Airbus rakes the orders in from China, launches a new A330

It’s been a busy day for Airbus at the Aviation Expo – China 2013, with a bucket full of orders – and the launch of a new Airbus A330.

Let’s start with the orders, with the action firmly on the smaller members of the Airbus family – the A320 Family

• BOC Aviation have placed an additional order for 25 Airbus A320 family aircraft, split between 13 A320ce0 (current engine option) and 12 A320neo (new engine option).  BOC aviation have ordered Airbus aircraft in the past – and are a Singaporian based aircraft leasing company owned by the Bank of China.  Their order list includes 206 A320 Family and six A330 Family aircraft
• Qingdao Airlines – a new airline to the market, based in the East China coast city of Qingdao, Shandong Province – have selected Airbus to provide their fleet expansion fleet. The order for 23 aircraft is split between 5 A320ce0 (current engine option) and 18 A320neo (new engine option), with the airline starting up with leased Airbus A320s. The order is subject to approval from the Chinese Central Government (giving a bit less momentum to the C919 project…)
• Zhejiang Loong Airlines -another Chinese regional startup based in Hongzhou, Zhejiang Province in Eastern China, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for 20 Airbus A320 Family aircraft, comprising of 11 A320ceo and nine A320neo, which will used for both domestic and international service. The order is subject to approval from the Chinese Central Government.
• VietJetAir have signalled their expansion, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to obtain 42 A320neo, 14 A320ceo and six A321ceo aircraft, with 30 options and eight leases… a total MoU (which if fully converted) is 100 aircraft to be added to its fleet.

The final big bit of news is this “New” Airbus A330-300 that has been launched today. As we’re all probably aware, the Airbus A330 is one heck of an aircraft (certainly my favourite aircraft in Economy class), able to compete in two main configurations  – the A330-200 (which is optimised for Range) and the A330-300 (which is optimised for payload – be it passengers or cargo).

This new A330 is a -300 version, which is a much lower weight than the existing A330-300 (dropping from 235tn to 205tn), allowing it to fly up to 400 passengers aboard a plane, whilst reducing the range of the aircraft down to 3,000nm.  The compares the 6,100nm with 300 passengers that an A330-300 can fly.

Most of the changes will be made internally, shaving off weight in the cabin and surrounds, by reducing galley space, crew rest areas, and lighter seats to achieve the weight saving, whilst de-rating the engines that power the aircraft to save on maintenance costs.

De-rating an aircraft has been done before – in fact, Singapore Airlines have de-rated Boeing 777-200 aircraft in their fleet for regional services in Asia.

Airbus suggests this de-rated A330-300 could be used on heavy trunk routes where a narrowbody jet isn’t enough, and yet can offer good value – offering 15% less costs than operating a current configuration A330.

So far, no airline has bitten for this diet A330-300. Airbus is targeting China, India, South East Asia and the Middle East with this aircraft, with the aim to have an order on the books for 2014.

Whilst a heavy widebody has more costs attached (including fuel, maintenance and landing fees), if there are enough passengers aboard the aircraft every flight, the costs could balance quite easily. What’s more, there can be further cost savings if the airline has standardised on a class of aircraft or has members of that aircraft family in terms of maintenance, pilot training and crew training.

It’s an interesting proposition – will any airline bite?

Saying that 350-400 passengers aboard an A330 is… a lot, by any count…

Airbus makes planes…. but only Lufthansa has Ducks made for its First Class Lounge!