Wednesday 30 October 2019

Airbus Updates No.2309

Taiwan's Starlux Airlines adds first Airbus A321NEO aircraft



Starlux Airlines (SJX, Taipei Taoyuan) has taken delivery of its first aircraft, an A321neo, as part of its AOC certification drive.
In a statement, the Taiwanese start-up confirmed B-58201 (msn 9208) had been ferried to Taipei Taoyuan from Hamburg Finkenwerder via Dubai World Central over the course of October 26/27.
A further two aircraft of the type, also on lease from GECAS, are expected to arrive through January next year in time for its planned January 23, 2020, launch with Macau Int'l, Penang, and Da Nang services initially. Starlux expects to secure its AOC and all other requisite licences in mid-December.
As previously reported, Starlux has a total of ten A321neo due from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) through 2021.

Airbus Updates No.2308

India's IndiGo Airlines orders 300 A320neo Family jets



IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l) has announced it has placed a firm order with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for 300 A320neo Family aircraft.
The Indian low-cost carrier said in a stock market filing that the order comprises a mix of A320neo, A321neo, and A321neo(XLR) aircraft. As of September 30, 2019, IndiGo's Airbus order backlog totalled 191 A320neo and 144 A321neo.
“This order is an important milestone, as it reiterates our mission of strengthening air connectivity in India, which will in turn boost economic growth and mobility," Ronojoy Dutta, IndiGo's Chief Executive Officer, said. "India is expected to continue with its strong aviation growth and we are well on our way to build the world’s best air transportation system, to serve more customers and to deliver on our promise of providing low fares and a courteous, hassle-free experience to them."
According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, IndiGo operates twenty-two ATR72-600s, 127 A320ceo, eighty-nine A320neo, and seven A321neo.
Induction of the new generation jets has, however, not been a smooth process.
Last week, India's Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) warned IndiGo not to deploy any A320neo aircraft into service whose Pratt & Whitney powerplants have exceeded 3,000 hours of flying time or risk having the aircraft grounded. The regulator told the LCC that all 16 affected aircraft have to be fitted with at least one modified LPT engine within the next 15 days.
Then, earlier this month, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, the LCC's President and Chief Operating Officer, told India's LiveMint that plans to more accelerate the roll-out of international routes would be curtailed given an added "three- to six-month" delay in the deliveries of A321neo.
“The delivery of A321neo planes are expected to slow down. They are made in Hamburg Finkenwerder where there are some (industrial) disturbances,” he said.
As an interim measure, IndiGo may look into short-term leasing options while it awaits its A321neo deliveries.

Airbus Updates No.2307

Incident: Frontier A20N at Colorado Springs on Oct 28th 2019, overran runway on landing
By Simon Hradecky, created Tuesday, Oct 29th 2019 00:01Z, last updated Tuesday, Oct 29th 2019 00:01Z
A Frontier Airbus A320-200N, registration N304FR performing flight F9-2822 from Phoenix,AZ to Colorado Springs,CO (USA), landed on Colorado Springs' runway 17L but overran the end of the runway and came to a stop with all gear on the paved surface of the runway end safety area about 40 meters past the end of the runway. There were no injuries and no damage.

The runway was closed for two hours until the aircraft had been towed to the apron.

Incident: SAS A333 at Copenhagen on Oct 28th 2019, bird strike
By Simon Hradecky, created Tuesday, Oct 29th 2019 18:29Z, last updated Tuesday, Oct 29th 2019 18:29Z
A SAS Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration SE-REH performing flight SK-943 from Copenhagen (Denmark) to Chicago O'Hare,IL (USA), departed Copenhagen's runway 22R when the aircraft received a bird strike. In the absence of abnormal indications the crew continued the climb. The aircraft was enroute at FL320 about 230nm northwest of Copenhagen when the crew decided to turn around and return to Copenhagen. The aircraft landed safely back on Copenhagen's runway 22L about one hour after the decisition to turn around.

Passengers reported the crew indicated the aircraft had flown through a flock of geese.

The airline reported the aircraft received a bird strike on departure, for safety reasons the crew decided to return.

The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Copenhagen about 25 hours after landing back.

Incident: Jetblue A320 at Long Beach on Oct 29th 2019, hydraulic problem
By Simon Hradecky, created Tuesday, Oct 29th 2019 22:53Z, last updated Tuesday, Oct 29th 2019 23:36Z
A Jetblue Airbus A320-200, registration N509JB performing flight B6-280 from Long Beach,CA to Las Vegas,NV (USA) with 93 people on board, was in the initial climb out of Long Beach's runway 30 when the crew reported a hydraulic pressure problem and decided to divert to Los Angeles,CA (USA). The aircraft landed safely on Los Angeles' runway 25L about 35 minutes after departure.

A ground observer at Long Beach reported seeing what appeared to be smoke from the left main wheel well, definitely not the #1 engine (V2527), just after takeoff. When the left main gear door closed the smoke disappeared.

Monday 28 October 2019

Airbus Updates No.2306

Incident: Indigo A20N near Mumbai on Oct 25th 2019, engine shut down in flight
By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Oct 26th 2019 19:27Z, last updated Saturday, Oct 26th 2019 19:27Z
An Indigo Airbus A320-200, registration VT-ITA performing flight 6E-375 from Mumbai to Coimbatore (India), was climbing through FL330 about 100nm south of Mumbai when the crew needed to shut one of the engines (PW1127G) down. The aircraft returned to Mumbai for a safe landing about 45 minutes after departure.

India's DGCA reported the engine experienced high vibrations attributed to the low pressure turbine.

Incident: Easyjet Europe A320 at Milan on Oct 23rd 2019, smoke in cabin
By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, Oct 23rd 2019 19:52Z, last updated Wednesday, Oct 23rd 2019 19:52Z
An Easyjet Europe Airbus A320-200, registration OE-IVU performing flight U2-2733 from Milan Malpensa (Italy) to Malaga,SP (Spain) with 150 people on board, was climbing out of Malpensa's runway 35L when the crew stopped the climb at FL080 reporting smoke in the cabin. The aircraft returned to Malpensa for a safe landing on runway 35R about 20 minutes after departure and taxied to the apron.

A replacement A320-200 registration OE-IJD reached Malaga with a delay of about 6 hours.

The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Milan about 14.5 hours after landing back.


Sunday 27 October 2019

Airbus Updates No.2305

VietJetAir to lease six A320 Family jets from Avion Express



VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi) will wet-lease three A320-200s and three A321-200s from Avion Express (X9, Vilnius) during the Winter 2019/20 season, the Lithuanian ACMI/charter specialist said in a press release.
"Avion Express is constantly working on expanding its client base and has recently signed an ACMI contract with VietJetAir, an international low-cost airline from Vietnam. According to the wet-lease agreement, six aircraft - three Airbus A320 and three Airbus A321 - will be flying for the Vietnamese carrier until the end of February 2020. Four of the aircraft will already start operations in Vietnam in November," it said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Avion Express currently operates fourteen A320-200s and seven A321-200s. Ten A320s are wet-leased to SunExpress (XQ, Antalya), one to United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (Brindisi), two have been inactive since ACMI customer Thomas Cook Airlines UK (MT, Manchester Int'l) collapsed, and one was ferried to Amman Queen Alia on October 23. Two A321s are wet-leased to Onur Air (8Q, Istanbul New) and of the remaining five, which used to be wet-leased to Thomas Cook UK, four are inactive and one is scheduled to start operating for Condor (DE, Frankfurt Int'l) shortly.
Subsidiary Avion Express Malta (MLH, Malta Int'l) operates an A320 for Norwegian (DY, Oslo Gardermoen).
For its part, VietJetAir operates an in-house fleet of twenty-two A320-200s, thirty-three A321-200s, and twelve A321-200neo. It also wet-leases three A320s from FlyOne (5F, Chisinau).

Airbus Updates No.2304

 Airbus A320  -251N  9277    VT-TNQ  Vistara  delivery 23oct19 TLS-DEL  ex F-WWDK
 Airbus A320  -271N  9287    EC-NFK  Vueling  delivery 26oct19 TLS-BCN  ex F-WWBZ
 Airbus A320  -251N  9300    B-30AS  Colorful Guizhau Airlines  delivery 24oct19 TLS-TSE  ex F-WWIR
 Airbus A321  -211  5044    VN-A585  Bamboo Airways  delivery 21-23oct19 KUN-ASB-MDL-CGK, c/n tbc  ex VQ-BOH
 Airbus A321  -211  5126    D-AEUI  Eurowings  delivery 25oct19 BUD-DUS  ex OE-LCJ
 Airbus A321  -211  6056    G-TCDE  BCII A321 6056 Llc  ferried 26oct19 SNN-BGR-LCQ, TCX cs  ex D-AVZS
 Airbus A321  -251NX  8984    G-NEOW  British Airways  delivery 25oct19 XFW-LHR  ex D-AVYW
 Airbus A321  -252NX  9208    B-58201  StarLux Airlines  delivery 26-27oct19 XFW-DWC-TPE  ex D-AZAX
 Airbus A330  -343  389    B-HLN  Cathay Dragon  ferried 25oct19 XMN-HKG after transfer  ex F-WWYV
 Airbus A330  -202  473    9H-RTU  Luke Air  at DUB 26oct19 in full cs, dual reg prior delivery  e A7-ACA
 Airbus A330  -223  802    EC-MTY  Evelop Airlines  ferried 27oct19 FCO-NAP after wet-lease to Norwegian  ex D-ABXG
 Airbus A330  -343  1012    C-GEGI  Air Canada  onward delivery 25-26oct19 QPG-HND-YMX, Star Alliance cs  ex CS-TOW
 Airbus A330  -243  1016    G-TCXD  Thomas Cook Airlines  ferried 25-26oct19 SNN-BGR-LCQ on return to lessor  ex N969AV
 Airbus A330  -343  1071    A6-AFA  Etihad Airways  back in svc since 13oct19 AUH-GVA vv after storage  ex F-WWYP
 Airbus A330  -343  1072    VQ-BCV  Aeroflot  ferried 23oct19 SVO-HKG prior return to lessor  ex F-WWYK
 Airbus A340  -642  617    EC-JCY  Iberia  ferried 26oct19 MAD-LETL for storage  ex F-WWCL
 Airbus A350  -1041  319    G-VPRD  Virgin Alantic  onward delivery 24oct19 BOD-LGW-GLA, for crew training  ex F-WZNY
 Airbus A350  -941  352    JA04XJ  Japan Airlines  delivery 26oct19 TLS-HND  ex F-WZNP
 Airbus Canada A220  -371  55061    SU-GFA  EgyptAir Express  delivery 26-27oct19 YMX-OST-CAI  ex C-FOVP

Airbus Updates No.2303

Airbus A319 -133CJ 1468   YV2984 ConViasa in svc 23-24oct19 CCS-DSS-ISL-GYD, VIP flight  ex FAV0001
 Airbus A319 -112 1886   LZ-AWT DAE Capital ferried 24-25oct19 LDE-SNN-BGR-VCV ex D-ASTK
 Airbus A319 -112 3630   OK-NEP CSA Czech Airlines posn 26oct19 BRU-MUC after wet-lease to Brussels Airlines / to Lufthansa ex D-AVYT
 Airbus A320 -211 70   D-AIPB Lufthansa ferried 25oct19 MUC-OST, for part-out & scrap ex F-WWIJ
 Airbus A320 -214 1005   9H-AMA Avion Express Malta  ferried 27oct19 OSL-CHR after wet-lease to Norwegian  ex LY-VEW
 Airbus A320 -214 3149   XA-UHE Interjet ferried 26oct19 TLC-TUS-GYR, for Air Canada as C-GFDU  ex F-WWBS
 Airbus A320 -232 3308   OE-IHZ Celestial Aviation  regd 23oct19, parked at KUL ex VT-IHG
 Airbus A320 -233 3378   N497TA Avianca Costa Rica ferried 26oct19 SAL-IAH-GYR on return to lessor  ex F-WWDK
 Airbus A320 -214 4758   OE-IEF Avolon Aerospace regd 25oct19, parked at WOE (+ 4767 OE-IEE ex F-HAQD) ex F-HAAF
 Airbus A320 -214 8263   HB-JXQ easyJet Switzerland  posn 21oct19 LGW-GVA on transfer, regd 22oct19  ex G-EZRV
 Airbus A320 -271N 9039   B-30AE Shenzhen Airlines delivery 26oct19 TSN-SZX ex B-000L
 Airbus A320 -271N 9084   B-30AP Shenzhen Airlines delivery 23oct19 TSN-SZX ex B-007C
 Airbus A320 -251N 9111   G-UZLI easyJet for delivery 28oct19 XFW-LTN ex D-AXAU
 Airbus A320 -271N 9118   VT-IJO IndiGo Airlines delivery 25oct19 XFW-DEL ex D-AUBZ
 Airbus A320 -251N 9146   CC-AZM Sky Airline delivery 25-27oct19 XFW-KEF-CHS-IQQ-SCL  ex D-AXAM
 Airbus A320 -271N 9181   B-30AT Qingdao Airlines delivery 26oct19 TSN-TAO ex B-000D
 Airbus A320 -251N 9203   VT-TNP Vistara delivery 24oct19 TLS-DEL ex F-WWBG
 Airbus A320 -251N 9221   N361FR Frontier Airlines delivery 24oct19 BFM-TPA ex F-WZMQ
 Airbus A320 -251N 9222   N362FR Frontier Airlines delivery 26oct19 BFM-TPA ex F-WZMR
 Airbus A320 -251N 9250   XA-DQR Interjet delivery 23-24oct19 TLS-KEF-BGR-TLC  ex F-WWBI

Thursday 24 October 2019

Airbus Updates No.2302

CSA Czech Airlines to add A220s, A321neo(XLR)s



CSA Czech Airlines (OK, Prague Ruzyne) has ordered four A220-300s from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) and, at the same time, revised an existing order for three A320neo to three A321neo(XLR)s.
The Czech carrier's parent firm Smartwings (Czechia) (QS, Prague Ruzyne) said in a statement that the first two A220s will arrive at the end of 2020 with the remaining pair due in the first and second quarters of 2021. Collectively, the jets, which will feature 149 seats, will replace CSA's fleet of five ATR72-500s all of which are due to be returned to their lessors, Nordic Aviation Capital (2) and Safair Lease Finance (3).
The A321neo(XLR)s are due to arrive from 2025 onwards.
Smartwings said talks with Airbus over the revision of a long-deferred 2006 order for seven A320neo had lasted for several months before an agreement was finally reached.
"The Airbus A220 and A321neo(XLR) fit into our long-term strategy covering network and destination development. The inclusion of these aircraft in CSA's fleet will give it a competitive advantage while at the same time increase capacity on existing routes. It offers a completely new cabin layout to the highest possible level of comfort in its class, even over the coming years," Petr Kudela, CSA Chairman, said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, aside from the outgoing Avions de Transport Régional turboprops, CSA also operates six A319-100s and one A330-300. It also wet-leases in two B737-700s and four B737-800s from Smartwings. In terms of network, CSA serves multiple destinations across the whole of Europe as well as the Middle East and Seoul Incheon, its only longhaul destination.

Airbus Updates No.2301

Spirit Airlines Announces Upcoming Order of 100 Airbus A320neo Family Aircraft


Spirit signs memorandum of understanding with Airbus to add a mix of Airbus A319neo, A320neo, and A321neo aircraft to continue Spirit’s growth and sustain one of the youngest, most fuel-efficient fleets in the U.S.


Company Release - 10/23/2019 4:10 PM ET

MIRAMAR, Fla., Oct. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE), America’s fastest-growing airline, today announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Airbus for the purchase of 100 new Airbus A320neo Family aircraft, together with the option to purchase up to 50 additional aircraft. The MOU includes a mix of Airbus A319, A320, and A321 models. These aircraft are planned for delivery through 2027.
“This new order represents another milestone for Spirit,” said Spirit Airlines’ President and CEO Ted Christie. “The additional aircraft will be used to support Spirit’s growth as we add new destinations and expand our network across the U.S, Latin America and the Caribbean. We look forward to working with our valued partners at Airbus to finalize our agreement.”

Spirit’s Fit Fleet® is one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient in the U.S. with an average aircraft age of just 5.6 years. Spirit currently operates 138 Airbus A320-family aircraft and has seven Airbus A320neo aircraft scheduled for delivery from Mobile, Ala., by year-end 2019, bringing its fleet count to 145. In 2020 and 2021, Spirit anticipates taking delivery of 48 A320neo aircraft.

“The Airbus A320 Family has been a strong platform for the remarkable success of Spirit over the past several years,” said Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer. “The continuing confidence in the A320 expressed by the airline certainly lifts our spirits, and we look forward to being a part of the Spirit team’s continued growth for many, many years to come.”

In December 2019, Spirit plans to unveil an aircraft cabin redesign as part of its Invest in the Guest initiative. The cabin redesign will improve the look and feel of the interior while adding new, more comfortable seats that provide additional usable legroom. Spirit’s new seats will feature thicker padding, ergonomically-designed lumbar support, and a full-size tray table. Middle seats will also gain another inch of width, and every seat will gain nearly an inch of pre-recline compared to Spirit’s current seating configuration, with exit rows adding even more.

Visit the Spirit Careers page to learn about the hundreds of pilot, flight attendant and maintenance positions that America’s fastest growing airline will be hiring over the next few years.


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Airbus Updates No.4253

  Ryanair eyes more A320s for its Lauda Europe unit Ryanair Holdings  is targeting a fleet of around fifty  Airbus  narrowbodies operated by...

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