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Emirates’ decision to cut its backlog by 39 A380s put an end to the short-lived career of the Super Jumbo on February 14, 2019. At the time, Airbus had announced that the A380 deliveries would cease in 2021. The current crisis affecting the aviation industry could disrupt that timetable. It appears that the delivery of the last three Emirates A380s could be postponed by a year, according to aviation journalist Andreas Spaeth. Two are now expected in April 2022, and the last in May 2022 BREAKING @Emirates will get their last three #A380 delivered only in 2022, two in April, last in May 2022. 3 are due still in December this year, among them first with new Premium Economy cabin on Dec. 20. Currently only about four out of 114 flying on a rotating base #avgeek pic.twitter.com/eDyLOMa132 — A...

The speculations of an Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair’s plans to boost its Boeing 737 MAX order from 135 to 200 jets or even more grows stronger with each passing day. Having initially ordered 135 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft back on November 28, 2014, Ryanair seems to sharpen knives among its competitors as the beleaguered jet slowly returns to service. The low-cost carrier originally ordered 100 special variant Boeing 737 MAX 200 jets which were based on the 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The recent update of Boeing 737 MAX order book shows that the airline added 35 more jets reaching a total of 135 737 MAXs. Boeing has developed the new variant in the response to the prior forecasts of the fast low-cost sector growth. The speculations on the order boost were followed by the recent report made by Reute...

SAS is ending the year with a historical annual loss of $1.2 billion and is preparing for more financial trouble in 2021.  On December 3, 2020, SAS Scandinavian Airlines reported a SEK10.2 billion ($1.2 billion) loss before tax for the financial year from November 2019 to October 2020. In comparison, the company reported a profit of around SEK800 million ($95 million) the year before. It said that the COVID-19 measures were the most significant contributor to the deficit. “Our quarterly and fiscal year earnings were severely impacted by the ongoing pandemic. After seeing demand slowly improve during the summer, an accelerated number of COVID-19 cases in September and October unfortunately led to reinforced restrictions across Europe with reduced demand as a direct consequence,” said the c...

Flybe, the British regional airline which ceased all of its operations in March 2020, moved a step further into the revival process after its new owner applied to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the country for the operating license on December 1, 2020. FlyBe sold the business and certain assets to Thyme Opco back on November 4, 2020. The new owner is affiliated with Cyrus Capital, an investment advisory firm, which was one of three former shareholders of the airline. At the time the acquisition took effect, Thyme Opco expected to bring the regional carrier to service in early 2021. Speaking about the possible future of the failed air carrier, a spokesperson of the new owner considered that Flybe would restart smaller than it had been before the collapse. Before the closure on March...

Attempts to replace Russian utility plane Antonov An-2 were failing since the 70s, but the new LMS-901 Baikal seems to be on its way to success.  By 2017, 90% of small aviation needs in Russia were fulfilled by Antonov An-2 Colt, a single-engine biplane from the 40s. Hundreds of them remain in active service despite the production being mostly stopped in 1971. It was the perfect Siberian bush plane: with practically non-existent stall speed and extreme ruggedness, it often was the only available means to transport passengers and cargo to remote locations with short, unpaved runways. The works on an upgraded model, the An-3, started and stopped numerous times in the 70s and 80s. The plane had to retain many features of its predecessor, but get a new turboprop engine. Problems with its deve...

As the first positive results of Covid-19 vaccines echoed through the media, a new challenge arose. Millions of vaccines will need to be quickly distributed globally. Is air cargo industry ready for that?Accenture’s Seabury Consulting estimates the global rollout of a vaccine will generate 65,000 tons of airfreight, which is five times the air vaccine trade in 2019. Additionally, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), providing a single dose to 7.8 billion people would fill 8,000 747-cargo aircraft. While the capacity might prove to be an issue, there is one even larger than that.Currently 54 vaccines are in clinical trial on humans and 3 of them are showing promising results. Pfizer, Moderna and the University of Oxford vaccines showed to be up to 95% effective ...

Despite the second wave of COVID-19 infections sweeping across Europe, resulting in once again crumbling demand, Wizz Air is still expanding. This time, the low-cost carrier announced a new base in Cardiff, Wales, the United Kingdom. The Hungary-based airline will base one Airbus A321 aircraft at Cardiff Airport (CWL) and open nine new routes. Primarily, the carrier is targeting leisure travelers, as all new routes are to destinations across the Mediterranean Sea, including various Spanish, Greek and other holiday destinations. Flights are set to start in Spring 2021. Wizz Air’s newest expansion marks its 14th base since the pandemic broke out in Europe in March 2020. Going against the grain, as the majority of airlines have significantly reduced operations throughout the year, the low-co...

While Australia slowly reopening its state borders, Qantas’ domestic flight capacity rises and offers hope for repairing the airline's balance sheet.  On December 3, 2020, Australia’s air carrier reported that domestic capacity will reach 68% of pre-pandemic level in December 2020. In the previous months it has been running at about 40%. The company expects to start repairing its balance sheet during the second half of fiscal year 2021. If the state borders remain open, the airline projects to be close to break even in the first half and net free cash positive in the second half of 2021.  The Qantas group announced its intention to maintain strong liquidity in order to be prepared for unpredicted situations in the future. As of November 30, 2020, the Group had  $3.6 billion in available l...

The ongoing investigation of alleged corruption at Thailand’s national flag-carrier Thai Airways has flagged 20 more people suspected to be involved in possible airline mismanagement that led to net losses. Earlier in August 2020, Thailand’s Ministry of Transport initiated a probe into alleged corruption at Thai Airways in suspicion that several Thai Airways employees might have become unusually rich from a major aircraft procurement deal struck in 2003-2004.  At that time, Thai Airways placed orders for the now-retired ten Airbus A340 aircraft. Two out of ten planes, namely A340-500s, were intended specifically for ultra long-haul flights from Bangkok to North America, Airbus outlined upon the first deliveries in 2005.  However, Thailand’s authorities are reportedly suspicious of the out...

Rolls-Royce, the British engineering giant, considers focusing on the narrow-body plane market as the wide-body aircraft sector, in which Rolls-Royce specializes, experiences a significant slump and the company continues to fight financial struggles. While the market suffers from the COVID-19 pandemic related decrease in the wide-body aircraft engine demand, Rolls-Royce looks for ways to survive the crisis. The engine maker stepped into negotiations with Airbus with an aim to provide hydrogen-powered engines for narrow-body jets that Airbus plans to produce by 2035. By this measure, Rolls-Royce seeks to maintain the market demand for its services. The engine maker works on its recent UltraFan jet engine development project, ground tests of which should begin in 2021. However, due to the p...