Talking Points

CDB Aviation (China) confirmed an order for 90 A320 NEOs

Dr Peters Group (Germany) confirmed possible interest from British Airways in up to four ex-Singapore Airlines A380s returned / returning from lease

The Polish Air Force took delivery of a new 737-800. The aircraft was built for 9 Air (China), but not taken up

Competitive wide body storage update: A330-200: 57 A330-300: 25 777-200ER: 48

S7 Airlines now has ten E-170s in service, all leased from GECAS

David Neeleman (resume: Southwest, Morris Air, JetBlue, AZUL) acquired a 30% stake in Aigle Azur (France)

Air Astana (Kazakhstan) to lease six new A320 NEOs (carrier currently operates one, total planned now 17)

Air Senegal signed an MOU for two A330-900s

Allegiant (US) to acquire four used Alitalia A320s (one already delivered, in pre-service maintenance)

Somon Air (Tajikistan) signed an MOU for one 787-8

Swiss extended A319 operations to the end of 2018 to cover for late CS300 deliveries

Ukraine International leases first 777-200ER

Ukraine International Airlines has leased it's first (of four) used Boeing 777-200ERs. All four are leased from AerCap, and were orginally delivered new to Asiana Airlines. UIA plans to initially operate the aircraft to New York JFK, followed by other North American and Asian destinations.

Boeing 777-28EER MSN 28681 L/N 322 F/F 1/29/01
Asiana Airlines HL7596 2/14/01 - 9/20/17
Ukraine International Airlines UR-GOA 11/14/17 - present

UIA - Current Fleet
5 x E-190
4 x 737-500
3 x 737-300
21 x 737-800
4 x 737-900ER
4 x 767-300ER
1 x 777-200ER
Total: 42

Talking Points

FlyDubai ordered up to 175 737 MAX aircraft

Egyptair to lease 15 new A320 NEO aircraft from AerCap

Indigo Partners (US) signed an MOU for 430 A320 NEO family aircraft for operation by it's portfolio of LCC airlines Frontier Airlines (US), Volaris (Mexico), WizzAir (Hungary, UK) and jetSMART (Chile)

Austrian to operate it's final Fokker 100 flight Vienna to Pristina December 31st

Egyptair signed an LOI for up to 24 CS300s

Egyptair to lease six new Rolls-Royce powered 787-9s from AerCap from 2019

Delta to operate it's last 747-400 flight Seoul to Detroit December 17th, thereby ending all US airline 747 passenger services

Ethiopian plans to order either CSeries or E-Jets to replace 737-700s (it currently operates four)

Golden Falcon Aviation (Kuwait) signed an MOU for 25 A320 NEO for operation by Wataniya Airways (Kuwait)

Lufthansa offered $294M to take over the majority of Alitalia's business, including most aircraft and 50% of existing employees

Talking Points

VietJetAir (Vietnam) is considering the A350 or 787 for future long haul operations. San Jose, California is a potential first destination from 2019

Air Canada to start 737 MAX service December 12th between Montreal and Calgary

AirAsia (Malaysia) plans to set up a budget airline in Sri Lanka, initially operating five A320s

Emirates potential new A380 order is said to have buy back clauses for earlier build aircraft to be traded to Airbus

Gulf Air selected CFM LEAP 1A engines for it's A320/A321 NEO orders

KPMG has indicated Monarch's creditors are unlikely to see much, if any, debt repayment

SAS Ireland to commence operations December 3rd between London and Copenhagen, with Stockholm to follow

Jet Airways is in discussions with Boeing to order an additional 75 737 MAX aircraft (the airline currently has 75 on order)

Lufthansa Cargo is considering adding new or used 777Fs to replace it's MD-11Fs by 2024

Air Arabia to lease six new A321LRs from Air Lease Corporation from 2018

Malaysia Airlines will take delivery of it's first A350 (leased from Air Lease Corporation) by the end of this month

ALAFCO (Kuwait) ordered 20 737 MAX 8s (now total 40 orders)

DAE Capital to lease five new 787-9s to Gulf Air, starting next year

Egyptair is reported to be near to placing an order for up to 12 CS300s

Ethiopian ordered four 777Fs (the airline currently operates six)

Talking Points

Island Air (Hawaii / US) ceased operations after 47 years of serving inter island destinations in Hawaii. This leaves Hawaiian Airlines with a monopoly, albeit possibly facing a competitive response from Southwest in 2018

CDB Aviation (China / Ireland) confirmed an order for 42 737 MAX 8s, ten MAX 10s and eight 787-9s

Spectre Air (US) acquired six ex-Xiamen Airlines 737-700s for freight conversion by IAI (Israel)

An ACT Air (Turkey) - dba MyCargo -747-400F, on wet lease to Saudi Arabian Airlines, overran the runway on departure from Maastricht (The Netherlands). Damage assessment TBD

Arik Air (Nigeria) currently reported to have ten or less airworthy aircraft, with 'many' being cannibalized or 'left rotting'

Emirates (UAE) ordered 40 787-10s. A decision on additional A380 orders remains in abeyance

Azerbaijan Airlines ordered five 787-8s (the airline currently has two), as well as two 747-8Fs

EVA Air takes delivery of first 777F

EVA Air (Taiwan) has taken delivery of it's first Boeing 777F, one of five that the airline will receive to replace it's 747-400Fs.

Boeing 777-F5E MSN 62824 L/N 1526 F/F 10/27/17
EVA Air B-16781 11/8/17 - present

Boeing has delivered 133 Boeing 777Fs, all of which are currently in service.

EVA Air - Current Fleet
1 x ACJ319
21 x A321
3 x A330-200
9 x A330-300
1 x 777F
34 x 777-300ER
5 x 747-400F
Total: 74

Samoa Airways receives it's first aircraft

Samoa Airways took delivery of a wet-leased Boeing 737-800 from NEOS (Italy) with which it will commence operations next week from Faleolo to Auckland.

Boeing 737-86N MSN 32733 L/N 1078 F/F 2/12/02
NEOS I-NEOS 2/28/02 - present [Leased Out]
Samoa Airways I-NEOS 11/10/17 - present

Samoa is a full service carrier that will essentially fill the void left by Polynesian Airlines in 2005, when it ended jet services, and instead focused on island hopping with Twin Otters. Samoa is essentially a re-brand of Polynesian, and an effort by the Government to re-establish a higher profile national airline that promotes business and the important tourism industry.

Weekend Reading

Ranked: the world's five best airline economy experiences
godsavethepoints.com

Onboard Delta's A350 inaugural flight
Airways

A personal farewell to Meridiana's MD-80s
Airways

London City Airport turns 30...with ambitious future plans
The Independent

Boeing 747 'Queen of the Skies'
CBS News (includes good archive material)

Air Canada welcomes it's first 737 MAX
Airways

Awesome prototype planes: 1949 to 2017
CNN

Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet...the plane that changed the world
CNBC

Cathay & Qatar: who wins?
Air Transport World

Parked in the Pyrenees: an A380 awaits a new owner, or the scrapyard
Bloomberg

Why WOW Air's £99 flights from London to New York are 'fake news'
The Independent

Talking Points

Mistral Air (Italy) ferried it's only passenger configured aircraft, a 737-400, to the US for freight conversion. It will join an existing 737-300F in the airline's fleet

Airbus is reported to be near a deal to sell 30 additional A380s to Emirates (Possible announcement at the Dubai Air Show)

Lufthansa commenced Berlin to New York JFK service, after a break of 16 years

The UK high court denied the administrators of bankrupt Monarch Airlines the ability to sell the airline's airport slots to benefit creditors

China Aviation Supplies ordered up to 300 Boeing aircraft for distribution to Chinese airlines. Airline and Aircraft details are currently undisclosed [The Seattle Times reported this was effectively 'fake news', citing many of these orders as being old orders]

Eurowings (Germany) wet-leased a 767-300ER from PrivatAir (Switzerland)

A company named 777 Partners plans to resurrect World Airways, a US airline that failed in March 2014 (after 66 years of service). Plans call for up to ten 787s operating low cost long haul service (the record of trying to revive previous airline brands is not a good one - none have flourished or survived - CORRECTION: Frontier is one example that has indeed been successfully resurrected).

Air Cairo updates it's livery

Air Cairo added a seventh A320 and updated it's livery at the same time. The airline is Egyptair's low fare subsidiary operating inclusive tour flights from Europe and within the Middle East. This is the airline's third used aircraft acquisition, adding to four new deliveries in 2006 (2) and 2007 (2). This is also the first fleet addition since April 2015, reflective of the region's (terrorist related) tourism downturn in recent years.

Airbus A320-214 MSN 4320 F/F 5/26/10
TAM Airlines PR-MYG 6/14/10 - 5/5/16
LATAM PR-MYG 5/5/16 - 9/11/17
Air Cairo SU-BTM 11/6/17 - present

Air Cairo - Current Fleet
7 x A320-200 (CFM)

Talking Points

Qatar Airways acquired a 9.6% stake in Cathay Pacific Airways

United is considering ordering new 767-300ERs...to replace older 767-300ERs. Despite this appearing unlikely, there are signs that Boeing is considering restarting passenger 767 production, three years since it ended

United ended 747-400 service 11/7 with a farewell flight from San Francisco to Honolulu

Buta Airways added an E-170 to it's fleet, transferred from parent Azerbaijan Airways. The company also operates two E-190s

Aeroflot is evaluating placing a substantial order for either A320 NEO or 737 MAX aircraft to replace it's existing fleet of A320s and 737s

Aloha Air Cargo leased a first 767-300F from (and operated by) Air Transport International

Yemenia suspended all flight operations until further notice

Edelweiss (Switzerland) to expand it's fleet in 2018 with the addition of three A320s and two A340-300s

Meridiana is to be re-branded Air Italy, utilizing the name of an airline it acquired in 2013

Samoa Airways is to commence operations with a wet-leased 737-800 November 14th

Allegiant Air retires the 757

Allegiant Air (US) ended Boeing 757 service, with it's final two aircraft being ferried to Victorville, CA October 31st for storage.

Boeing 757-204 MSN 26963 L/N 450 F/F 4/22/92
Britannia Airways G-BYAD 5/6/92 - 11/1/05
Thomsonfly G-BYAD 11/1/05 - 11/1/08
Thomson Airways G-BYAD 11/1/08 - 11/17/09
Air Finland OH-AFL 3/15/11 - 4/9/12
Allegiant Air N901NV 6/10/12 - 8/31/16
Retired Stuttgart, AR

Allegiant operated six 757s, from July 2011. The entire fleet had been acquired from Thomson Airways in 2010, with Allegiant initially leasing out the aircraft to European airlines. The 757s were primarily acquired for ETOPS service from Las Vegas to Hawaii.

The 757s were Allegiant's first departure from a DC-9/MD-80 fleet, and were subsequently joined by A319s and A320s. The latter types will become Allegiant's core fleet following the MD-80's retirement next year.

The sun has set on United's 747 operations

United today ended 747-400 service, with a final revenue passenger flight from San Francisco to Honolulu.

Like most US Majors in the early 1970s, it was a must have to acquire 747-100s as an airline's flagship aircraft, typically used on premium coast to coast domestic service (United, American & Delta), with Pan Am, TWA and Northwest operating the type on key transatlantic and transpacific routes.

Many also went on to acquire new or used 747-200s, as well as 747-SPs, the latter acquired by United when it took over Pan Am's transpacific routes. No 747-300s were ever ordered or operated by US airlines.

The aircraft proved too large though, with most phased out of domestic service by the mid-70s, and replaced by tri-jet DC-10s and L-1011s (which were also too large initially). Braniff alone stuck with narrow bodies for domestic routes, which turned out to be strategically the correct decision at the time.

The second generation, and most important 747 of the last two decades was the 747-400, ordered in significant quantities by United and Northwest.

Boeing 747-422 MSN 24322 L/N 733 F/F 5/25/89
United Airlines N171UA "Spirit of Seattle II" 6/30/89 - 10/26/15

N171UA was the first -400 delivered to United, seen above in original delivery colors, the first of four liveries this aircraft would carry during it's 26 year career.

N171UA in United's new 1990s livery

United took delivery of 44 747-400s, the final delivery being in May 2000. All were model 747-422s, with the exception of two 747-451s, built for Northwest, but sold new to United.

United's 2000s livery

This livery was relatively short lived, as following the 2011 merger with Continental, the latter's color scheme was selected for the 'new' United.

N171UA - final United / Continental livery

The post 9/11 world saw United make adjustments to it's fleet, and the 747-400 did not escape a reduction. By 2015, 31 were in service, 25 by 2010, and 22 by 2015. N171UA was retired in October 2015.

N171UA in permanent retirement at Tupelo, MS. Others have been retired at Victorville, CA while 13 have gone on to serve other airlines.

United has replaced the 747-400 with 777-300ERs and 787-9s