Condor leases a first A330-200

Condor (Germany) sub-leased an A330-200 from Air Transat (Canada) for the winter. This is the first A330 to be operated by Condor, which to date has operated 767-300ERs on it's long haul services. The airline does operate a modest fleet of nine A320s (with additional aircraft wet leased in during the summer) and seven A321s.

Airbus A330-243 MSN 971 F/F 11/12/08
Mexicana XA-MXQ 12/17/08 - 8/28/10
Air Transat C-GTSZ F/N 202 10/19/10 - present (leased out)
Condor C-GTSZ 10/31/17 - present

Condor - Current Fleet
9 x A320
7 x A321
13 x 757-300
17 x 767-300ER
Total: 46

Air China takes delivery of it's first 737 MAX 8

Air China has taken delivery of it's first Boeing 737 MAX 8, the first delivery of the MAX to a Chinese customer. Boeing notes it plans to deliver up to 100 MAXs to Chinese airlines by the end of 2018. 35 737 MAX models have been delivered to date.

Boeing 737 MAX 8 MSN 60872 L/N 6490 F/F 8/23/17

Air China B-1397 Delivered 11/3/17

Air China - Current Fleet

33 x A319

20 x 737-700

47 x A320

122 x 737-800
1 x 737 MAX 8

61 x A321

5 x 777-200

11 x 787-9

30 x A330-200

29 x A330-300

26 x 777-300ER

3 x 747-400

6 x 747-800I

Total: 394

Talking Points

Air Serbia to start a Belgrade to Toronto service, in addition to it's existing New York flights

Atlas Atlantique Airlines (France) ceased operations due to financial problems. The airline had one wet leased A320

TAME (Ecuador) plans to sell it's only owned aircraft: two E-190s and three ATR-42s (presumably for lease back)

An unnamed European airline has plans to order 31 CSeries, with 30 options. Deal to close by year end

British Airways last 747-400 will leave the fleet in 2024

Air New Zealand was voted 'best airline of the year' by AirlineRatings.com, it's fifth consecutive annual win

Emirates receives 100th A380

Emirates Airline (UAE) has taken delivery of it's 100th new Airbus A380. First delivery was July 25th 2008, with 216 A380s in total now having been delivered by Airbus. The carrier operates an all wide body fleet, although it's recent cooperative deal with Fly Dubai has effectively broadened the scope of it's fleet mix.

Airbus A380-842 MSN 239 F/F 2/20/17
Emirates Airline A6-EUV 11/3/17 - present

Emirates - Current Fleet
1 x A319 ACJ
10 x 777-200LR
13 x 777F
5 x 777-300
136 x 777-300ER
2 x 747-400F
100 x A380
Total: 267

Weekend Reading

30 years ago - People Express merged with Continental
Airways Magazine

Onboard United's 'Queen of the Skies" employee farewell flight
Airways Magazine

Onboard British Airways 25th 787 delivery flight
Airways Magazine

17 odd things that are very specific to British airports
Buzzfeed

Retirement of KLM Fokker ends era that began in 1921
FlightGlobal

Airbus/Bombardier C Series deal has broad implications
Aviation Week

IAG is serious about growing it's low cost long haul airline
Skift.com

Chinese capital changing leasing landscape
FlightGlobal

The truth about the luxury of Qatar Airways
aviationrepublic.com

Singapore's new A380 luxury suites
Business Insider

Gulf's fast growing carriers have problems at home
FlightGlobal

Air Canada welcomes it's first 737 MAX
Airways Magazine

The life cycle of planes...
wired.com

Air Canada takes delivery of it's first 737 MAX 8

Air Canada has taken delivery of it's first Boeing 737 MAX 8, commencing a roll over of it's A320 fleet. The aircraft will be utilized on the airline's domestic and transcontinental routes, as well as select transatlantic routes. The 737 has featured in Air Canada's fleet before when it inherited 38 737-200s from it's April 2001 merger (acquisition) of Canadian Airlines International. Most were intended to be operated until at least scheduled lease return dates from 2003; however 9/11 dictated the early retirement of the fleet in late 2001, albeit 20 went on to serve Air Canada's low cost ZIP subsidiary between 2002 and 2004.

Boeing 737 MAX 8 MSN 61207 L/N 6634 F/F 10/19/17
Air Canada C-FTJV 10/3/17 - present

The registration C-FTJV has been used before...by an Air Canada DC-8-61, between 1/74 and 5/86.

UTair introduces a new livery

UTair (Russia) has updated it's livery, first seen on 737-800 VQ-BQQ, following repainting at Ostrava.

Originally a regional division of the Soviet era Aeroflot, the airline adopted it's current name and commenced operations in 1991. The airline currently operates an all Boeing jet fleet, plus ATR turboprops from Surgut and Moscow (Vnukovo).

Boeing 737-8GU MSN 37552 L/N 3620 F/F 4/8/11
UTair VQ-BQQ 5/26/11 - present

UTAir - Current Fleet
15 x ATR-42/72
31 x 737-500
6 x 737-400
9 x 737-800
3 x 767-200ER
2 x 767-300ER
Total: 66

Talking Points

American Airlines to phase out the MD-80 in 2019. 45 will remain in service by the end of this year, and 26 by fall 2018

Bangkok Airways is evaluating the A319 NEO, 737 MAX 7 and CS300 to replace 15 current A319s

Estelar (Venezuela) started flights to Miami from Maracaibo

flyGlobal (Malaysia) to expand 777 fleet to ten aircraft. The carrier currently has two

Swoop (Canada) to commence service in June with two 737-800s (six by September and ten within a year of starting service)

WestJet adjusted it's 737 MAX order book to include seven MAX 10s

American's latest 737-800 delivery = 300 in service

American Airlines took delivery of it's latest Boeing 737-800 October 30th, bringing it's -800 fleet to 300 in service. The first was delivered 2/7/99, with the fleet initially topping out at 77 units in December 2001. Ironically, that particular aircraft, N977AN (delivered 12/20/01) was written off in a landing accident at Kingston, Jamaica 12/22/09. It was in March 2009, after an extended (post 9/11 downturn) break, that additional 737-800s started being delivered to American.

Boeing 737-823 MSN 29503 L/N 184 F/F 1/13/99
American Airlines N901AN 2/7/99 - present [original colors]

N901AN in current colors - at Orange County, CA August 2017

[We'll add a picture of the latest delivery - N335PU - when available]

AA 737-800 in service fleet (annually at November 1st from 2000)
2000: 47    2001: 73
2002 to 2008: 77
2009: 100  2010: 144
2011: 163  2012: 189
2013: 221  2014: 241
2015: 260  2016: 280
2017: 300

Nine airlines have 100 or more 737-800s in service, as follows:

Ryanair 405
American Airlines 300
Southwest Airlines 167
China Southern Airlines 151
Hainan Airlines 142
United Airlines 139
Xiamen Airlines 130
Air China 122
Shandong Airlines 107

VIM Airlines ceases operations

VIM Airlines (Russia) had it's AOC suspended, having recently ceased flight operations since October 16th. The airline has been technically bankrupt for some time, and has been parking or returning aircraft off lease in recent weeks, as well as having other aircraft seized by lessors. Nevertheless, a potential bailout has been proposed by Russian businessman Boris Karlov, and continues to be discussed. The airline was based at Moscow Domodedovo Airport providing international scheduled and charter services.

Ilyushin IL-62 VIM Airlines RA-86520

The airline was founded and commenced service in 2000 with a single IL-62

Boeing 757-230 MSN 25440 L/N 443 F/F 3/27/92
Condor D-ABNM 4/9/92 - 3/19/04
VIM Airlines RA-73012 8/1/04 - 11/29/16

The airline's profile changed significantly with the purchase of Condor's 757-200 fleet in 2004, with the aircraft (unusually) adopting Russian registrations. Western aircraft operated in Russia typically use Cayman Islands registration prefixes (VQ/VP) or Irish (EI) registrations.

Airbus A319-111 MSN 3364 F/F 1/9/08
Hamburg International D-AHIH 1/22/08 - 10/20/10
AirBlue AP-EDB 12/29/10 - 2/15/14
VIM Airlines VQ-BTL 4/6/14 - 10/24/17

The airline operated 757s only for the next ten years, until 2014, when it started adding a mix of different aircraft types. Four A319s were added in Spring 2014.

Boeing 767-31AER MSN 27619 L/N 595 F/F 9/26/95
Martinair Holland PH-MCV 11/6/95 - 11/19/02
African Safari Airways 5Y-QQQ 5/9/03 - 9/30/04
Holland Exel PH-MCV 10/13/04 - 5/1/05
Arkefly PH-MCV 5/1/05 - 10/30/07
Varig Airlines PR-VAE 1/22/08 - 7/31/08
Blue Panorama EI-EED 5/4/09 - 8/5/13
VIM Airlines VP-BFI 9/5/14 - 10/23/17

Also in 2014, the first wide body, a 767-300ER was inducted, one of two the airline would operate

Boeing 777-2H6ER MSN 28413 L/N 128 F/F 2/26/98
Malaysia Airlines 9M-MRF 3/18/98 - 8/31/15
VIM Airlines VP-BVA 4/27/16 - 10/28/17

The first of ten 777-200ERs arrived in 2016, the type becoming the airline's long haul flag ship.

Boeing 737-524 MSN 28915 L/N 2993 F/F 1/24/98
Continental Airlines N14654 2/11/98 - 9/21/08
Transaero EI-UNG 5/3/11 - 10/24/15
VIM Airlines VP-BVS 8/2/16 - 2/14/17 [Stored following accident damage]

Following the demise of fellow Russian airline Transaero, VIM added three of the former airline's 737-500s to it's short haul fleet in 2016.

Airbus A330-203 MSN 535 F/F 5/12/03
EVA Airways B-16302 7/4/03 - 5/5/15
VIM Airlines VP-BDV 12/23/16 - 9/22/17

Further fleet complexity was seen with the addition of two A330-200s in 2016 and 2017.

Boeing 777-31HER MSN 33501 L/N 516 F/F 5/3/05
Emirates A6-EBD 5/16/05 - 5/15/17
VIM Airlines VP-BIN 5/29/17 - 10/17

And finally...two ex-Emirates 777-300s were added to the fleet in May and July this year, the first being a -300ER and the second a standard -300 (both having different engines, GE and RR respectively!). Neither was liveried, and operated all-white during their brief VIM Airlines tenure.

Talking Points

Air Belgium expects to receive it's AOC before the end of 2017. The airline's first aircraft will be an ex-Finnair A340-400

AirAsia Japan made it's maiden flight from Nagoya to Sapporo October 29th

Brussels Airlines retired the Avro RJ with a final flight from Geneva to Brussels

LOT Polish Airlines to receive it's first (of six) 737 MAX 8s in December

American Airlines to close it's St. Louis, MO pilot base, inherited from it's December 2001 acquisition of TWA

Binter Canarias (Spain) leased a CRJ-1000 from Air Nostrum

American Airlines ordered ten E-175s for operation by subsidiary Envoy Air from 2018. AA has now ordered 74 E-175s

Talking Points

Meridiana (Italy) will end MD-80 scheduled services October 31st. Limited charter and 'single sector' operations will continue through the Spring

Korean Air considers adding additional 787 orders to replace it's older 777-200ERs

Air China is expected to receive it's first two 737 MAX 8s by October 31st

Southwest introduced live music concerts on selected flights, claiming passengers enjoy the experience (they don't). No website tool exists to determine whether your flight may be thus affected

Southwest plans flights to Hawaii in 2018, and possibly inter-island flights. Hawaiian's stock reacted negatively to this news

United launched Los Angeles to Singapore flights (787-9), the 8,700 mile segment becoming the longest non-stop flight to or from the US

EasyJet to acquire 25 Air Berlin A320s, and a sizable portion of the airline's Berlin Tegel operation for $46M

United retired three 747-400s October 26th-27th. Seven remain in service

China Airlines (Taiwan) retired one 747-400, with four now remaining in passenger service. The airline also operates 18 747-400F freighters

KLM CityHopper retired it's final Fokker F70s October 28th

Jetlines (Canada) plans to inaugurate ULCC service June 1st from Hamilton with 737-800s. Four are planned for 2018, with an additional four annually through 2023

Hawaiian takes delivery of first A321 NEO

Hawaiian Airlines has taken delivery of it's first Airbus A321 NEO, with another 17 on order. Inaugural service will be from Oakland to Kahului January 8th, followed by a variety of island non-stops to California (excluding it's Honolulu hub). The A321s will replace the remaining 767-300/300ERs in HAL's fleet.

Airbus A321-271N MSN 7917 F/F 10/16/17
Hawaiian Airlines N202HA Delivered 10/28/17

Hawaiian - Current Fleet
20 x 717-200
1 x 767-300
7 x 767-300ER
24 x A330-200
Total: 61