manufactured in Russia. Decisions still had to be made, he added, on fleet renewal for the other carriers, including Vladivostok Avia and Sakhalin's SAT. "We believe, of course, that we will use domestic equipment," said Savelyev, adding that Russian-built types did not require payment of import taxes and were less expensive to acquire. Source: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/07/10/344283/putin-pressures-aeroflot-to-take-russian-built-aircraft.html