Airbus SE came out strongly at the Dubai Airshow on Sunday with a group order for 255 single-aisle A321 aircraft, marking the first major deal of its kind since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The European planemaker’s announcement came shortly after its US rival Boeing Co said it would fulfill an order to convert 11 single-aisle 737s into cargo aircraft, and as the aviation industry slowly recovers from a pandemic-induced downturn.
Airbus said the order came from Wizz Air Holdings PLC, Frontier Group Holdings Inc, Volaris and JetSmart Airlines SpA — all from US company Indigo Partners LLC — for a total value of more than US$33 billion, based on the latest list price published by Airbus in 2018.
Photo: AFP
Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air will receive 102 aircraft, American Frontier Airlines will receive 91, while 39 will go to Mexico’s Volaris and 23 to Chilean JetSmart.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that because the four companies fall under the same aviation-focused equity firm, it allowed for a large order and for an attractive price, adding: “It’s a give and take situation.”
Deliveries are set to begin in 2025.
Representatives of the embattled aviation industry flocked to the Dubai Airshow on Sunday as the sector emerges from COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions and faces pressure to reduce its contributions to climate change.
The five-day event in the United Arab Emirates is the industry’s first large gathering since COVID-19 clipped its wings last year, as border closures left airports deserted and hundreds of aircraft idle.
Air traffic has since bounced back, although it was still 53 percent lower in September compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Commenting on Sunday’s deal, Indigo Partners chief Bill Franke said the company wanted “to be early in the [recovery] process.”
Airbus chief commercial officer and head of Airbus International Christian Scherer said the Indigo Partners airlines had “acted fast and decisively over the last few months to position themselves for this landmark order as the effect of the pandemic recedes and the world wants more sustainable flying.”
Airbus also said that the UAE’s air force ordered two additional A330 Multi-role Tanker Transport aircraft, bringing the number of those planes among its fleet to five.
Boeing meanwhile announced that it had signed a contract with an Icelandic company to convert 11 single-aisle 737 aircraft into cargo planes.
The US aircraft maker did not disclose the value of the contract with Icelease to convert 11 Boeing 737-800BCFs — a previous generation of the MAX series — into cargo aircraft.
To meet growing demand, Boeing said it would open three new freighter conversion lines in Canada and the UK, in addition to those recently opened in China and Costa Rica.
The aviation industry has weathered a global supply chain crisis that has created headaches for the shipping industry.
Amid a slump in global air traffic, during which traditionally half of all air freight was carried in the holds of passenger aircraft, airlines have turned to cargo planes. With a decrease in air traffic during the pandemic, hundreds of planes, mostly older generations, have been abandoned, although they could have been turned into cargo aircraft.
Boeing said in a statement that it forecast 1,720 freighter conversions over the next 20 years to meet demand, adding it has “more than 200 orders and commitments from 19 customers.”
While wide-body aircraft, such as the Boeing 777, 767 and A350 have their own cargo versions, single-aisle aircraft such as the 737 do not.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS