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Africa
Algeria
As part of its fleet renewal programme, Air Algérie has put up
its three B767-300ERs for sale.
Morocco
Royal Air Maroc has taken delivery of its first of three con-
verted B767-300(BCF)s. The airplane arrived on 17 April and
was in use by RAM as a passenger plane before.
Swaziland
Should you be searching to wet-lease an A340, you could
now lease the governmental A340-300 as the government
has decided to make the plane available for the lease market
when not in use for the country’s officials.
Tunisia
Tunisair is looking at adding one or two A330s to its fleet of
two A330-200s. The airline wants to expand its international
network and has applied for flights to New York-JFK (NY)
and is looking to fly to Beijing. Tunisair has also brought the
delivery of its five A320neos forward, with the first two now
set to arrive next year and the last three in 2020. The arrival
of the A320neos marks the renewal of Tunisair’s narrowbody-
fleet and the airline also said that they are looking at placing
another order to replace more of its fleet.
Asia
Bhutan
Druk Air has ordered an A320neo, as well as a Memorandum
of Understanding for an ATR72-600. Both planes are expected
for delivery in 2019.
India
Jet Airways already agreed with Boeing to place an option
for fifty B737 MAX aircraft last year, but has now placed an
actual order for 75 MAX aircraft. The airline is already await-
ing an earlier order for 75 MAX8s.
Indonesia
Lion Air Group has firmed up its existing MoU for fifty B737
MAX10s, which was signed in Paris last year, into a formal
order. Deliveries will commence from 2020. The airline group
also intends to order B787s within a few weeks.
South Korea
Air Incheon has taken delivery of its first B767-300F. The
former American Airlines plane is flying between Seoul to
Hanoi for Samsung.
Taiwan
Far Eastern Air Transport has selected eleven B737 MAX8s to
replace its aging fleet of eight MD-80s. The replacement will
take some time though: from late 2019 two B737s will arrive
each year.
Middle East
Jordan
On 29 March Air Arabia Jordan has decided to cease all oper-
ations. Its two A320s have returned to Air Arabia and were
flown to Sharjah on 31 March and 1 April.
Saudi Arabia
flynas is thinking about the possibility to issue a RFP for wide-
body aircraft. According to their CEO, the airline has started
looking to the A330 and B777, but also at longer range air-
craft like the A321neoLR. flynas had done an earlier attempt
to fly longhaul back in 2014, but wasn’t successful. Size wise
the airline is thinking about an order for up to 120 planes
which will be used on new destinations in Asia, Africa and
the Americas.
United Arab Emirates
The CEO of Emirates has said that the airline is seriously
looking at exercising its options for sixteen A380s. The airline
has troubles finding enough pilots for its growing fleet, which
forces the airline to cut frequencies. In order to still being
able to move the same amount of passengers, larger planes
are needed according to Emirates.
Yemen
Despite all the troubles in the country, Yemenia was able to
generate a profit over 2017. And because of that the airline
wants to expand its current fleet of four aircraft, two A310-
300s and two A320s, with another plane. To being able to do
that, Yemenia secured a loan from the King Salman Centre
from Saudi Arabia. It is yet unknown what kind of plane
they will be adding. The airline also still has orders for eight
A320neos and ten A350-900s, but the status of this order is
unclear. Currently, the airline operates flights from Aden
to Amman, Cairo, Jeddah, Khartoum, Mumbai, Seiyun and
Socotra.
North America
United States of America
American Airlines decided to go for Boeing regarding its
widebody fleet. As Airbus could not match Boeing’s price
offer for its Dreamliners, American intends to take deliv-
Airbus A320-250N EI-SIF is the sixth and latest addition to the SAS Ireland fleet, which will grow to nine aircraft. SAS Ireland was established
in 2017 to compete beter with other airlines by achieving lower costs through aircraft registering abroad and by cheaper crews. No staff itself is
employed by the airline, but are hired through an aviation recruitment firm. Although it operates under an Irish AOC (Air Operators Certificate)
SAS Ireland will have London Heathrow as its main operating base and Malaga as a second base. Eventually five Airbus A320-200Ns will be based
at London-Heathrow and four at Malaga. (Amsterdam-Schiphol, 22 April 2018, Walter Heukensfeld)
