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Tom/PER

D7 acquires second hand A333

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Skyliner are reporting Air Asia X have acquired c/n 662 ex B-HWG Dragonair.

 

Rego allocated is 9M-XXL, not sure if it's for D7's operation on whether it'll be leased to Saudi similar to -XAB and -XAC currently are.

 

Any ideas?

 

Aircraft has been ferried XMN-SIN all white.

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This press release was issued yesterday by ILFC

 

 

LOS ANGELES --

International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), a wholly owned subsidiary of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG), announced today it has delivered the first of six A330-343 aircraft to AirAsia X, a long-haul, low-cost affiliate of AirAsia. The company will deliver three additional A330-343s to the airline by the end of 2013, while the remaining two aircraft will be delivered in 2014.

 

The aircraft are equipped with Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines. The aircraft will be operated on the airline’s expanding network in Asia Pacific, which includes the markets of Australia, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and its surrounding regions.

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Oh no, the 20th anniversary dragon. :(

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Yes, sad to see the Dragonair livery gone but I suppose the anniversary is also over!

 

Strange that a leased bird gets the 9M-XXL reggo. Shouldn't it carry the 9M-XAD reggo instead?

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I'm still waiting for final confirmation from a CX contact but believe these are the other frames involved:

 

B-HYQ c/n 581

B-HWF c/n 654

B-HWH c/n 692

B-HWI c/n 716

B-HWJ c/n 741

 

The oldest being early 2004 to the newest being mid 2006 build.

 

They're all A330-343X's with Trent 700's so lots of commonality with the rest of the A330 fleet

 

Also D7 have c/n 1423 on the production line so one can only assume this will become -XXJ with -XXK to follow new from Airbus and then the leased birds start with -XXL.

 

A total fleet of 18 A333's by mid 2014 I believe.

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Yes, it looks like this year's seven deliveries are accounted for - 3 new builds and 4 from ILFC.

 

Presumably, the planes are going to SIN for painting and cabin refitting.

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I'm probably missing something, but are these leased in from ILFC or bought outright from the leasing company ?

Wonder if they will pull off a stunt such as extra legroom on 9M-XXL ?! :)

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Thanks for digging up the info, Tom! :)

 

Anyone with info on the ferry flights to SIN, plz post here so that we can try to catch their arrivals.

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These 4 are now confirmed leaving the KA/CX fleet in this order this year so these are the 2013 deliveries:

 

HWG

HWJ

HWK

HWH

 

I have rough dates but as always subject to change.

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For those who haven't seen -XXL in the flesh, here she is in her low-cost paint-scheme. It's a real pity they didn't spend the extra few SGD $$$ and paint her in the standard livery, the rear looks very bland.

 

She certainly stand-outs compared to her factory fresh siblings.

 

Credit to the original photographer on a lovely shot.

 

http://www.planespotters.net/Aviation_Photos/photo.show?id=405297

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Thanks for the info TOM/PER.. Can I ask will the inflight products (seats, IFE, etc) the same as the rest of the D7 fleets? or using back the KA's config?

It was reconfigured in SIN to D7's usual cabin products. These leased aircraft from ILFC are long term leases - not something temporary.

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..... It's a real pity they didn't spend the extra few SGD $$$ and paint her in the standard livery, the rear looks very bland.

I'm guessing it's less of a cost saving (if any) measure and more an opportunity to crank up more ancillary income from onboard sales of model airplanes :D

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Those ex Dragonair A333s cabin went through thorough reconfiguration at SIAEC to bring them to AirAsia X's standard.

 

The differences are only in the cockpit. ex-KA birds has no weather radar, so the pilot needs to manual tune the angle to detect moisture and it has no Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) and AMDS (Advance Mission Display System). The latter will be replaced soon.

 

9M-XXM are now in SIAEC for refurbishment.

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Those ex Dragonair A333s cabin went through thorough reconfiguration at SIAEC to bring them to AirAsia X's standard.

 

The differences are only in the cockpit. ex-KA birds has no weather radar, so the pilot needs to manual tune the angle to detect moisture and it has no Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) and AMDS (Advance Mission Display System). The latter will be replaced soon.

 

9M-XXM are now in SIAEC for refurbishment.

 

Thanks for the info. They probably have a weather radar just that it is an archaic one without multiscan capabilities. I wouldn't feel safe flying around without a weather radar especially in our area where thunderstorm cells are aplenty.

Edited by Walter Sim

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It would be strange if D7 did not also upgrade the avionics as the aircraft has undergone a major refit that will see it operating until the end of their lease period.

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It would appear that D7 is doing well in the wet lease business - they have another airframe operating for SV, 9M-XAD (Airbus A330-202 MSN 330). This is ex-Batavia Air.

 

Photos:

http://www.malaysianwings.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=18634&p=333176

 

http://my.pinkfroot.com/photo/aaaaa-003

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45389073@N03/9768129261/

Edited by flee

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