FedEx Corp may buy about 50 wide-body freighters from Boeing Co. and Airbus to update its cargo airline fleet, an industry source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. FedEx is considering Boeing's 767, which lists at $167.7 million, and Airbus's A330, which lists at $203.6 million, according to the source. Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx runs the world's largest cargo airline and No. 2 package delivery company. Its potential freighter purchases were first reported on Wednesday by Bloomberg.
FedEx has been updating its fleet to add more fuel-efficient aircraft. "As a matter of policy, we don't discuss market rumors or speculation," FedEx spokesman Jim McCluskey said on Thursday. Airbus declined to comment, and Boeing had no immediate comment. According to the company's website, the FedEx Express division has 688 aircraft made by various companies, including Boeing and Airbus. FedEx shares were off 1.5 percent at $75.01 in midafternoon trading.
The orders confirmed by Airbus and Boeing as it stands at Paris air show.
Company Firm Value Provisional Value
Airbus 312 $30.2 bln 318 $29.5 bln
Boeing 47 $7.5 bln 94 $14.9 bln
Last year at Farnborough Airshow, Airbus unveiled net new orders for 130 planes worth over $13 billion, and Boeing 103 new orders worth over $10 billion.
Between them, they racked up a combined 176 provisional orders worth over $19 billion
AIRBUS ORDERS BY CUSTOMER: FIRM ORDERS
Company No of aircraft Type Value
LAN 20 A320neo $1.8 bln
IndiGo 30 A320 $2.5 bln
IndiGo 150 A320neo $13.7 bln
TransAsia 6 A321neo $0.6 bln
Air Lease Corp 11 A330 $2.4 bln
Air Lease Corp 1 A321 $0.1 bln
SAS 30 A320neo $2.7 bln
GECAS 60 A320neo $5.5 bln
Saudi Arabian 4 A330 $0.9 bln
PROVISIONAL ORDERS
Company No of aircraft Type Value
Alafco 30 A320neo $2.7 bln
Republic 40 A320neo $3.6 bln
Republic 40 A319neo $3.4 bln
Avianca 18 A320 $1.5 bln
Avianca 33 A320neo $3.0 bln
Alafco 6 A350-900 $1.6 bln
Garuda 15 A320 $1.3 bln
Garuda 10 A320neo $0.9 bln
JetBlue 40 A320neo $3.6 bln
CIT 50 A320neo $4.6 bln
Air Lease Corp 36 A320neo $3.3 bln
BOEING ORDERS BY CUSTOMER:
FIRM ORDERS
Company No of aircraft Type Value
*Malaysian 10 737-800 $0.8 bln
*Aeroflot 8 777-300ER $2.3 bln
Norwegian 3 787 $0.6 bln
Norwegian 15 737-800 $1.2 bln
Mongolian 1 767-300ER $0.16bln
Mongolian 2 737-800 $0.16bln
Unidentified 2 747-8 $0.6 bln
*Qatar Airways 6 777-300ER $1.7 bln * - orders were previously in Boeing order book but customer was unidentified
Thai Airways announced Monday that it would acquire 23 Airbus and 14 Boeing airplanes for about $3.9 billion to modernise its ageing fleet after a period of financial turbulence. The carrier said the deals, which have been approved by its board of directors, would enable it to grow profits and be among the top three leading airlines in Asia in terms of quality and service efficiency. The airline plans to buy six Boeing 777-300ER planes, four Airbus A350-900s and five A320-200s for a total of about $1.6 billion, for delivery between 2014 and 2017. It will also lease 22 aircraft, including eight Boeing 787 Dreamliners, to be delivered between 2012 and 2017, a company statement said. "Acquiring new aircraft made from lightweight and non-corrosive composite material to replace retiring aircraft will save fuel and maintenance costs," it added.
The company is bouncing back after a tough spell that saw it sink 21.3 billion baht ($702 million) in the red in 2008 owing to the global financial crisis, high fuel costs and political protests that temporarily shut Bangkok's airports. The carrier posted a net profit of 1.6 billion baht in 2010, up more than threefold compared with 2009 as revenue more than doubled. The airline faces increased competition from regional low-cost carriers such as Air Asia and last year announced plans to start its own budget airline in cooperation with Singapore's Tiger Airways. Currently Thai Airways operates a mixed fleet, including some ageing Boeing 747 jumbos and Airbus A300s, which are no longer being produced.
Thai Airways president Piyasvasti Amranand admitted in October that the carrier's planes were "pretty old" and said the company needed to move quickly given the backlog of orders facing Boeing and Airbus. The new orders are on top of a plan announced a year ago to take delivery of seven Airbus A330-300s medium-range aircraft and eight Boeing 777-300ER long-range planes by 2014 on lease.The group has delayed delivery of six Airbus A380s, now due to arrive starting from 2012, because of a shortage of cash. The launch of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, heralded as a new generation of highly fuel-efficient mid-sized aircraft, has been repeatedly delayed due to a string of technical mishaps. Delivery of the first 787s is now scheduled for the third quarter of 2011 to inaugural customer All Nippon Airways of Japan.
Hong Kong Airlines Ltd. will order Airbus A380s as it challenges larger neighbor Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and adds flights in China, the world’s fastest- growing air-travel market. The carrier, controlled by the investment arm of China’s Hainan province government, will announce the deal at next week’s Paris Air Show, it said in a text-message reply to questions today. It didn’t elaborate on the number of superjumbos it will buy at the show, which starts June 20th. The world’s largest airliner may help Hong Kong Air compete with Cathay on long-haul routes and offset a looming capacity crunch at the city’s airport caused by delays in building a new runway. The carrier will be the third new A380 customer this year, following Skymark Airlines Inc. and Asiana Airlines Inc., as Airbus boosts sales among smaller Asian carriers. “It’s a good move for brand-building,” said Kelvin Lau, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets. “It’s quite difficult for newcomers to break into lucrative long-haul routes.”
Hong Kong Air also agreed to order 32 Boeing Co. 787s and six 777 freighters earlier this year to help expand. It had 30 Airbus A320s, 12 A330s and 15 A350s on order as of the end of May, according to the Toulouse, France-based planemaker’s website. The carrier and affiliate Hong Kong Express now operate 18 planes, according to their website. The airline expects to double passenger numbers to 4 million this year as it adds planes and taps China’s rising travel, President Yang Jianhong said in March. The carrier has a less than 10 percent share of Hong Kong’s outbound travel market, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said at the time. The airline will be the second in Greater China to order the A380 following China Southern Airlines Co. Airbus is due to deliver the first superjumbo to China Southern later this year. The planemaker has sold a total of 234 A380s, of which 49 have been delivered, as of the end of May, according to its website.
Orders for the A380 have been dominated by Middle East and Asia-Pacific carriers. Emirates Airline has placed orders for 90, making it the largest customer. Singapore Airlines Ltd. was the first carrier to fly the superjumbo on commercial services. Asiana, South Korea’s second-biggest carrier, signed up for six A380s in January. Skymark, a Japanese budget airline, confirmed an order for four the following month. Cathay Pacific has so far ruled out ordering A380s and is instead building its long-haul fleet with smaller planes. It ordered 15 Airbus A330-300s and 10 Boeing 777-300ERs in March, following an agreement for 30 A350s in August. “We’ll probably have another good look at big aircraft in the next one or two years,” Chief Executive Officer John Slosar said last week in Singapore at the International Air Transport Association’s annual general meeting.
Hong Kong Air is seeking to raise funds by selling a stake to private-equity investors ahead of an initial public offering that may raise as much as $1 billion, Yang said in March. The carrier had a net income of about HK$110 million ($14 million) in 2010, its first annual profit, and it may double that this year, he said. Hong Kong Airport will likely reach full capacity by about 2020 because of growing demand for flights into China, operator Airport Authority Hong Kong said earlier this month as public consultation on plans to build a third runway began. Passenger numbers at the airport may grow as much as 3.6 percent a year, reaching 105 million by 2030, according to estimates on its website. China’s international passenger numbers my rise 11 percent a year through 2014, about double the pace of the global market, according to the International Air Transport Association.
India's largest private airline Jet Airways and budget carrier GoAir are in line to order $6.5 billion worth of Airbus aircraft at the forthcoming Paris Air Show, The Economic Times reported on Thursday. The financial daily quoted Jet chairman Naresh Goyal as saying that they were buying 10 A330 aircraft worth $2.5 billion as part of plans to expand its routes in Europe. GoAir is looking to order at least 50 narrow-body A320 jets worth $4 billion for short-haul domestic routes, which will be brought into service as soon as next year, the report said, quoting two sources familiar with the matter.
Both orders were still being negotiated but were in the final stages, the newspaper added, quoting unnamed sources within Airbus. A Jet Airways spokeswoman in New Delhi told AFP that she had no details on the exact nature of the orders, as Goyal was speaking on the sidelines of the recent International Air Transport Association annual general meeting in Singapore. But she added: "We're asking for just a few (aircraft) because that's in line and keeping with our growth plan."
No one was immediately available for comment at GoAir. The Economic Times said budget airline IndiGo would also push ahead with a previously announced order for 180 A320 aircraft with an estimated value of $15 billion, after signing a memorandum of understanding with Airbus last year. Air India, the state-run national carrier, is planning to take 10 A330s and 16 A320s on a rental basis, it added. Aviation has taken off in India in recent years but private airlines have been grappling with rising fuel prices and a slowdown in economic growth that has hit business.
The Air France airliner that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 was out of control for four minutes, investigators said, in a report raising questions about how crew handled a "stall alarm" blaring out in the cabin. Information gleaned from black boxes, and recovered almost two years after the disaster killed 228 people, confirmed that speed-readings in the Airbus cockpit had gone haywire, believed to be linked to the icing of speed sensors outside the jet. As Air France pilots fought for control, the doomed A330 dropped 38,000 feet, rolling left to right, its engines flat out but its wings unable to grab enough air to keep flying.
The plane crashed on June 1, 2009, en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Black boxes stopped recording at 0214 GMT. France's BEA crash investigation agency said in a detailed chronology of the crash that commands from the controls of the 32-year-old junior pilot on board had pulled the nose up as the aircraft became unstable and generated an audible stall warning. Aviation industry sources told reporters that this action went against the normal procedures which call for the nose to be lowered in response to an alert that the plane was about to stall.
This type of aerodynamic stall is nothing to do with a stall in the engines, both of which kept working as crew requested. "A stall is the moment at which a plane stops flying and starts falling," said David Learmount, operations and safety editor at the British aviation publication Flight International. An aircraft industry safety consultant said the standard guidance in the Airbus pilot manual called in this event for the pilot to lower the nose by pushing the control stick forward.
"The BEA is now going to have to analyze and get to bottom of how crew handled this event," said Paul Hayes, safety director at Ascend Aviation, a UK-based aviation consultancy. "The big question in my mind is why did the pilot flying (the aircraft) appear to continue to pull the nose up," he said. French investigators said the emergency began with the autopilot disengaging itself two and a half hours into the flight and the junior pilot, who had been in control at take-off, picked up manually and saying "I have control".
The autopilot appears to have responded to a loss of reliable airspeed information. This was accompanied moments later by the disembodied voice of a recorded "stall" alert. It is what happened next that is likely to fuel most theories on what preceded the crash, but Air France and its main pilots union insisted faulty speed probes were the root cause. In a passage likely to attract particular scrutiny, the BEA said the pilot "maintained" the nose-up command despite fresh stall warnings 46 seconds into the four-minute emergency.
"The inputs made by the pilot flying were mainly nose-up," the report added. The Airbus jet climbed 3,000 feet to 38,000 feet despite the crew having decided earlier against a climb, and then began a dramatic descent, with the youngest pilot handing control to the second most senior pilot a minute before impact. The captain returned after "several attempts" to call him back to the cockpit but was not at the controls in the final moments, according to information gleaned from black boxes.
By the time the 58-year-old returned, just over a minute into the emergency, the aircraft was in serious trouble: plunging at 10,000 feet a minute with its nose pointing up 15 degrees and at too high an angle to the air to recapture lift. The BEA did not provide extracts of the transcript for the last minute before the jet hit the water with its nose up. It promised a fuller interim report which could say more about the causes of the crash in July.
Etihad Airways Pilot recruitment team will be touring South East Asia throughout June 2011 in search of new First Officers. Etihad is looking for qualified first officers for its fleet of A320, A330,A340 and B777, all based in the Capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi.
The schedule of the road show is as follows.
City
Date
Time
Location
Jakarta
07.06.2011
09:00 - 15:00
City DateTimeLocationJakarta07.06.201109:00 - 15:00
Singapore
09.06.2011
10.06.2011
09:00 - 15:00
Swissôtel The Stamford, 2 Stamford Road
Kuala Lumpur
13.06.2011
14.06.2011
09:00 - 15:00
Doubletree by Hilton, Kuala Lumpur, The Intermark, 182 Jalan Tun Razak
Manila
16.06.2011
09:00 - 15:00
Mandarin Oriental Makati Hotel, Makati Avenue, Makati City 1226
Hong Kong
19.06.2011
09:00 - 15:00
Novotel Citygate Hong Kong, 51 Man Tung Road
Ho Chi Min
21.06.2011
09:00 - 15:00
Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers, 88 Dong Khoi Street, District 1
Investigators trying to determine why an Air France plane crashed mysteriously two years ago have recovered the complete contents of the flight data recorder and the last two hours of cockpit conversation, they announced Monday.It will take several weeks to analyze the data, French air accident experts said.All 228 people aboard Air France 447 were killed when the Airbus A330 belly-flopped into the ocean June 1, 2009, in stormy weather. The cause of the crash is still not known.
Discovering that there was data on the recorders "is excellent news. It is really going to help us work out what happened on that plane," said Martine Del Bono, spokeswoman for France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA). The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were found at the beginning of May after an unprecedented series of submarine searches of a mountain range 3,900 meters (12,700 feet) under the ocean. They were brought to the surface and taken to Paris by ship and plane.
The investigators also recovered two bodies from the fuselage -- after finding only about 50 bodies in the days immediately after the crash.
They will not bring more bodies up from the ocean if they cannot identify the two they already have, they said Thursday. Those two bodies are being examined to see if there is enough DNA to identify them, investigators said, adding that they hope to have results by Wednesday. If they can identify the remains, they will consider bringing up other bodies from the wreckage. The bulk of the plane was located earlier this year and contains many more human remains, according to investigators.
Recovering more bodies will be a difficult task, with miles of cable required to bring each one up over a period of three hours, they said. Investigators also brought an engine and an avionics bay containing computers to the surface, they said. The pilots of Air France 447 lost contact with air traffic controllers on June 1, 2009, while flying across an area of the Atlantic known for severe turbulence, officials said. But exactly what caused the plane to plunge into the ocean remains a mystery.
The plane slammed into the water while en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, falling so fast that air masks did not have time to deploy. The fuselage was discovered in April with bodies still inside, investigators said.Some relatives of those who died have expressed reservations about remains being brought to the surface.
Last month Robert Soulas, head of a support group for families of flight victims, said: "For me, personally I would like to leave the bodies of my children, my two children, on the seabed." Other relatives have called for the bodies to be recovered.
Emirates is hiring highly skilled and successful Flight Deck Crew from around the world. Currently recruiting experienced and technically proficient First Officers to fly the extensive international route network. The First Officer position offers an exceptional opportunity for ambitious pilots to develop their career on one of the youngest high-tech fleets, with one of the fastest growing and most profitable airlines in the world. Emirates now has 201 wide-body aircraft worth more than US$85 billion on order to add to it's current fleet of 151 aircraft including A330/A340/A380's and B777's.
Emirates will be conducting Pilot Information Sessions in the UK and Ireland at the end of January. These sessions will provide more information on Emirates Selection Programme, the benefits of living and working in Dubai and details of our remuneration package.
January 24th, 2011 -- 10:00am
Apex City Hotel
61 Grassmarket, Edinburgh
Scotland
January 25th, 2011 -- 10:00am
Dublin Radisson Blu Hotel
Dublin Airport, Ireland
January 26th, 2011 -- 10:00am
Belfast Radisson Blu Hotel
The Gasworks
3 Cromac Place
Ormeau Road
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Qantas Airways Ltd. and Emirates Airline are awaiting deliveries of about 400 planes to capitalize on Asia’s rising prosperity. Finding pilots is the next job.
Boeing Co. expects the region’s carriers to be the biggest buyers of twin-aisle planes as travel grows in China and India, home to a combined 1.1 billion middle-class people. Asia-Pacific airlines will buy about 8,000 planes worth $1.2 trillion over the next 20 years, Airbus SAS said. Airlines worldwide need an average of 49,900 pilots a year from 2010 to 2030 as fleets expand, yet current training capacity is only 47,025, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal. That is sparking bidding wars as Emirates offers tax-free salaries and four-bedroom villas for captains, and AirAsia Bhd., the region’s biggest budget airline, gives tuition-free training. “It’s a major issue and will be a big challenge to the industry’s growth,” said Binit Somaia, a Sydney-based analyst for the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. “Even if you can find the pilots, you have to pay top dollar for them because they are so scarce.”
China, the world’s fastest-growing major aviation market, likely will account for a third of the region’s orders, Airbus, the world’s biggest aircraft maker, said in February. Its economy will grow 10.5 percent this year, compared with world growth of 4.6 percent, according to International Monetary Fund estimates.
India, with estimated growth of 9.4 percent this year, may overtake China as the world’s fastest-growing major economy as early as 2013, according to Morgan Stanley.
This year, the region’s carriers ordered 133 commercial jets with more than 100 seats, or 23 percent of the global total, according to Ascend Worldwide Ltd., a London-based aviation forecaster and data provider.
“There will be a shortage of pilots, and this is going to last for a while because it takes time to produce a good pilot,” said Elmer Pena, president of the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines.
Philippine Airlines Inc. canceled flights in July and August and rebooked passengers after losing 27 pilots to higher paying jobs abroad.
The demand in Asia contrasts with the 4,500 U.S. airline pilots on furlough, according to figures compiled by Kit Darby, a retired United Airlines pilot now running an Atlanta-based consulting firm.
That situation shouldn’t last long. The global fleet of cargo and large passenger planes will double to nearly 32,000 by 2028 from 15,750 last year, according to Airbus.
The major U.S. airlines are expected to hire more than 40,000 pilots in the next 12 years, said Louis Smith, president of FltOps.com, which provides career counseling services and sponsors job fairs.
World passenger traffic is expected to increase an average of 4.7 percent a year between 2009 and 2028, according to Airbus.
Emirates is the largest Arab airline with more than 200 planes on order. It aims to recruit 250 pilots this year and double that number in 2011, it said in a statement.
The company, which needs more than $28 billion through 2017 for expansion, sought to recruit in Houston, Madrid and Singapore.
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, will recruit 1,000 people, including crew, Chief Operating Officer John Slosar said. PT Garuda Indonesia placed a newspaper advertisement last month seeking pilots “fluent in English and of good character.” Jetstar, the budget arm of Qantas, plans to recruit 120 more pilots by next summer.
Singapore Airlines Ltd. and AirAsia, based near Kuala Lumpur, set up their own tuition-free training academies. Singapore Air’s flying college graduates about 150 cadet pilots a year, while AirAsia’s facility trains as many as 500 a year.
Graduates must stay with the budget carrier for five years, AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said.
New flight schools also are opening. CAPA is investing at least $125 million to build an aerospace university in India that can train about 300 pilots a year, Somaia said.
The shortage, and hiring by a new crop of budget carriers, also could push wages higher.
“There is a misconception that low-cost airlines pay lower salaries,” said Tony Davis, chief executive officer of budget carrier Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd., part-owned by Singapore Air “We couldn’t do that in a competitive market.”
Basic pay for Singapore Air captains flying twin-aisle Boeing 777s or the Airbus A330s begin at S$9,300 ($6,870) a month, excluding allowances, said P. James, president of the Air Line Pilots Association of Singapore. They also earn a productivity allowance of as much as S$3,800 for flying 70 hours a month.
Emirates offers a starting monthly salary of 34,410 dirhams ($9,370) for captains, according to its website. That excludes benefits such as hourly flying and productivity payments.
Its other perks include a tax-free basic salary, profit sharing, villas for captains and free dry cleaning of uniforms, its website said. Those incentives help attract candidates to an increasingly demanding job, said Barry Jackson, president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, who has been a pilot at Qantas since 1987.
“Young people these days prefer to become doctors or lawyers,” he said. “This sort of career path is becoming less desirable.”
The plane that crashed on landing in Tripoli did not catch any fire or there wasn't any sort of explosion before the it crashed, reports suggest. The A330 with more than 100 people on board, killing all and leaving a sole survivor a nine year old Dutch boy who lost his family in the crash.
The reports also suggest that the pilot did not report any sorts of trouble to the air traffic controller. The black box and the flight data recorder are expected to be sent to Europe or USA for decoding the data and the conversation that happened during the final seconds of the fatal crash.
An Airbus A330 bound to Tripoli from Johannesburg has crashed just minutes before making it to the runway. The cause of the crash is yet to be determined, but there have been reports that suggest that there could have been an explosion just before the aircraft crashed. The aircraft was owned by Afriqiyah Airways, most of the passengers on board were Dutch people who were flying to other European countries connecting from this flight.
It was reported that the rescue team had rescued one 8 year old boy alive. The rescue team are are still doing their best to find few more alive. It is also believed that the Airbus officials have rushed a team to the crash site to find out what could have gone wrong.
The French investigators on Tuesday said that the under water hunt for the wreckage of the crashed jet, an A330 killing all 228 people on board has been extended through late May. But the hunt will resume with fewer resources, the French accident investigation agency BEA is still confident enough to zero in on the location of the crash site. The BEA also confirmed that only one of the previous two ships will hunt for the black box as one vessel is carrying US Navy owned equipment and is unavailable. Air France and Air Bus the manufacturer of jet will sponsor euro 1.5 million each for the search operation that will carry on until May 25th.
The three week search for the Air France jet that crashed June last year in the Atlantic proved to be unsuccessful. The AF 447 an A330 with 228 passengers crashed due to bad weather on-route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil killing all passengers and crew on board. The investigators are still in the hunt for the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) that could possibly explain how the plain went down.
It has been estimated that so far the French Government, Air France and Airbus have together spent nearly $40 million in search of the wreckage, where they have been searching approximately 1,200 square miles.
It was reported that the European aircraft manufacturer has received 60 orders this year and have delivered 122 aircraft's this year. On the other hand Boeing's website claims that it has received 83 orders since January. The Airbus latest orders include 25 A350's from United Airlines and 17 A330's from Malaysian Airlines. Airbus has also claimed that it hasn't received any cancellation of orders so far this year.
