Airbus Delivered Five A380 to China Southern Airlines

Airbus has delivered the first of five A380s to China Southern Airlines (CZ), the first A380 operator in China.

Powered by Rolls-Royce Trent-900 engines, the aircraft will be initially operated on domestic routes between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Later on, the airline will deploy the A380 on international routes.

“We are proud to become the first A380 operator in China,” said CZ chairman Si Xianmin. “The introduction of the A380 in our fleet is a very important step for the development of China Southern. The economics offered by the A380 will undoubtedly improve our competitiveness on international routes and is the perfect asset to make China Southern Airlines achieve its goal of becoming a leading global carrier,” he said.

Emirate Airlines to become Largest Operator Wide-body Aircraft by 2015

Emirates Airlines, Dubai’s flagship carrier, is on track to become the world’s largest operator of wide-body aircraft by 2015, Boston Consulting Group said Thursday.

The largest carrier by international traffic is forecast to grow its capacity by 9 to 12 percent annually through to 2015, the research group said in its report ‘Middle Eastern Megacarriers: Gaining Altitude’.

Emirates has “nearly tripled capacity and passenger revenues over the past five years, adding 32 new destinations while improving aircraft utilisation, load factors, and yields,” analysts wrote.

“The specific growth rates will depend on how quickly the airline retires some of its older aircraft — to become the world’s largest operator of wide-body aircraft.”

With a fleet of 157 aircraft and the largest A380 operator in the world, Emirates currently flies to 114 destinations in 67 countries.

Despite Emirates’ cash margins decreasing from 28 percent to 23 percent during the past five years, BCG believes that the performance compares better than other international airlines.

Emirates is not the only carrier in the Middle East that is expected to see strong growth over the next five years. Airlines in the region are expected to triple their passenger capacity over the next 20 years, according to BCG.

Passenger flows to and from the Middle East are expected to increase by another 45 million passengers over the next five-year period, from 2010 through 2015.

“Because the Middle Eastern megacarriers have been early developers of the region as an important hub for long-haul routes—and because they enjoy significant cost advantages—they are well positioned to compete aggressively with more financially constrained carriers,” said Rend Stephan, Partner & Managing Director in BCG, Middle East.

Middle East airlines saw a 9.7 percent increase in demand in July, outstripping the 8.9 percent capacity increase, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said earlier this month.

Emirate Airlines Expected to Grow Capacity up to 12 percent Each Year

Dubai based Emirates Airlines is expected to grow in terms of capacity by up to 12 percent each year to the middle of the decade according to a new report compiled by analysts. The airline is currently the largest in the world when it comes to international traffic, and by 2015 is also expected to have the largest fleet of wide-body planes.

The study of Middle Eastern Megacarriers has been put together by Boston Consulting Group. In just five years, the airline has managed to introduce 32 new destinations to its itinerary, triple revenues and capacity and improve operations in terms of load factors, utilisation of aircraft and yields.

Among the 157 aircraft it has in its fleet is the largest number of Airbus A380s of any carrier and presently Emirates boasts 114 destinations around the world in some 67 countries. Boston Consulting said that other Middle Eastern airlines were likely to put in a similarly strong performance by the middle of the decade with passenger capacity predicted to triple over the coming two decades.

Middle East Partner and Managing Director for the Group, Rend Stephan, explained that the region was important for carriers travelling on long-haul journeys and that the carriers’ based there were able to tap into cost advantages which enabled them to compete aggressively with other international rivals.

According to the International Air Transport Association, Middle Eastern airlines increased capacity by 8.9 per cent in July, which was still not enough to keep up with a growth of 9.7 per cent in demand.

Qantas Airways Plans Expand Flight Service to Asia

Qantas Airways Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce switched the airline’s focus to Asia with plans to start two new carriers, betting on the region’s growing prosperity to end losses at international operations.

Australia’s largest airline will form a Japanese budget carrier and an Asia-based full-service unit, while handing some Europe services to British Airways, it said in a statement today. Qantas will also order as many as 110 Airbus SAS A320s, including 78 of the revamped neo version, it said.

The Sydney-based carrier will cut 1,000 jobs and delay the delivery of six Airbus A380 jets under its plan to reverse A$200 million ($209 million) in annual overseas losses. Qantas intends to pare its reliance on the Australia-Europe route after losing market share to Emirates Airline and because of rising demand in Asia.

“The growth is going to come from Asia,” said Nachiket Moghe, an analyst with Morningstar Inc. in Auckland. “The passenger numbers from there continue to grow strongly and airlines need to position themselves for that.”

Qantas fell 0.3 percent to A$1.525 at the 4:10 p.m. market close in Sydney, after earlier gaining as much as 4.9 percent. The stock has fallen 40 percent this year compared with a 10 percent drop in Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index.

The airline’s budget unit Jetstar will form a low-cost carrier in Japan with Japan Airlines Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. Jetstar Japan plans to start domestic flights from Tokyo’s Narita and Osaka’s Kansai airports by the end of 2012 with a fleet of Airbus A320 jets. It will operate 24 planes within its “first few years,” Qantas said. Jetstar already has ventures in Singapore and Vietnam.

Singapore, Kuala Lumpur

Qantas hasn’t decided where to base the new Asian carrier, which will have a different brand, Joyce told reporters in Sydney today. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are potential hubs for the venture, in which Qantas will likely have a large minority stake, he said.

“As a nation we used to fly over or via Asia, on our way to Europe,” Joyce said. “Now, we fly to Asia, both for business and relaxation.”

The Asia-Pacific region will be the most profitable aviation market this year, helped by economic growth in countries like China and India, the International Air Transport Association forecast in June.

On European routes, Qantas will scrap services via Bangkok and Hong Kong. Instead, it will focus on flights via its Singapore hub using A380s. British Airways will take travelers from Bangkok and Hong Kong to London and lease some slots at Heathrow from Qantas.

Qantas will offer voluntary redundancy packages as it cuts jobs, Joyce said. A cabin-crew buyout announced in June attracted about 400 workers.

‘Intend to Fight’

Qantas’ long-haul pilots union and a labor group representing check-in, clerical and information-technology staff criticized the plans for the cuts and the new carriers.

“We intend to fight this,” the Australian Services Union, the largest employee grouping at Qantas, said in an e-mailed statement today. “The ASU believes significant numbers of its members will ultimately be affected by this announcement.”

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the job losses were “regrettable.” He said he plans to enforce rules governing Qantas, such as requirements for a majority Australian ownership, a main operation base within the country and a board two-thirds comprised of local citizens.

Restructuring Costs

The restructuring will cost at least A$350 million, Chief Financial Officer Gareth Evans told reporters in Sydney today.

The company’s forecast for pretax earnings between A$500 million and A$550 million in the 12 months ended June is unchanged, it said. Qantas reports audited earnings on Aug. 24.

Qantas will delay six on-order A380s by at least five years, with deliveries only starting in the year beginning June 1, 2018 at the earliest. The airline will have 12 of the double- decker planes by the end of 2011. Two more will be handed over before June 2018. The airline will also upgrade nine Boeing Co. 747-400s by the end of next year.

On Americas routes, Qantas will switch its South American flights to Santiago from Buenos Aires to boost cooperation with Oneworld partner LAN Airlines SA. The Australian carrier also intends to develop its partnership with AMR Corp.’s American in the U.S.

“We cannot fly our own aircraft to every port, but we will get our passengers wherever they want to go,” Joyce said.

Air France Start Daily Flight Paris to Washington D.C. With Airbus A380 in June

Washington D.C. will get its first Airbus A380 service on June 6 when Air France starts daily flights between Paris and Washington Dulles International Airport.

The Air France flights, using a brand-new, 516-seat A380, will feature four classes. The aircraft will be configured with nine seats in La Première (first class); 80 seats in Affaires-Business (business class); 38 seats in Premium Voyageur (premium economy); and 389 seats in the A380?s Voyageur (economy-class) cabin. There are more seats in the economy cabin alone than in most long-haul intercontinental aircraft.

Air France’s Premium Voyageur – located between Business and Economy – offers passengers 40 per cent more space than does Voyageur. Premium Voyageur provides fixed-shell seating for privacy, a 19-inch wide seat that reclines to 123 degrees, a 39.8-inch seat pitch, noise-canceling headsets, 10.4-inch screens, a PC outlet and a business-class amenity kit. Passengers also have priority check-in and boarding.

Premium Voyageur, not yet on the Air France A380 serving New York JFK, offers business travelers who are not allowed to travel in Affaires-Business some business-class amenities nevertheless. Air France now offers its Premium Voyageur cabin on most of its long-haul aircraft, including its Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s and A340s.

The new A380 will also feature Air France’s new business class. Debuting throughout 2011 on other aircraft, the carrier’s new Affaires-Business cabin offers improved lie-flat seats; better connectivity, with USB ports and power; a new subdued, cabin ambience and more dining choices.

Washington will be Air France’s fifth A380 destination from Paris, It currently serves New York JFK, Tokyo and Johannesburg, and will be starting A380 service to Montreal on April 22. The carrier currently operates four Airbus A380s and is taking delivery of two more for the new Washington and Montreal flights.

Because the Airbus A380 seats so many more passengers than other long-haul aircraft, Air France will rationalize its capacity on its Washington D.C. and Montreal routes with the entry of the new airliner. Weekly frequencies between Paris and Montreal will decrease from 28 to 20 when the A380 starts services in April, and Washington frequencies will drop from 21 to 14 beginning June 6.

Washington Dulles is ready for service by the large-capacity, according to officials of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA). The airport authority needed to design special jetbridges for the large, double-decker aircraft, install a new hydrant fuel pit for its refueling, and modify some taxiways, including relocating some lights and signs. The airport’s runways were long enough and strong enough for the plane.

An official for the MWAA said that when the airport’s underground Aero Train system was built to carry travelers between terminals, the structure of the tunnels was made strong enough so that no tunnel modifications would be necessary in order for them to bear the A380?s high weight.

Air France will use two adjacent gates for the A380 in the A concourse at Dulles – with gate A20 to be used for boarding lower-deck passengers and A22 for upper-deck passengers.

A test run of the A380-800 at Dulles was performed in March 2007, when Lufthansa brought the A380 to the airport during a series of route-proving flights. Lufthansa doesn’t currently operate the A380 to Washington.

Substantially larger than the Boeing 747-400, the four-engine, wide-body A380 is 239 feet long, 80 feet high and has a wingspan of 262 feet. Inside, the cabin is 164 feet long on the main deck, 147 feet long on the upper deck.

The A380 first went into service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines. Besides Air France and Lufthansa, it also is operated by Emirates and Qantas. Korean Air is scheduled to begin operating the A380 this year.

Emirates Airlines No Delay Delivery Airbus A380 This Year

Airbus is on track to deliver six to seven A380 planes this year to Emirates airlines, its biggest customer for the superjumbos, an Airbus Middle East executive said on Wednesday.

Dubai government-owned Emirates, among the fastest-growing carriers in the world, plans to increase its fleet to eventually include 120 Airbus A380s.

Fouad Attar, deputy president and head of commercial at Airbus Middle East, said the aircraft maker would deliver “six to seven” A380 jets to Emirates this year.

Asked whether there were any delays in the deliveries to Emirates, he said: “No, they’re all on time. There’s no delay.”

Attar also said Airbus expected 50 to 100 orders from the Middle East and North Africa region and the company would focus on Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and elsewhere in North Africa.

“There’s lot of potential in North Africa,” Attar told reporters on the sidelines of an aviation, adding the political turmoil in Egypt could affect the number of orders.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Tuesday he would surrender power in September, angering protesters who want an immediate end to his 30-year-rule.

Emirates Airline Plans to Start Delivery 14 New Aircraft

Emirates Airline plans to take delivery of 14 new aircraft in its upcoming fiscal year beginning April 1, and retain four others it had planned to remove, owing to strong traffic demand. The carrier operates 15 Airbus A380s, a number that will grow dramatically as deliveries ramp up.

“We will start constant delivery of the remaining 75 A380s from September 2011,” Divisional SVP-Commercial Operations Worldwide Richard Vaughan told ATW in Dubai. He said the A380s are still a kind of marketing tool and that passengers will change their schedules to be able to fly on the aircraft. Two of the airline’s 14 full flight simulators at its training facility in Dubai are dedicated to the type.

“The machine created a new landscape,” he observes. Vaughan confirmed that EK has no plans to install a different cabin configuration for high-density routes such as to India.

DXB suffers from capacity problems during peak hours. “It is a challenge for us to get our aircraft out on time,” he said. The strain should be eased somewhat when Concourse 3 is fully operational in 2013. It is dedicated to the A380 and will be capable of handling 25 of them at once. The Dubai government has not decided if and when EK will operate from the new Jebel Ali Airport, which is currently used by cargo airlines.

Commenting on the 2011 outlook, Vaughan said forward bookings are looking good but adds that “the price of fuel could be a problem if it rises to as much as $100 a barrel.”

EK carried 27.5 million passengers in the 2009-10 fiscal year, 60% of them changing aircraft in DXB. South America is one of the areas where EK believes there is scope for further expansion, but no definite routes or dates have been announced. It currently serves Sao Paulo Guarulhos. Copenhagen will become EK’s 27th European destination when it launches Aug. 1. The city of Basra, Iraq, became its 110th destination Feb. 2. EK will add a tenth daily flight to Australia in October, increasing the number of weekly offered seats Down Under from 22,000 to 25,000 in each direction.

“When we open a new destination in Europe, we need to add capacity in places such as the Far East and Africa to balance the network,” Vaughan explained.

Singapore Air A380 Delivery Delayed After Koito Industries Failed to Deliver Seats on Time

Singapore Air’s A380, configured to carry 471 passengers, is fitted with 60 business-class seats on the second level of the double-decker aircraft, according to its website

Singapore Airlines Ltd., the first carrier to fly the Airbus SAS A380 commercially, said the introduction of its 12th superjumbo has been delayed after Koito Industries Ltd. failed to deliver seats on time.

Singapore Airlines Ltd., the world’s second-largest carrier by market value, said the introduction of its 12th Airbus SAS A380 has been delayed after Koito Industries Ltd. failed to deliver business-class seats on time.

The plane had been due for delivery this quarter and “has been delayed as a result of the issues that Koito has faced,” Nicholas Ionides, a spokesman for the carrier, said in an e-mail reply to Bloomberg queries. He said the delay isn’t affecting the airline’s current operations and he expects the plane to arrive before the end of March.

The postponement is the second time Singapore Air has pushed back introduction of an A380 because of late Koito seat deliveries. Rivals All Nippon Airways Co., Continental Airlines Inc. and Thai Airways International Pcl have also suffered delays after Koito in February admitted it falsified test results and made unauthorized design changes to its seats for at least a decade.

“We are working closely with Airbus, Koito and the relevant regulatory authorities and expect the issues to be resolved soon,” Ionides said in the e-mail.

Koito Industries spokesman Hidetsugu Matsudaira had no comment on the Singapore Air statement.

Koito rose 3.5 percent to 150 yen at the 3 p.m. close of Tokyo trading. Parent Koito Manufacturing Co., part-owned by Toyota Motor Corp., advanced 0.2 percent to 1,270 yen. Singapore Air fell 0.6 percent to S$15.70 at the 5 p.m. close in Singapore trading.

Seat Glitch

Singapore Air’s A380, configured to carry 471 passengers, is fitted with 60 business-class seats on the second level of the double-decker aircraft, according to its website. The carrier received its 11th superjumbo in July, six months late because of the seat glitch.

The airline plans to operate its 12th A380 between Singapore and Los Angeles, via Narita, Japan, when it’s delivered, Ionides said today. The aircraft will replace the Boeing Co. 747-400 currently used on the route.

Koito said in April it would stop taking orders for plane seats for as long as three years to focus on maintenance, including checking about 1,000 commercial planes in which its seats are installed. The Yokohama-based seat manufacturer paid 3.6 billion yen ($43 million) in compensation in the year ended in March and expects to pay another 3.3 billion yen this fiscal year.

Thai Airways, Thailand’s largest carrier, said in October it’s seeking as much as $180 million in compensation from the seatmaker.

Koito also makes business-class seats for Singapore Air’s Airbus A340-500s, as well as first-class seats for its Boeing Co. 777-300ERs, according to Ionides.

Emirates Airlines Considers Ordering 120 Airbus A380 Aircraft

Emirates Airlines is considering ordering 120 Airbus A380 aircraft when it has sufficient space at its home base in Dubai.

Emirates president Tim Clark said the airline, passenger rates of which are growing 20% annually, expects to maintain this level for the next five years and to fulfil all its 90 orders for the A380 super jumbo.

Under the plan, Emirates will order 30 Airbus A380, worth $10bn, according to Reuters.

If the airline goes ahead with its current growth plan it will have an A380 fleet worth over $40bn.

Emirates ordered 32 superjumbos worth $11bn at the Berlin Air Show in June and 30 Boeing 777-300ER wide-body planes, worth $9bn, at Farnborough Air Show in July.

China Southern Airlines is Set to Receive the Airbus A380 Superjumbo

Delivery of the China Southern Airlines A380 had been due to arrive just before the 2008 Beijing Olympics but was deferred- now it looks like the first of its five A380s will be delivered next year.

Airbus mounted the vertical tail on China Airlines’ first A380 superjumbo on Tuesday at the A380 assembly line in Toulouse. It takes about eight hours to install the tail, which is almost equivalent to the size of an A320 wing and when joined to the fuselage its tip stands 24 metres from the ground.

China Southern is the only mainland carrier to order the A380, with rival Air China insisting it has no plans to acquire the aircraft because it prefers the rival Boeing B747. It expects to receive its first A380 plane in 2011.

Asia-Pacific carriers who have ordered the A380 superjumbo include Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Korean Airlines, Kingfisher Airlines, and THAI Airways.

Business class travellers will be intereted to know that the carrier has announced a new premium economy class on flights to Australia. It has started rolling out Premium Economy Class service on its service between Guangzhou and Sydney using the all-new Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

China Southern Premium Economy travellers enjoy superior seating and cabin service from standard economy with special advance round trip fares.

From October 31st the carrier will offer the Premium Economy service on services from Guangzhou to Brisbane and Melbourne. The re-designed A3380-300 cabin offers 47 Premium Economy seats separated by curtains, and portable doors to guarantee travellers a discreet private space.

International Premium Economy Class on China Southern Airlines offers a premium travel experience and includes 40% additional space. The seat pitch has been extended from Economy pitch of 32 to 37 inches for expanded legroom. Special personal touches include newspapers, double-thick wool blanket and pillows; fresh seasonal fruits, noise-reduction headphones, private washing kit and savoury red and white Australian wines. At the airport there is an exclusive Premium Economy check-in counter where travellers can enjoy the special privilege of a private Premium Economy check-in counter and an extra luggage allowance of 15kg. They also benefit from priority baggage delivery upon arrival, boarding at passengers’ convenience and priority class upgrade (if Premium Economy cabin is overbooked). Sky Pearl Club members travelling in Premium Economy Class will earn 110% FFP mileage and through to December 30th, will receive an additional 3,000 bonus FFP miles.

China Southern has also 13 Boeing B787s on order.

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