It seems the orders for narrow body aircraft come thick and fast as Shandong Airlines are to order fifty Boeing 737 aircraft.
Shandong Airlines Boeing 737-800 at Seoul Incheon Airport. Image GhettoIFE.com
Shandong Airlines is owned by Air China, and operates both Chinese Domestic and International routes, with a fleet of Boeing 737-300s, 737-700s, 737-800s, Bombardier CRJ-200s and CRJ700s.
The airline also holds orders for the Chinese produced COMAC ARJ21 (in addition to the new Boeing 737 order).
16 Boeing 737-800s and 34 Boeing 737 MAX-8 are being discussed to form part of the order to drive its fleet and route expansion.
The order for the planes is subject to governmental approval.
Shandong Airlines appears to be on a march for growth as it goes into the future – as other Asian airlines consider their short and long haul strategies for maintain customers and profits. How other carriers plans go on will be an interesting thing to watch.
An interesting aside is that whilst Shandong Airlines have got 10 orders for the COMAC ARJ21, they hold no orders for planned Chinese domestic airliner that is planned to take on the Airbus/Boeing duopoly – the C919…