Malaysia Airlines - Orient Aviation

REGIONAL ROUND-UP
Hong Kong Airlines
signs MoU for 51 jets
Hong Kong Airlines which began
life in 2001 as CR Airways with
two Bombardier CRJs, signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for
51 Airbus widebody and narrowbody aircraft
in late June. The carrier currently operates
five B737-800s.
The ‘shopping list’ is for 30 A320s, 20
A330s and one Airbus Corporate Jet.
Two years ago, the airline changed
its name after Mainland carrier, Hainan
Airlines, took a 45% stake in the airline and
put its own management team in place.
Airline chairman, Ren Wei Dong, said
the A330s would be used to establish longhaul
routes.
Asia biggest market,
forecasts Boeing
In a 2007 Current Market Outlook,
released in London last month, Boeing
said there will be a US$2.8 trillion
market for airliners in the next 20 years and
the largest market will be in the Asia-Pacific.
The new airliners will accommodate
forecasted 5% annual passenger traffic
growth and a 6.1% increase in cargo traffic.
The report said the market value translates
into 28,600 new commercial airplanes
with the “largest market projected to be the
Asia-Pacific with 36% of the $2.8 trillion”.
North America will comprise 26% of
delivery dollars, followed by Europe, Russia
and the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) with 25% and Latin America, the
Middle East and Africa taking up the remaining
13%, said Boeing. The largest market
will be in single aisle airplanes (17,650), followed
by twin aisle airliners (6,290), regional
jets (3,700) and aircraft larger than 400 seats
(960), according to its forecast.
China could open
up local skies
A
senior
Chinese aviation regulator,
Yang Guoqing, has told the China
Securities Journal that all airports
could be open to all operators from 2010,
when the 11th five-year plan concludes. He
said the reforms could make the eight largest
airports in China, including Shanghai
and Beijing, available to all domestic carriers.
At present these airports have only
been available to major government airlines,
which has stymied the growth of private airlines
in China.
China interested
in Airbus plants
China Aviation Industry Corp
(Avic I) president, Lin Zuoming,
said his company is bidding to
invest or buy all six European Airbus factories
up for auction as well as to develop
mid-size jets with Canadian manufacturer,
Bombardier.
Airbus is auctioning plants in France,
Germany and England that it said would
save the company US$2.68 billion. The
Bombardier joint venture requires a $400
million investment from the Chinese manufacturer
in Bombardier’s C Series aircraft.
In turn, the Canadian manufacturer will
invest $100 million in Avic I’s new regional
jet, the ARJ21.
LOW-COST CARRIERS
Korean Air to
launch LCC
Following the completion of a feasibility
study, Korean Air (KAL)
will set up a low-cost carrier (LCC)
in the next three years, the carrier’s parent
company, the Hanjin Group, said in June.
The new airline will fly on targeted domestic
routes as well as short and mediumhaul
international services, using its fleet of
B737s, the president of KAL’s passenger services
division, Young-Ho Kim, said.
Korean Air’s decision to launch an LCC
was “also a display of its will that it shall no
longer remain indifferent to the invasion of
LCCs from China and Southeast Asia into
the Korean market,” Kim said.
“The Korean flag carrier has asserted
many times that dump selling and unreliable
tourism packages centred around LCCs
causing market disturbance and customer
inconvenience must be stopped. Korean
Air’s strategy is to differentiate its new LCC
venture with its experience, world class
maintenance skills and fleet efficiency,” he
added.
6 ORIENT AVIATION JULY/AUGUST 2007
Budget carrier
to fend off China
All Nippon Airways (ANA) said it
also may launch an LCC to fend
off competition from a growing
number of Chinese airlines. ANA president,
Mineo Yamamoto, said in June the possibility
of increased industry deregulation and
the additional slots to become available at
Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports by 2009
gave ANA the impetus to plan an LCC.
“If Chinese carriers start cut-price airlines
then that is going to be a threat,” he
Korean Air: planning to launch
a low-cost carrier
told Reuters news agency in Tokyo. “We are
looking at the need for a budget airline so we
can compete with other Asian airlines. And
if we feel it is necessary then we want to do
that,” Yamamoto said. The airline could be
based overseas, in a country with lower costs
than Japan and would be a separate brand
from ANA, he added.
Separately, ANA and Korea’s Asiana
Airlines have announced they will each
spend US$12 million buying shares in each
other’s airline as part of a new strategic alliance.
The airlines, both members of the Star
Alliance, will also develop co-operation in