16 AIRLINER WORLD JUNE 2018
News Review • Americas
American opts for
Boeing over Airbus
AMERICAN AIRLINES has cancelled its
order for 22 Airbus A350s, placing
an order for 47 additional Boeing 787s
instead, valued at $12bn. The new
Dreamliners, 22 -8s and 25 -9s
powered by General Electric’s GEnx-1B
engines, are scheduled to begin
arriving in 2023 – the former will
replace the oneworld carrier’s
767-300s and A330-300s, while the
latter will supersede its 777-200s.
American, which already operates 35
787s, has also taken options on a
further 28 airframes.
American said its decision to cancel
its A350 order, which was placed by
US Airways prior to the two carriers’
merger, was influenced by a bid to
simplify its fleet.
“We have two excellent partners in
Boeing and Airbus and our relationship
with both manufacturers goes back
many years. Both offer specific
aircraft that provide us with the
right lift on specific missions across
our global network,” said American
Airlines President Robert Isom. “This
was a difficult decision between the
787 and the A350 and A330neo andwe thank both manufacturers for their
aggressive efforts to earn more of
American’s business. In the end, our
goal to simplify our fleet made the 787
a more compelling choice.”
American Airlines Chief Financial
Officer Derek Kerr remarked: “Our
prior plan would have had us operat-
ing five widebody aircraft types, and
with today’s announcement we will
soon reduce that to three. These new
replacement aircraft are consistent
with our previous plans for the size of
our widebody fleet. We see significant
advantages to carrying common fleet
types, including creating less friction in
our operation when aircraft swaps are
necessary, reducing inventory needs,
and creating a more consistent service
for customers and team members.”
As part of its new agreement with
Boeing, American has deferred the
delivery of 40 737 MAX jets previously
planned for delivery between 2020
and 2022.
American said the revised delivery
schedule “will better align with
planned retirements of other narrow-
body aircraft”. (Photo Boeing)Brazilian carrier Gol Transportes Aéreos has
introduced an eye-catching special livery
promoting its new LIVE TV service. The jet,
Boeing 737-8EH PR-GTM (c/n 34963), visited
Fortaleza on its first day of operations wear-
ing the scheme, arriving from Recife as flight
‘G31840’. LEONARDO MELLOAir Transat Takes First A
LEISURE OPERATOR Air Transat has
taken delivery of its maiden Airbus
A321-211. The aircraft, C-GEZD (c/n
4099), formerly with Aeroflot as
VQ-BEE, has been acquired from
AviaAM Leasing under a ten-year deal
and joins the Montreal-based carrier
fresh from a C-check.
Mantas Meizneris, VP Sales at AviaAM
Leasing, said: “It is a great honour
for us to support growth of such a
reputable airline as Air Transat and ithas been a pleasure working with the
carrier’s team towards execution of
this project. As the result of perfect
alignment of our teams, we delivered
the aircraft to the carrier earlier than
originally planned. We are already
exploring other potential projects
with the carrier and we do hope that
although this is the first project, we
will have many more opportunities
to support growth of the carrier in
the future.”JetSuite Secures
New Investment
QATAR AIRWAYS has invested in
California-based private aviation com-
pany JetSuite. The Doha-based carrier
paid an undisclosed sum for a “minority
stake” in the firm. The deal extends to
sister company JetSuiteX, which oper-
ates “semi-private” services on the US
West Coast. The latter flies to under-
served short-haul markets and small air-
ports with a fleet of Embraer ERJ aircraft
and this latest investment will be used
to expand the fleet and enter new mar-
kets. US low-cost carrier JetBlue, which
already had an interest in JetSuite, has
also increased its level of investment.
Alex Wilcox, founder and CEO of
JetSuite and JetSuiteX, remarked: “As
an innovator in private aviation, we areproud to have attracted the attention
of one of the world’s highest rated and
fastest growing airlines. Qatar Airways
shares our focus on customers and
product. JetBlue and Qatar Airways
together are a dream team of investors,
and they will allow us to execute our
vision of offering a superior service to
the forgotten short-haul US air market
even more quickly.”
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive,
Akbar Al Baker added: “We believe that
JetSuite and JetSuiteX deliver a truly
class-leading service to the US market
with a huge potential for development,
and we are very excited to invest in this
opportunity alongside JetBlue and the
other investors.”The Big
Orange
Silver’s Maiden ATR
The first ATR 42-600 for Florida-based Silver Airways departed
Toulouse on its delivery flight on April 13. The turboprop, N400SV
(c/n 1214), wears the airline’s eye-catching new Flamingo-
inspired livery. EUROSPOT