Om episode
In Fleet news: Frontier Airlines took delivery of one new A320neo Saudi Arabian Airlines took delivery of one A320-200 Wizz Air UK took delivery of one A320-200 SAS Scandinavian Airlines took delivery of one CRJ-900 American Airlines took delivery of one 737 MAX 8 A notable cancellation: Virgin Atlantic (UK) dropped its 2001 order for six A380s. The carrier plans to operate a total of 12 A350-1000s instead. In related news: AIRBUS plans in 2020 to drop annual production of A380s to six and A400Ms to eight, affecting 3,700 workers; it is expected to deliver 12 A380s/15 A400Ms in '18 and 12 A380s/11 A400Ms in '19. In labor news: Avianca (Colombia) completed hearings over pilot sanctions, laying off 107 pilots in total. Baggage handlers and maintenance workers at American Airlines were granted certification, enabling the claim to proceed as a class action lawsuit, in a case accusing the company of programming its time clocks to round down and reduce the amount of time employees are credited with working. The company’s timekeeping system credits workers for the period of time they are scheduled to work, but the system cuts off pay for those who put in a longer shift than scheduled, according to the suit. The suit claims violations of New Jersey’s Wage and Hour Law on behalf of American employees at Newark Liberty International Airport. In financial news: Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) assigns preliminary ratings to three classes of notes (the “Notes”) issued by Sapphire Aviation Finance I Limited. Proceeds from the sale of the Notes will be used to acquire 41 aircraft that are initially leased to 30 lessees located in 19 countries with an initial total value of approximately $962.4 million. This transaction represents the second serviced securitization for Avolon Aerospace Leasing Limited (“AALL” or the “Company”) who is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Avolon Holdings Limited. AALL will act as servicer for the transaction. The Company was founded in May 2010 as an aircraft leasing company focused on acquiring, managing and trading commercial aircraft on lease to passenger airlines worldwide. As of December 31, 2017, the Company has an owned and committed fleet valuation of $46.5 billion with 153 customers in 64 countries and is the 3rd largest aircraft lessor globally. Also in financial news, we had a few earnings releases: EMBRAER had $246.8m net income on $5.84b revenues in 2017 vs $166.1m on $6.22b in 2016, and plans to deliver 85-95 commercial and 105-125 executive jets in 2018 vs 101/109 in 2017. Azul (Brazil) reports For 2017, net income rose 518% to $164.1 million, with revenues up 16.8% to $2.4 billion. The carrier ended the year with total cash position of $1.1 billion, and fleet of 122 aircraft. Rolls-Royce (UK) reports 2017 underlying revenue up 6% to $18.5 billion, with profit before tax up 25% to $1.2 billion. Fly Leasing (Ireland) reports For 2017, net income was $2.6 million on revenues of $353.2 million. and total cash was $456.8 million. FLY had 85 aircraft in its portfolio Other developments in aviation: CFM INTL has added LEAP-1A/LEAP-1B capability to its training center in Hyderabad. Cargolux (Luxembourg) and Nippon Cargo Airlines (Japan) are to partner on a new freighter service from Luxembourg to Narita on 27 March 2018, to be flown by B747-400F and B747-8Fs. Finally: IATA announced global passenger traffic results for January 2018 showing RPKs up 4.6% yoy, with ASKs up 5.3%, and LF down 0.5 points to 79.6%.