Boeing delivers Kenya Airways' first 777-300ER

By BA Staff

Boeing has delivered flag carrier Kenya Airways' first 777-300ER (Extended Range). The aircraft is leased to the carrier by GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS).

Kenya Airways' Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Titus Naikuni said:

"The delivery of this Boeing 777-300ER aircraft marks a key milestone for us at Kenya Airways. Its long-haul capability is a perfect fit for our network expansion plans as it will enable us serve our existing long range markets much more effectively and facilitate the opening of routes in the near future. This is an important step as we continue opening up Africa to the rest of the world."

Kenya Airways' 777-300ER is configured with 400 seats, 28 in the Premier World business class and 372 in eEconomy, and features USB ports, power sockets and an all-new in-flight entertainment system throughout the cabin. The airplane can fly up to 7,825 nautical miles (14,490 kilometers) and is equipped with GE90-115B engines, the world's most powerful commercial jet engine.

Kenya Airways is set to take delivery of a further two 777-300ERs, including an additional lease, as part of the carrier's 10-year strategic plan dubbed 'Project Mawingu.' The Nairobi-based carrier plans to increase its fleet size from 44 airplanes to 107 by 2021 and destinations from the current 62 to 115. Currently the airline's long-haul fleet consists of four Boeing 777-200ERs and six Boeing 767-300ERs.

With this delivery, Kenya Airways is also working with Boeing to support the Alaskan Sudan Medical Project (ASMP) by carrying 10,400 lbs (4,717 kilograms) of humanitarian supplies on the 777-300ER's delivery flight to Kenya. ASMP will use the supplies to build medical clinics, drill water wells and construct bio-sand filters for clean water in the Jonglei region of South Sudan. The humanitarian cargo will also include water pumps and agriculture equipment to support local farmers, fulfilling the ASMP's mission statement of saving lives through health, clean water and agriculture.

Kenya Airways operates a fleet of more than 25 Boeing airplanes including, 777s, 767s and 737s. The carrier serves more than 60 destinations across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe and has nine 787 Dreamliners currently on order from Boeing.

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Boeing firms up orders for 43 787s from ALC and GECAS

 By BA Staff

Boeing and Air Lease Corporation (ALC) announced today that they have completed an order for 30 787-10 and three 787-9 Dreamliners. The order, valued at $9.4 billion at list prices, fulfills the commitment originally announced during the 2013 Paris Air Show in June.

ALC Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy had this to say about the partnership:

"We are thrilled to be adding 787-10s and additional 787-9s to our portfolio. The performance characteristics of the 787-10 will build on the 787 family's success in the marketplace by providing the ideal size, capabilities and economical operating costs for medium to long-haul markets."

Furthermore, Boeing and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), the commercial aircraft leasing and financing arm of General Electric, announced today that they have completed an order for 10 787-10 Dreamliners. The order, valued at $2.9 billion at list prices, completes the commitment originally announced during the 2013 Paris Air Show in June and builds momentum in the airplane leasing market for the 787-10.

GECAS President and CEO Norman C.T. Liu said:

"These airplanes are an excellent addition to our broad portfolio of modern, fuel-efficient aircraft. This order enables us to offer our airline customers an airplane with the lowest operating costs."

The new 787-10, launched in June 2013, will extend and complement the family, carrying 300 to 330 passengers up to 7,000 nautical miles (12,964 km) and accommodating more than 90 percent of the world's twin-aisle routes. The 787-10 also will be 25 percent more fuel-efficient than airplanes of its size today and more than 10 percent better than anything being offered by the competition for the future.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner described his point of view on the matter:

"As a leader in the leasing industry, GECAS's 787-10 order is a strong statement about the capabilities of this highly efficient airplane. The 787-10 will provide GECAS customers the efficiencies and passenger comforts needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive marketplace."

The 787-10 will feature the 787 family's unique interior. The interior technologies make the passenger experience more enjoyable, including large, dimmable windows; cleaner air; higher humidity; lower cabin altitude; bigger stowage bins; soothing LED lighting and a smoother ride. To date, the 787-10 has accumulated 102 orders and commitments from five customers worldwide.

These 787-10s bring the total number of airplanes GECAS has ordered from Boeing to 598 since 1995, including 737s, 747s, 757s, 767s, 777s and 787s. To date, GECAS has taken delivery of 451 Boeing airplanes.

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Boeing launches 787-10 Dreamliner. An Airbus A330-300 replacement?

by Devesh Agarwal and Vinay Bhaskara

At the Paris Air Show, as expected, US airframer Boeing has launched the 787-10 Dreamliner, the third member of the 787 family. The second member of the family, the 787-9, is in final assembly in Everett, Washington, USA, and is set to make its first flight later this year.

Video and analysis at the end of the article.

Final assembly and flight testing of the 787-10 are expected to begin in 2017 with the first delivery targeted for 2018.

The 787-9 will seat between 250~290 passengers depending on the airline's configuration choices, with a range of 8,500 nautical miles (15,750 km), and a MTOW (Maximum Take Off Weight) of 250,830 kgs (553,000 lbs). The 787-10 has the same MTOW as its shorter variant the 787-9, and will trade range for increased passenger capacity. The 787-10 has a range up to 7,000 nm (12,964 km), with seating for 300~330 which puts it head-on against the Airbus A350-900 XWB which underwent its first flight just last week.

Boeing is banking on the lighter weight of the 787-10 off-setting the range limitations in winning orders. The 787-10 would be used on high demand routes of up to 10 hours making it ideal for trans-Atlantic flights and long regional flights. India to Europe, Middle-East to Europe, Far East, and South-East Asia to Australasia, Northern Asia, etc.

This performance envelope gives good insight to the launch customers for the aircraft and the 102 airplane commitments received by Boeing. Air Lease Corporation (ALC), with 30 airplanes; GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), with 10; International Airlines Group / British Airways, with 12 subject to shareholder approval; Singapore Airlines, with 30 and United Airlines, with 20 airplanes.

Boeing 787-10 launch video

Boeing 787-10 will compete with the Airbus A330-300

We expect the Boeing 787-10 to serve as Boeing's answer to the wildly successful Airbus A330-300.

The A330-300 initially competed with the Boeing 777-200A (the non-ER variant), but over the past decade, beat the first 777 variant outright.

Cathay Pacific group is the largest operator of the A330-300

For almost every mission under 5,000 nautical miles, the A330-300 carries more payload at a lower seat-mile cost than any other airframe of its size on the market. Thus, for any airline who didn't need the range of the 777-200ER, the A330-300 became the aircraft of choice, and at 613 orders and 424 deliveries for this variant alone, one can see it is a huge market. The delays with the 787 program only benefitted the A333 program more, and Airbus won hundreds of orders in the last three years and still possesses a backlog of 187 frames.

The A333 has been especially popular with Asian carriers looking to use it for regional routes within Asia, like Singapore Airlines retiring its fleet of 777-200s in favour of A330-300s, and for carriers with large trans-Atlantic operations. The world's largest A333 operator is the Cathay Pacific / DragonAir group, which also uses the large belly space of the aircraft for cargo.

The 787-10 will give Boeing the upper hand in this market segment, and we estimate with potential sales of 700 aircraft long term.

The 787-10 can lift a higher payload than the Airbus A330-300, and has a maximum take-off weight of 250,830 kg versus 240,000 for the A330-300. The 787-10 will also have 600 more nautical miles of range than the A330-300, and 1,047 cubic feet of additional cargo space (18.9%), making it especially attractive to Asian carriers for whom strong cargo demand on regional routes is a big driver behind using wide-body aircraft for such flights.

From an operating cost perspective, the 787-10 is a new generation aircraft with updated technology. High composite light weight body, new wing shape, and bleedless and high bypass enginers. It could offer up to 20% savings on operating costs compared to the A330-300, and for an industry that loves even a 2% reduction, this would be huge.

We can also expect most operators to further reduce seat-mile costs by opting for the bone crunching nine-abreast narrow (17.2") seating, which can be justified on the shorter flights that will be operated by the 78J (time-table designation for the 787-10), in comparison, the eight abreast seating on the A330-300 offers 18" seat widths. (AirAsia X uses a nine abreast 16.5" seating on its Airbus A330s and A340s).

Airbus will naturally try to narrow this gap by offering better discounts on the A330, but the largest A330-300 operators like Cathay Pacific/DragonAir, China Airlines, Thai Airways, Delta, and Lufthansa can expect strong sales pitches from Boeing very soon.

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Farnborough Orders on Day 2

Once again, this is courtesy of Aspire Aviation.

Airbus

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	Arkia Israel Airlines	4	A321neo	Agreement
10th July	Cathay Pacific	10	A350-1000	Agreement; convert 16 existing -900 into -1000
10th July	Drukair	1	A319	Firm

Boeing

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	Air Lease Corp (ALC)	60	737 MAX 8	Firm; Reconfirmation rights for 25 more
9th July	Air Lease Corp (ALC)	15	737 MAX 9
10th July	GECAS	75	737 MAX 8	Agreement
10th July	GECAS	25	737-800	Agreement
10th July	ALAFCO	20	737 MAX 8	Agreement

Bombardier

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
10th July	Air Baltic	10	CS300	LOI; purchase rights for 10 more

Pratt & Whitney

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	IndiGo	300	PW1100G-JM	Firm
9th July	CIT	60	PW1100G-JM	Firm
9th July	Cebu Pacific	60	PW1100G-JM	Firm
9th July	Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS)	100	PW1100G-JM	MoU

CFM

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	Air Lease Corp (ALC)	150	CFM Leap-1B
10th July	GECAS	150	CFM Leap-1B	Agreement
10th July	GECAS	50	CFM56-7BE	Agreement
10th July	ALAFCO	40	CFM Leap-1B	Agreement

Embraer

Date	Customer	Quantity	Model	Remarks
9th July	Hebei Airlines	5	E-190s	Booked in Q2 backlog

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Paramount Airways receives favourable verdict against GECAS

The drama involving Chennai based Paramount Airways and GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) over a dispute on refunds and payments, began last Friday.

Paramount officials explained that the dispute with GECAS was over maintenance reserves and deposit refund. An airline release claimed

“Paramount had made a $15 million deposit to GECAS - $5 mn as deposit and $10 mn as maintenance reserves. The dispute had arisen as Paramount asked for a reimbursement of the maintenance reserves created on various checks carried out. The lack of response from GECAS led to the dispute."

On Friday, at the request of GECAS, India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), de-registered three of the five aircraft in the Paramount fleet leading to major disruptions from Saturday.

Four-year-old Paramount, is a niche airline with a market share of about 2%, largely flying within southern India. The aircraft de-registered were all Embraer ERJ-175SR (ERJ-170-200SR) VT-PAD, VT-PAE and VT-PAF and were part of a lease agreement entered in to in July 2005.


The actions were taken despite the fact that the airline had won a case over the issue at the London High Court, which has stated

“The defendant is permitted to remain in possession of the aircraft and use them for all purposes permitted under the lease agreements”

Today, Paramount Airways, got a favourable court order from the Delhi High Court which has set aside the de-registration of the Paramount aircraft by the DGCA, allowing the resumption of flights using the three de-registered aircraft.

All Paramount flights are expected to fly on schedule from tomorrow.

This is the second time since last year the DGCA has de-registered aircraft at the behest GECAS which last year, confiscated three aircraft from Kingfisher Airlines claiming payment defaults.

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Boeing Delivers First 777 to Philippine Airlines

Boeing delivered a 777-300ER (Extended Range) to Philippine Airlines (PAL) via leasing company GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). Aircraft registration RP-C7777.

Click on image for high res view. Boeing image.

The new airplane is the first 777 to join PAL's fleet and is one of two leased 777-300ERs the airline will deploy on its international routes. In addition the airline has four more 777-300ERs on order directly from Boeing from 2007.

Philippine Airlines has been operating longer than any other airline in Asia having conducted its first flight March 15, 1941. The airline currently operates five Boeing 747-400s.

The delivery flight was also used as a humanitarian flight to bring relief to residents who were recently devastated by the massive floods from Typhoon Ketsana. With the help of AmeriCares, Humanitarian International Services Group (HISG) and Kids Against Hunger, Boeing and PAL loaded nearly 18,000 pounds of medical supplies and packaged meals into the cargo hold of the 777-300ER.

The airplanes are powered by General Electric GE90-115BLs, the world's largest and most powerful commercial jet engine. The 777-300ER is well known for its cargo capacity -- up to 7,120 cubic feet (201.6 cubic meters).

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Kingfisher A320 planes de-registered or returned ?

The disagreement between Kingfisher Airlines and GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) has become murky.

Yesterday, Daily News and Analysis (DNA) newspaper reported

"In a major setback to Kingfisher Airlines, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has de-registered three of its aircraft on account of rental payment default. These aircraft will be grounded and not permitted to fly on commercial routes.

The airline had reportedly been erratic in paying its lease rental to GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) for four A-320s. Kingfisher Airlines, however, denied a default and obtained a stay order from the Karnataka High Court to prevent repossession of the four aircraft by the firm in September this year.

Senior DGCA officials confirmed that three aircraft have been struck off the records on Thursday. “Three aircraft have been de-registered and one more is likely to meet the same fate next week,” said a senior civil ministry official on condition of anonymity.

The airlines has over a dozen A-320s flying on domestic routes. With a fleet of 50 aircraft, grounding four of them won’t impact the airlines much. But for Vijay Mallya, the DGCA’s action is no less than a bitter pill. De-registration of the aircraft means the airline will have to ground them with immediate effect. An airline spokesperson said: “This issue is sub judice and it will be inappropriate if I comment on the matter.”

This move comes as a big relief for the GECAS. The company is one of the world’s top aircraft lessors. Rattled by the payment defaults, it registered a complaint with the DGCA, asking for permission to repossess four aircraft leased to the airline. The company spokesperson, however, refused to divulge information: “GE treats its business discussions with high confidentiality and is unable to disclose any details.”

Today, as per Dow Jones newswire, Kingfisher Chairman Dr. Vijay Mallya, claims that Kingfisher has returned the Airbus A320 aircraft GECAS, and does not owe any money to GECAS, who is in-fact, withholding surplus Kingfisher funds.

While this makes interesting reading, I am left wondering, where have the business plans, of the super-successful business tycoon, Dr. Vijay Mallya, gone wrong.

Just last week the Business Standard reported that low cost carrier (LCC) IndiGo has overtaken Kingfisher Airlines to become the third largest carrier in India. It has also replaced Kingfisher Red (the former Air Deccan) as the largest LCC in India.

IndiGo gained two ranks to third position with a market share rose to 14.7 per cent, while Kingfisher Red remained at fourth with 13.3 per cent, and Kingfisher Airlines slipped two spots to fifth with a lowly 11.6 per cent. In October 2008, it was Kingfisher Airlines, Kingfisher Red, and Indigo in ranks three, four, and five, respectively.

Friends and acquaintances in the airline and aviation industry too are scratching their heads, at this sudden downturn at Kingfisher.

Kingfisher Airlines is a passion for Chairman Dr. Vijay Mallya, one he administers personally. Given his world-wide business interests, constant globe-trotting, and resultant demands on his time, is it time for Dr. Mallya to do a Naresh Goyal and let a veteran airline executive like Wolfgang Prock-Schauer step in as CEO, who can devote 24 x 7 and run the airline without interference ?

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