United’s newest aircraft type takes flight this week and the CRJ550 interior really is as special as the company has been hyping. Airbus orders and Boeing delays plus some fancy new wifi and upgraded airports on the horizon. Another busy PaxEx week.
Airbus
Norwegian scores a funding boost from China
Norwegian found $1.5bn to help cover short-term aircraft costs thanks to a Chinese partner. The deal dramatically reduces CapEx for the next four years, an important win as the company seeks to shore up its books.
Spirit picks Airbus–again–for a significant fleet boost
Spirit Airlines has big growth plans on its mind. The carrier announced a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus today to add 100 A320neo family aircraft to its order book, more than doubling the fleet by 2027.
Some Sunrise skepticism
Over the weekend Qantas brought another 787-9 home to its fleet in Sydney. But this was not a normal delivery flight. Project Sunrise is coming, and maybe it shouldn’t.
Sunrise Stretch: PaxEx Update 2019-10-18
The beginnings of Project Sunrise and extra leg room for the Kiwis. Plus more wifi (maybe) coming in China and another loyalty top tier moves further away.
Get these stories and more in this week’s PaxEx Update.
Lufthansa Technik dives in to the Chinese inflight connectivity market
Announcements related to inflight connectivity in China are hard to process. Vendors continue to sign agreements and push out releases but forward progress in terms of getting hardware on planes remains stalled. This week Lufthansa Technik (LHT) joined the field with an announcement of an offering for airlines in China. But, like the others, it is unclear what the timeline for implementation will be or where things will go from here.
British Airways, Airbus helping to develop lighter premium cabin seats
Another UK-based, F1-inspired aircraft seating company?? It isn’t a formal business yet, but this consortium signed on a few big names this week, including British Airways and Airbus, to help develop new premium cabin offerings for airlines.
New challengers at every level: PaxEx Update 2019-08-30
New cabins on the horizon for economy and business class, short-haul and long; might travel get more comfortable rather than less? Plus some good news for travelers looking to get online in the sky or earn free travel with their points.
A look inside as the MC-21 aims to compete with Airbus, Boeing
The test aircraft are flying. The order book is growing. The Irkut MC-21-300 will compete with the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo for airline customers in the next decade and beyond. And, for the first time ever, we now know what the cabin interior will look like.
Mirus reaches linefit milestone for Airbus A320 family
Seating manufacturer Mirus hit a major milestone this week, dispatching its first ship set of seats to Hamburg for installation on an aircraft at the Airbus factory. The seats are expected to be installed on the final assembly line at Finkenwerder next week, with first flight and customer (AirAsia) delivery shortly thereafter.