Aviation Industry Updates: Oct 10, 2023

United Announces Huge 110 Aircraft Order With More Boeing 787 & Airbus A321neo

KEY POINTS:

• United Airlines has exercised 50 options on Boeing 787 Dreamliners and placed a new order for 60 A321neos, solidifying its order book for the next decade.
• The addition of more A321neos shows United's commitment to expanding its narrowbody fleet, with plans to operate nearly 200 A321s by 2030.
• United's order for 50 more Dreamliners highlights its fleet simplification strategy, with plans to retire its 757 and 767 fleets and replace them with the larger capacity and efficiency of the Dreamliners.

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US Carriers Accelerate To Bigger Planes To Overcome Operating Constraints

KEY POINTS:

• In announcing plans on Tuesday to order 110 aircraft from Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA), Chicago-based United cited the shortage of air-traffic controllers, congested airspace and limitations on runways and airport gates that have forced many carriers to cut the number of flights they offer.
• With United expecting those problems to worsen by the end of the decade as demand surges, it is buying bigger planes with more seats - a strategy rival airlines have embarked upon as well.
• "The country is just not building a lot more runways and that's just going to cause us to need to upgauge our aircraft to respond to growing demand," United's Chief Commercial Officer Andrew 
  Nocella said Tuesday, using an industry term for a shift to larger planes. He added that travel demand cannot be met without bigger planes.
• The company aims to increase average seats per departure in North America by more than 40% in 2027 from 2019.
• United's latest order includes 50 Boeing 787-9 planes that it plans to operate on many routes currently being serviced by 767s. That version of 787 holds up to 129 more seats than the 767s in its fleet.

Reuters

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Is The Party Over? New Data Suggests Revenge Travel May Be Ending Soon

KEY POINTS:

• The era of unabated “revenge travel” may be coming to a close.
• New reports show that, after years of inflation and rising travel costs, travelers may finally be curtailing their travel plans.
• A new report by the research company Morning Consult shows that travel intentions are increasing in several countries, but flatlining or falling in others, most notably in Europe.
• Intentions to travel dropped 11 percentage points in France and six in Germany since 2022, according to Morning Consult’s “The State of Travel & Hospitality” report published in September.
• Interest to travel also fell in Canada and Russia (-4 percentage points each), the survey showed.

CNBC

Southern Airways Express Suing Pilots Who Quit, And It’s Quite Messy

KEY POINTS:

• Southern Airways Express knows that it’s hiring pilots who are desperate to rack up hours, and it pays them accordingly. Southern Airways Express’ pilot pay has historically started at just $12 per hour. Eventually that pay increases to $18 per hour once pilots pass 600 hours, and then to $21 per hour once they pass 900 hours.
• Not only does Southern Airways Express pay many of its starting pilots this little, but the company also makes pilots sign “training repayment agreement provisions” when they’re hired. With this, the airline reserves the right to fine pilots if they quit within a year. The airline argues that this is because of the money invested in pilots for training.
• To be clear, it’s not like the airline is giving pilots some amazing education, and you don’t even need a type rating for the planes that the airline flies. Rather the company has a basic introductory course when pilots start, and the airline then uses this agreement to prevent pilots from seeking better paying jobs at another airline within a year.
• Despite signing that agreement, many pilots are quitting within that period, and the airline is following through on suing them. Southern Airways Express is said to have filed lawsuits against around 80 pilots. For what it’s worth, the airline is believed to only have around 300 pilots, so that’s a significant number of people being sued. The lawsuits are said to be for up to $20,000.

One Mile At A Time

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