Coronavirus impact: Airbus fails to win any new aircraft orders in February

However, Airbus had an unusually strong January and Boeing rebounded in February with a Japanese order for a dozen 787 wide-body jets

European planemaker Airbus failed to win any new aircraft orders in February, it said on Thursday, providing further evidence of disruption across aviation industries from the global coronavirus outbreak. Airbus also said it had no received no cancellations during the month and delivered 55 aircraft, bringing its total for the year so far to 86, fractionally below the same period of 2019.

It is the second time in as many months that a leading manufacturer has failed to generate sales in a calendar month after Boeing drew a blank in January for the first time in decades. However, Airbus had an unusually strong January and Boeing rebounded in February with a Japanese order for a dozen 787 wide-body jets.

For the year so far, Airbus has booked 296 orders, equating to 274 after adjusting for cancellations or conversions between models, the company said in a monthly update. The airline sector has idled hundreds of aircraft in the past month, while Boeing continues to wrestle with the grounding of its 737 MAX, imposed almost a year ago after two fatal crashes..

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As Boeing halts 737 MAX production, Airbus can’t make jets fast enough

Airbus said meeting the 135-plane December goal will be ‘challenging’

As Boeing Co. halts production of its beleaguered 737 Max, global rival Airbus SE is grappling with a very different problem: speeding output of its rival narrow-body. So-called “stretch” versions of the A320neo jet have sparked an order frenzy as airlines snap them up to replace costly twin-aisle planes on longer routes or cram in seats on shorter legs. But to achieve that flexibility Airbus has had to offer a wide range of cabin layouts that’s made assembly far more complex.

Slower build rates on the top-priced A321 variant mean that the European company needs to lift deliveries 75% this month compared with November to meet full-year production targets. It’s a vital challenge for Airbus — not only to consolidate its advantage over a flailing Boeing, but also to maximize returns from its most expensive narrow-bodies as demand for even more-lucrative wide-body models moves past its peak.

“The A321 matters because as a stretch it should be by far the highest-margin aircraft of the Airbus narrow-bodies,” said Sash Tusa, an analyst at Agency Partners in London. The increased popularity of single-aisle types on longer routes could mean they come to account for three-quarters of the total value of planes delivered in a given year, up from 50% previously, he added….

‘Golden age’ for aviation sector; huge opportunities ahead: IndiGo chief

Bringing ATF under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been a long pending demand of the airline industry

With strong fundamentals, India’s civil aviation sector is in its “golden age” and there is also healthy competition among domestic carriers, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta has said. Interestingly, the country’s civil aviation sector has been experiencing lower growth in traffic compared to previous years and there has also been softness in fares in October, according to industry experts.

The traffic grew just 1.18 per cent in September, as per the latest available official data.IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, is the country’s largest airline with a market share of 48.2 per cent in September. While acknowledging that there are problems, including high taxes on jet fuel, Dutta said there are huge opportunities going forward.

“We are in the golden age of Indian aviation and there are huge opportunities going forward… There are always problems, there are always issues and economic cycles. (But) The fundamentals are strong,” he told PTI in an interview. According to him, tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is 30 per cent higher than rest of the world. Bringing ATF under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been a long pending demand of the airline industry. “Then there are throughput charges for which we should be getting credit for taxes paid,” he added.

IndiGo has been aggressively expanding its operations and has started 11 overseas routes in the last one year. Recently, it placed an order for 300 more planes from Airbus and is also considering wide-body aircraft for long haul routes. On whether there is healthy competition among local carriers, Dutta replied in the affirmative…

Paris air show: Airbus seals deals with big buyers after Boeing’s MAX sale

Airbus also said it had reached a preliminary deal to sell 11 A321neos to Taiwan’s China Airlines

Airbus sealed deals with big buyers for its latest passenger jet at the Paris Airshow on Wednesday, battling back a day after a surprise order by British Airways’ owner for rival Boeing’s grounded 737 MAX jet.

Indigo Partners, the private equity firm of veteran low-cost airline investor Bill Franke, and American Airlines each signed up for 50 of Airbus’s new long-range A321neo jet, although some orders were converted from deals on other models. Airbus, which has not given a list price for the A321XLR, launched the new plane on Monday, aiming to carve out new routes for airlines with smaller planes and steal a march on Boeing’s plans for a potential all new jet for the middle of the market.

The deals are a big vote of confidence in the European planemaker, a day after major customer British Airways owner IAG signed a letter of intent to buy 200 of Boeing Co’s 737 MAX jets, a model that has been grounded since March after two deadly crashes. Asked about the IAG deal, Franke, who struck the largest-ever plane deal by number of aircraft with Airbus in 2017, called the A321neo the most efficient single-aisle jet.

Franke’s Indigo Partners signed a memorandum of understanding to buy 32 of A321XLR aircraft and to convert 18 existing A320 family jet orders to the larger model. The jets will be allocated to Hungary’s Wizz Air, US carrier Frontier Airlines and Chile’s JetSMART, in which Indigo Partners owns stakes. Industry experts estimate the deal for the 32 aircraft could be valued at around $4.5 billion, based on a slight premium to the A321neo’s list price of $129.5 million, although most airlines get significant discounts…

This 88-seater plane from Japan’s Mitsubishi is taking on Boeing and Airbus

With few seats and littler fuselages, territorial planes are an alternate class of flying machine from bigger restricted body planes, for example, Boeing’s 737 or Airbus’ A320

A new, long-delayed 88-passenger jet from Japan may finally be the right plane at the right time. More cities in Asia and Europe are seeking to link up with each other and the global air travel network.

The Mitsubishi Regional Jet, the first airliner built in Japan since the 1960s, began certification flights last month in Moses Lake, Washington, to satisfy that demand.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.’s new airliner is testing the skies just as rivals are moving to sell off their manufacturing operations for jets with up to 160 seats. Boeing Co. is set to buy 80 percent of the Embraer SA’s commercial operations in a joint venture, while Bombardier Inc. last year sold control of its C Series airliner project to Airbus SE and is exploring “strategic options” for its regional-jet operations. At stake, particularly in the market for jets with fewer seats, is $135 billion in sales in the two decades through 2037, according to industry group Japan Aircraft Development Corp.|International News

“Bombardier’s moves do indeed create opportunities for the MRJ,’’ said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst at Teal Group. “It’s the biggest single factor in the MRJ’s favor.’’ With few seats and smaller fuselages, regional jets are a different class of aircraft from larger narrow-body planes such as Boeing’s 737 or Airbus’s A320. The MRJ has a range of about 2,000 miles, while a smaller variant can haul up to 76 people for about the same distance..