Company Watch - Airbus

AirGuide Business, Sept 1, 2008

Aug 31, 2008

Aegean took delivery of eight Airbus A320s/A321s in the first half and returned four 737-300s to lessors, bringing the fleet at the end of June to 27 aircraft compared to 24 a year earlier. Aug 28, 2008

An Airbus deal to Syria would involve the possible lease and purchase of a total of 54 aircraft between now and 2028 and help from Airbus to restructure Syria's flag carrier Syrianair, according to the sources. Contacted again on Friday, two sources repeated their version. US sanctions, imposed on Syria in 2004 for its support for anti-American groups, are seen as a major obstacle to any Airbus sale to Syria. A way around the sanctions could be if a limited number of aircraft were to be purchased by another airline or operator outside Syria, and then leased to a Syrian company, an industry executive said on Thursday. Aug 29, 2008

Another source said the cooperation agreement would amount to little if no legal way could be found to conform to the sanctions, with French officials assuring the United States that Airbus had no intention of breaking them. Airbus with Northtrop Grumman are competing for a USD$35 billion Pentagon tanker refueling deal and is anxious not to cause further political waves over the deal in a US election year. France started re-engaging Damascus in recent months after the Syrian government embarked on indirect peace talks with Israel and a protracted political crisis eased in Lebanon. Aug 29, 2008

European aerospace group EADS denied on Friday that its Airbus jet making subsidiary is in negotiations to sell passenger jets to Syria. Speculation of a deal has risen prior to a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Damascus next week, but such a sale could anger the United States, which controls the export of many aircraft components. Reuters reported on Thursday that Airbus was discussing a deal that could secure a multi-billion dollar order from the Syrian government, according to sources familiar with the talks, but that US sanctions could torpedo the purchase. Sarkozy's visit will be the first by a Western head of state to Syria since the 2005 assassination of Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told France Inter Radio during a high-profile visit to Paris last month that Syria wanted to order Airbus jets. Aug 29, 2008

Bahrain Air signed a letter of intent for the acquisition of up to six A320s. It said the order would increase its fleet to 11 aircraft upon delivery. Dates were not announced. The privately held carrier currently serves 10 destinations. Aug 27, 2008

Etihad Airways yesterday signed a firm contract for the purchase of 25 Airbus A350 XWBs, 20 A320s and 10 A380s. Order was announced at the Farnborough Airshow. Aug 26, 2008

GE Aviation yesterday announced a deal with Afriqiyah Airways for CF6-80E1s to power three firm Airbus A330s and three options. Firm engine order is valued at more than $100 million and deliveries are slated to begin in May 2009. The CF6-80E1 incorporates technology from the Tech CF6 program. Tripoli-based Afriqiyah currently operates CFM56s on its A320 fleet. Aug 27, 2008

Grupo Marsans took delivery of its first directly purchased Airbus A330-200 for its Air Comet subsidiary. The PW4000-powered, 283-seat aircraft is part of an order for 17 A330-200s placed in December 2006. Aug 29, 2008

Airbus has signed a letter of intent with a US division of UK supplier Hampson Industries covering the supply of wing and fuselage curing tools for the A350 XWB program. The $23 million agreement with California-based Coast Composites covers only the first set of tools, for which delivery will start in the current financial year. Hampson expects to derive another $60 million from further deliveries over the next four years. Coast is involved with programs including the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787. Aug 27, 2008

Kingfisher Airlines of India has deferred deliveries of some Airbus aircraft, wary of overcapacity as airlines struggle to cut costs to offset high fuel prices and softer demand. The airline, a unit of alcoholic drinks maker UB Group, has negotiated with Airbus to defer deliveries of 32 A320-family aircraft to 2010-12 from 2008/09, chief financial officer Ravi Nedungadi said on Wednesday. Also, five of the 10 long-haul A340 aircraft on order have been converted to A330-200s, he said. Aug 27, 2008

Kingfisher Airlines, which is scheduled to launch its inaugural international flight from Bangalore to London on September 3, is also negotiating to sell two of the remaining five A340s on order, leaving three for its planned operations to the United States. Kingfisher, which owns discount carrier Deccan Aviation, has five A380 superjumbos on order, scheduled for delivery from 2012, as well as 20 A350 aircraft scheduled for delivery from 2013. It also has a further 20 A330-200 aircraft on order, making it one of the single largest stakeholders in the Airbus order backlog by number of planes. Aug 27, 2008

Qantas Airways has 20 A380s on order and a fleet of 24 747-400s and six 747-400ERs, for which it was the only customer. It has been pressing Boeing for some time about improvements to the 777-300ER, and according to Emirates President Tim Clark, Boeing has a package in hand. Earlier this month on the first commercial flight of Emirates' A380, and said that the -300ER upgrade would see a further 10% improvement in fuel burn. The so-called -300ERX would counter the promised brochure performance of the A350-1000, which Clark claimed still is being finalized. Aug 28, 2008