Aircraft Finance & Leasing News

Aug 27, 2007

Growth in aviation may outstrip technological gains. Technological improvements are increasing the fuel efficiency of aviation, and more improvements are in the pipeline. However, the sheer growth of the industry may overtake the benefits. Aug 20, 2007

ACT Airlines, based at Istanbul Ataturk, signed an MOU for two Airbus A330-200 freighters, Airbus announced. ACT currently operates seven A300B4 freighters and will use the new aircraft for flights to Hong Kong, Singapore and New York. Aug 20, 2007

Aeroflot To Buy Boeing 787s, Airbus A350s. Russia's national airline, Aeroflot, will pay USD$5.81 billion for a total of 44 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, a discount of about 17 percent, Vedomosti business daily reported on Monday. Aeroflot has agreed to pay USD$2.906 billion for 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft and USD$2.904 billion for 22 of Airbus's A350 XWB planes, the paper said, citing a report by Interfax news agency. Aeroflot announced the deals earlier this year but has never said how much it was going to pay for the aircraft in one of the biggest-ever foreign plane orders by a Russian company. Analysts told the paper the discount was so large because Aeroflot had managed to play off both companies against each other. Under the deals, Aeroflot will get its first Airbus in 2014 and the last in 2019, and its first Boeing in 2014 and the last in 2016, the paper said. Aug 20, 2007

Air China will invest CNY5 billion ($657.9 million) to establish the country's largest flight simulator training base. It will be located

in Shunyi District in suburban Beijing. CA reached a deal with district authorities yesterday. The complex will comprise 30 full-motion flight simulators, eight fixed-base simulators, a cabin crew training center, MRO training center, ground-handling service training center and other relevant support facilities that the airline said will help reduce its long-term dependence on foreign training resources. CA's current fleet numbers 207 aircraft and it expects that to rise to 306 by 2010. Aug 23, 2007

AirAsia In Talks For More A320s. Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia is in talks to buy more Airbus A320 planes due to increasing demand, AirAsia Deputy Chief Executive Kamarudin Meranum said. AirAsia, one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, has 150 firm orders for the single-aisle A320s and options on another 50. AirAsia, Asia's largest budget carrier, introduced its low-fare, no-frills concept in December 2001, and has since embarked on an aggressive expansion. Aug 21, 2007

Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP-Sales-Russia/CIS Craig Jones said. "Both domestic and international air traffic has increased in Russia and the CIS by 36% over the last 10 years. Most indicators point toward continued economic growth for the region. . .Liberalization of air traffic regulations, airline consolidation and the reduction or elimination of high tariffs on new airplanes could generate additional demand for new airplanes." Aug 23, 2007

Boeing predicts Russia, former Soviet states to spend $70B on planes. Boeing says airlines in Russia and the 11 other former Soviet republics in the Commonwealth of Independent States may buy more than 1,000 new passenger planes worth $70 billion over the next two decades. Boeing forecasts that airlines in the region will order 470 planes the size of Boeing's 737, worth $30 billion. Another $20 billion will be spent on twin-aisle jets, with the remainder spent on smaller regional aircraft. Aug 23, 2007

Boeing and Atlant-Soyuz announced today at the 2007 Moscow Air Show that the Moscow-based carrier is the customer for four Next Generation 737-700s. The order, worth $249 million at 2007 list prices, was listed as unidentified on Boeing's Orders & Deliveries Web site in 2006 and is accounted for in 2006 order totals. Atlant-Soyuz is one of the largest charter carriers in Russia. Currently the airline offers scheduled domestic and international charter flights from its base airport, Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport. Atlant-Soyuz is an official carrier for the Government of Moscow. Aug 23, 2007

What has changed in the year since Alan Mulally left Boeing to be chief executive at Ford Motor? Everything, and nothing. Since his appointment last September, making him the first outsider in recent memory to run a Detroit automaker, Mulally has brought discipline to a company known for rivalries and infighting. An admirer of the development team that created the Ford Taurus sedan, he revived the famed nameplate, most recently relegated to a rental car. He mortgaged virtually all of Ford's assets to amass the billions the company needs for its restructuring, and has put its British luxury name plates, Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin, up for sale. Aug 22, 2007

China Southern to buy 55 Boeing planes. China Southern Airlines will buy 55 more Boeing planes to update and expand its fleet. The new Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 planes are scheduled for delivery between May 2011 and October 2013. Details of the deal were not disclosed, although airline officials said they would pay less than list price for the planes. Aug 22, 2007