Airbus
Today Brazil’s Azul announced an new service with six Airbus A330-200 (leased from ILFC ) and is planning to lease five Airbus A350-900 XWBs. This is a radical step for the airline. Up to now it has focused on Embraer 190s and regional services (80 Embraer and 56 ATR aircraft). With Airbus widebodies the airline can service overseas markets like North American and Europe. Azul expects to debut its first international flights by early 2015 with the US the first market. With less than six years of operations, Azul has already flown more than 85 million customers since its first flight on December 15, 2008.
Here is the latest data from each of the three flight test programs through March. Continue reading
Today ANA announced orders for 70 aircraft worth $16.6Bn at retail prices. The long haul portion of this order has been much anticipated after rival JAL’s order for A350s. The A350 order by JAL was significant because this was the Japan breakout order Airbus had been seeking. Continue reading
The current political tensions in the Ukraine have resulted in economic sanctions imposed by the US and its western allies on Russia. We have no interest in politics, but when political actions impact the industry, it hits our radar screen. The aerospace industry is global, and just like dropping a pebble into a pond, the impact will ripple to the other side. Here, those ripples could have major impacts.
This interview came about because of the publication of a thought leadership piece on the A330neo by CIT Aerospace’s VP Aircraft Analysis Steve Mason which can be found here. (Link edited)
