Hong Kong Airlines takes delivery of first A350

Hong Kong Airlines has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A350 (MSN 124), leased from AerCap. Up to an additional 16 aircraft are on order. The aircraft joins the airline's existing long haul fleet of A330-200s and -300s. A subsidiary of China's HNA Group, the airline has come a long way from it's original regional CRJ-200 operations, then named CR Airways, until re-branding in November 2006.

Airbus A350-941 MSN 124 F/F 8/10/17 Hong Kong Airlines B-LGA Delivered 8/31/17

Hong Kong Airlines - Current Fleet
11 x A320-200
9 x A330-200
5 x A330-200F
10 x A330-300
1 x A350-900
Total: 36

Atlantic Airlines takes delivery of 10th 737-400F

Atlantic Airlines, trading as West Atlantic (UK) has taken delivery of it's tenth Boeing 737-400F freighter (MSN 25113), on lease from VX Capital Partners (US).

The Coventry based freight company's jet fleet also includes five 737-300Fs. The airline's primary business is scheduled nighttime freight service, as well as ad hoc charters on behalf of other airlines and freight forwarders and brokers.

This brings the in service 737-400F fleet to 144 aircraft (curiously the same number of 737-300Fs are also currently in service).

Southwest takes delivery of first 737 MAX 8

Southwest Airlines (US) has taken delivery of it's first Boeing 737 MAX 8, which will commence initial service October 1st between Dallas Love Field, Houston Hobby and San Antonio. The airline plans to make formal delivery announcements later this week, as it is currently focused on it's responses to Hurricane Harvey and the temporary closure of it's Houston Hobby hub.

Boeing 737-8 MSN 42567 L/N 6188 F/F 8/9/17 Southwest Airlines N8710M Delivered 8/29/17

Boeing has now delivered 15 737 MAX 8s to four customers.

Southwest Airlines - Current Fleet

83 x 737-300 (some of these are likely now stored, and all will be retired by 9/30/17)
493 x 737-700
163 x 737-800
1 x 737 MAX 8
Total: 740

Classic Corner

Transavia Holland

Wednesday, May 12th 1993: London Gatwick Airport

Reason: day trip to Amsterdam for a meeting

Flights:

Transavia Airlines LGW -> AMS 737-3K2 PH-HVJ
Transavia Airlines AMS -> LGW 737-222 PH-TVH

I didn't know a great deal about Transavia at the time...excepting that they were a Dutch charter airline that was occasionally seen in the UK, and sometimes wet leased or dry leased it's 737-200s to UK airlines. I was travelling scheduled services however, which were started in 1986 by Transavia, following an open skies agreement between the UK and The Netherlands, resulting in Transavia's Amsterdam - London route.

My first outbound flight was on a 737-300 PH-HVJ, a relatively young aircraft, delivered six years previously in March 1987. That aircraft was sold to Southwest Airlines as N340LV in November 1999, and was finally removed from service last November, now stored at Tucson, AZ, and likely facing part out.

Boeing 737-3K2 MSN 23738 L/N 1360 F/F 3/16/87

737-222 PH-TVH had some serious miles and history on the clock, even in 1993. It was mostly dedicated to the AMS-LGW-AMS route from 1986, and could regularly be seen at LGW several times a day. The aircraft was delivered  new to United Airlines as N9074U in October 1969. Only the 210th 737 built, United sold the aircraft (and a number of sister ships) in 1975, as it sought to streamline it's operations and react to the fuel and economic crisis prevalent at the time.

Boeing 737-222 MSN 19955 L/N 210 F/F 9/30/69

Initially leased by Transavia Holland, the aircraft was later sold to International Lease Finance Company (ILFC) late 1975 (at the time a relatively new and upcoming operating lease company based in Los Angeles, CA, and destined to become one of the most successful companies of it's genre), and continued service with Transavia Holland until it's November 1986 re-branding as Transavia Airlines. The aircraft continued service with Transavia until April 1995, a 20 year stint.

The venerable aircraft returned to the United States for a six year lease to Vanguard Airlines as N603DJ between September 1995 and March 2001.

Still not done, the aircraft migrated to South America for a few more years service with Peru's Aerocontinente as OB-1755, Aerocontinente Dominica as HI-764CA, and back to Aerocontinente as OB-1783. The aircraft was finally retired at Lima, Peru in July 2004. [No pictures of ACQ service].

Transavia Holland - the early years

Transavia Holland commenced operations on November 16th 1966 (30 days before I was born!) operating three DC-6 piston aircraft on charter services, a role it would continue to play for many years, in competition with Martinair Holland.

Douglas DC-6 MSN 43124 Transavia Holland PH-TRA

It wasn't long before the ageing DC-6s were replaced from summer 1969 with Sud Aviation Caravelle jets,
with a total of 14 used aircraft eventually operated.

Sud Aviation Caravelle III Transavia Holland PH-TRO

New and Used 737-200s started to join the fleet in the mid-1970s, a mixture of 737-200C convertible aircraft, and pure passenger configured aircraft, heralding the replacement of the Caravelles. Below - Transavia's first 737-200C.

A brief experiment with wide bodied aircraft saw Transavia operate a single Airbus A300B2 between May 1976 and January 1977, it's only wide body aircraft operating experience to date.

Re-named Transavia Airlines in November 1986, the airline was at the time replacing 737-200s with 737-300s, which continued to be delivered until the mid-1990s.

Electra Airways receives first A320

Electra Airways (Bulgaria) has taken delivery of it's first aircraft, an Airbus A320 MSN 424 LZ-EAA, with which it plans to operate charter flights from Varna. The aircraft, built in 1993, was initially operated by Airtours International (UK), and subsequently by a variety of airlines (see history below).

Airbus A320-231 MSN 424 Electra Airways LZ-EAA

History
F/F 8/13/93 Delivered Kawasaki Leasing 11/10/93 (Stored Toulouse)
Airtours International G-CRPH 4/95 - 5/02
Skyservice (Canada) G-CRPH 5/98 - 5/99
Skyservice (Canada) G-CRPH 2/00 - 3/00
MyTravel Airways G-CRPH 5/02 - 3/08
Thomas Cook Airlines G-CRPH 3/08 - 11/12
Aeolus Air (Gambia) C5-AAR 4/13 - 12/15
Ariana Afghan Airlines C5-AAR 7/13 - 12/15
SEAir International (Philippines) RP-C5323 2/16 - 9/16
Sky Prim Air (Moldova) ER-AXU 10/16 - 12/16
Terra Avia (Moldova) ER-AXU 12/16 - 7/17
Safi Airways (Afghanistan) 2/17 - 6/17
Electra Airways LZ-EAA 8/17 - Current

Spirit Airlines takes delivery of the first US built A320

Spirit Airlines has taken delivery of the first US (Mobile, AL) built Airbus A320. MSN 7724 made it's first flight August 15th, and follows the delivery of 36 A321s already delivered from the facility. All deliveries from Mobile will be for US airlines, most of whom have Airbus narrow body aircraft on order.

Ultra low cost carrier (ULCC) Spirit currently operates 31 x A319, 53 x A320 (including 5 x A320 NEO) and 21 x A321.

Airbus A320-232 MSN 7724 Spirit Airlines N650NK

Airbus deliver first US built A320
Airways Magazine - full report

Talking Points

Singapore Airlines "quietly" retires the first A380. This expression seen on several websites appears to characterize this as an under the radar surprise. It was not (removed quietly or noisily). The aircraft was removed from service weeks ago in June for lease return maintenance, in line with well known and detailed plans announced almost a year ago. The fate of this and another four that SIA will retire is indeed subject to speculation. As there is no current market for new or used A380s, a likely scenario is scrapping / part out.

Breaking...HiFly (Portugal) may be a customer for two 560 seat A380s...according to two websites (CH Aviation and AeroTelegraph)...so my prediction above may be wrong. Good scoop guys. We'll see...

The death of hubs...as reported by Bloomberg and others, in response to Qantas' plans to operate ultra long haul 787 service from Perth next year, and issuing a challenge to Airbus and Boeing to create an aircraft capable of non-stop Sydney to London and New York service (an up to 22 hour flight!). No, it won't be the death of hubs anytime soon, if at all.

Mitsubishi MRJ test fleet grounded after an inflight engine (P&W GTF) failure. This troubled program keeps slipping to the right...

WOW Air (Iceland) to add service from Reykjavik to Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Detroit...yeah really!

Cathay Pacific ordered (mou) up to 32 A321 NEOs for Cathay Dragon

Delta Air Lines CSeries aircraft to be based in New York (LGA?) and Los Angeles.

United Airlines to start service from Paine Field (Everett), north of Seattle to it's Denver and San Francisco hubs. Alaska Airlines will follow suit in Fall 2018 with service to various west coast destinations.

British Airways will commence A380 service to Chicago this fall. It will also launch new 787 service to Nashville, TN.

The first US (Mobile, AL) built A320 will be delivered to Spirit Airlines soon. Only A321s have been delivered from the facility to date.

American Airlines legacy fleets of MD-80s and 757s dip below 50 at 47 and 44 remaining in service respectively. 30 767-300ERs remain in service (out of 58 delivered).

Air France flight attendants plan an indefinite strike re: AFR's planned low cost carrier Joon. This is not a surprise...I gave Joon a 'poor' label of it's prospects in a previous post...I downgrade that to almost zero at this point. It will happen...but at what cost?

Kuwait Airways takes delivery of it's 10th and final 777-300ER

Kuwait Airways has taken delivery of it's tenth and final Boeing 777-300ER, while also recently phasing out it's two 777-200ERs July 31st. This follows the retirement of it's four A340-300s between March and July. Kuwait's long haul fleet now consists of 5 x A330-200 (all delivered in 2015), 10 x 777-300ER (delivered between December 2016 and August 2017). The company's sole 747-400 remains in service. 10 x A350 are on order for delivery from 2019.

Boeing 777-369ER MSN 62570 L/N 1514 Kuwait Airways 9K-AOM "Garouh" [Delivered August 25th 2017]

Aeropostal ceases operations

Aeropostal (Venezuela) ceased operations following withdrawal of aircraft insurance on it's last operational MD-80 (YV2957 MSN 53233), and lack of overall financial resources. The current fleet is comprised of six MD-80s. State owned Aeropostal has a rich history dating back to 1929, it's demise (if permanent) symbolizes the political and financial state of affairs in Venezuela, negatively impacting the aviation industry. The crisis extends beyond domestic airlines, with many foreign airlines having recently suspended operations into the country.

Postscript: the airline has been reported (as of 9/6/17) to have secured funding necessary to re-start operations 'in September'.

Boeing (McDonnell Douglas) MD-82 MSN 53233 L/N 2110 F/F 4/95 Aeropostal YV2957

History
Alitalia I-DATQ 4/95 - 4/12
Aeropostal YV2957 4/13 - 8/17

Jettime 'calls time' on freight operations

Jettime (Denmark) has ended dedicated freight services, returning it's final Boeing 737-400F to it's lessor last month. The airline is to now increase focus on it's scheduled and charter passenger services. Jettime operated six 737 freighters between 2013 and 2017: 1 x 737-300F and 5 x 737-400F. Jettime's current passenger fleet comprises 4 x 737-300 and 5 x 737-700.

Boeing 737-448F MSN 25052 L/N 2036 F/F April 12th 1991 Jettime OY-JTI

History
Aer Lingus EI-BXI 4/91 - 5/05
Aerosvit Airlines UR-VVL 5/05 - 11/12
Converted to freighter 9/13
Jettime OY-JTI 10/13 - 7/17
ASL Airlines EI-STK 8/17 - Current

Weekend Reading

Booze, Brawls & Boarding Cards
Airways Magazine

Eclipse: The view from 40,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean
The Guardian

$99 flights to Europe...what do they really cost?
USA Today

The Age of Aerospace
Discovery / Boeing (extensive archive & historical material)

AirAsia considers the CSeries
Airways Magazine

New NASA archive footage of the SR-71 Blackbird
Futurism.com

United's Micronesia Operations
Airways Magazine

Friday Feature

The first 1,000 Airbus A320 family aircraft...current status

Airbus A320 MSN 001 F-WWAI June 14th 1987 Paris Le Bourget (the first of many).

Disposition Statistics

It took Airbus over 11 years to deliver the first 1,000 A320 family aircraft, between March 26th 1988 and May 20th 1999. Some 18 years later an additional 6,700 have been delivered, with total deliveries now heading rapidly towards 8,000 units, a remarkable achievement that could not have been envisioned in 1988 (even by Airbus).

This feature takes a look at the disposition of that first 1,000 aircraft, the initial operators of the first 100 delivered, and a photo essay of the oldest A320 still in service (MSN 029).

Of that first 1,000 deliveries: these comprise A319 x 136, A320 x 731 and A321 x 133

A319

132 of the 136 A319s delivered remain in service, 3 are stored, 1 permanently retired.

A320

402 of the 731 A320s delivered remain in service, 87 are stored, 221 permanently retired, 21 written off.

A321

99 of the 133 A321s delivered remain in service, 13 are stored, 19 permanently retired, 2 written off.

Overall, of the 1,000 aircraft, 663 are in service (63%), 103 stored (10%), 241 retired (24%), 23 written off (2%).

276 of the 1,000 aircraft remain in service with their original operators.

The first 100 aircraft delivered by customer

A320-111 MSN 005 Air France F-GFKA [Delivered March 26th 1988, Retired July 2010]

As launch customer, Air France has remained steadfast in it's reliance on the A320 family, one of few airlines to operate all four variants of the family. An early embarrassment was the loss of it's third A320 delivered during an ill advised low field pass at an air show June 26th 1988, just three days after delivery. It continues to refresh it's A320 fleet with new build aircraft, while phasing out older examples.

A320-111 MSN 006 British Airways (British Caledonian) G-BUSB [Delivered March 31st 1988, Retired November 2007]

British Airways also operates all four Airbus A320 family models, but when this first delivery was made, that was an unlikely scenario at the time. Inheriting an order of ten A320s from it's March 31st 1988 acquisition of British Caledonian, it was widely expected that this orphan fleet would not last long at pro-Boeing BA. In the event, the niche fleet survived a full term, and ultimately from late 1999 onwards BA began replacing it's entire Boeing short haul fleet with newly ordered A320 family aircraft.

A320-111 MSN 010 Air Inter F-GGEA [Delivered June 17th 1988, Retired October 2009 (Air France)]

French domestic airline Air Inter acquired A320s (and later A319s and A321s) to replace it's aging fleet of Caravelles and Mercures. Like Air France, the aircraft had a troubled service entry, with the loss of it's fourth aircraft in a crash on approach to Strasbourg January 20th 1992. The airline was acquired and subsumed into Air France January 1st 1996. As of now, just one (of 35) ex-Air Inter A320s (F-GHQM) survives in service with Air France. The majority of A319s, and all A321s remain in service with the carrier.

A320-211 MSN 022 Ansett Airlines VH-HYA [Delivered November 18th 1988, Retired September 2006 (HiFly CS-TQG)]

Ansett was the first airline to receive an A320-200 (only 20 A320-100s were delivered to Air France, Air Inter and British Airways). Distinguished only by it's wingtip fences, this variant, powered by either CFM or IAE engines would remain the baseline model until enhanced winglet equipped (sharklets) models appeared a few years ago, a precursor to the A320 NEO. Ansett enjoyed a decade or so of A320 operations until it's demise March 4th 2002.

A320-231 MSN 043 Adria Airways YU-AOA [Delivered May 16th 1989, Retired September 2010]

Adria dates back to it's creation as Inex-Adria in 1961. Initially operating DC-6Bs, the airline acquired DC-9 jets in 1969, and was an early customer for the MD-80. Some 26 years after the DC-6, the airline became the first airline to operate the IAE powered A320. Having survived the Balkan war, the airline now operates three A319s and ten CRJ-700/900 aircraft from it's Ljubljana base.




A320-231 MSN 028 Cyprus Airways 5B-DAT [Delivered May 19th 1989, Retired October 2004]

Cyprus Airways became the second IAE powered A320 customer, acquiring nine new and five used aircraft. Four A319s and two A321s were also later acquired. The airline ceased operations January 9th 2015.

A320-211 MSN 031 Northwest Airlines N301US [Delivered June 6th 1989, Retired November 2008]

Northwest's order for A320s was Airbus' major breakthrough in the United States, and a shock to the industry at the time, especially to Boeing. Airbus' sales supremo John Leahy's first major scalp was followed by others, such as United and US Airways. Most Northwest A320s (and A319s) made their way to Delta following the airline's January 1st 2010 merger, with Delta now adding it's own newly ordered A321s.

A320-231 MSN 045 Indian Airlines VT-EPB [Delivered June 21st 1989, Retired January 2016 (Air India)]

Upgrading from 737-200s to A320s was a challenge for Indian Airlines. Following the (Feb 14th 1990) crash of one it's new A320s, the entire IAC fleet was grounded for a few months to allow for additional training and familiarization of the new aircraft. Now merged with Air India, the majority of IAC's early build A320s are now retired, with new aircraft (including A320 NEOs) being delivered to Air India.

A320-231 MSN 052 Braniff N901BN [Delivered July 13th 1989, Retired August 2014 (US Airways)]

The second iteration of Braniff was already financially challenged when it took delivery of it's first A320. Just five were delivered in the second half of 1989 before the airline ceased operations in late December. These and numerous others destined for Braniff went on to serve America West Airlines, paving the way for the post-deregulation start up to eventually replace it's 737 fleet.

A320-211 MSN 069 Lufthansa D-AIPA [Delivered October 16th 1989, Currently In Service]

Lufthansa still operates many of it's early build A320s, and has subsequently placed follow on orders for A320 family aircraft that have now enabled the complete replacement of it's once substantial fleet of 737s. Lufthansa and subsidiary Eurowings currently operate 267 A320 family aircraft.

A320-211 MSN 059 Air Canada C-FDQQ [Delivered January 19th 1990, Currently In Service]

Air Canada acquired A320s (and later A319/A321s) to replace it's DC-9 and 727 fleet. Air Canada and subsidiary Air Canada Rouge currently operate 100 A320 family aircraft. From 2018 that fleet will start to diminish as Boeing 737 MAX 8s replace the A320s. Bombardier CSeries are also on order to replace A319s.

A320-211 MSN 087 Royal Jordanian F-OGYA [Delivered March 19th 1990, Retired October 2009 (Hellas Jet SX-BVL)]

Royal Jordanian operated five early build CFM powered A320s, later switching to IAE powered A319s, A320s and A321s, with 12 aircraft currently in it's fleet.

The oldest A320 still in service

A320-211 MSN 029 F/F January 5th 1989

Ansett Airlines / Ansett Australia VH-HYG April 21st 1989 - March 4th 2002

BH Air LZ-BHA May 12th 2003 - June 1st 2006

Air Scotland (Operated by Greece Airways - all white) SX-BLX June 10th 2006 - November 1st 2006

Jordan Aviation JY-JAC November 1st 2006 - Current

Air India takes delivery of 25th 787-8

Air India has taken delivery of it's 25th Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, bringing the carrier to equal third place in fleet size (see below). The airline has an additional two aircraft delivering by October for a total of 27. Air India's first 787 was delivered September 5th 2012.

Boeing 787-8 MSN 36297/592 Air India VT-ANZ [Delivered August 24th 2017]

Top 12 (of 36) 787-8 Operators with a fleet size in double digits

ANA 36
Qatar Airways 30
Japan Airlines 25
Air India 25
American Airlines 20
Ethiopian Airlines 19
United Airlines 12
Avianca 11
JetStar 11
China Southern 10
Hainan Airlines 10
LATAM (Chile) 10