Page 23 - AAA JULY-AUGUST 2012 Online Magazine

FEATURE NARROW-BODY

new a320neo versions, which airbus
schedules to deliver to clients from 2016.
another lcc goair has booked 72 airbus
a320neos. “this order positions indigo
to take full advantage of the predicted
growth in indian air travel,” said John
leahy, airbus’s coo for customers.
the buying spree continues. according
to Sydney-based think-tank, centre for
asia Pacific aviation (caPa), india’s Jet
airways is evaluating a buy of 100 narrow-
body a320neos in 2012/13 to cater for
projected expansion.

Fare forcing
already there is concern about
overcapacity as South East asia witnesses
the rise of lccs including offshoots of
air asia that have ordered (or will soon
be ordering) more narrow-body aircraft.
the reality of competition from lccs has
struck full-service carriers too. “Basically
the market in our region is a low-fare
market,” former Malaysia airlines (MaS)
chairman tan Sri abdul aziz abdul
rahman was reported as saying. he asia-Pacific and india Sales for Boeing Air Asia recently
suggested that majors like Malaysian commercial airplanes. lion air will took delivery of its
airlines have no choice but to compete, expand to full-service flights through 100th Airbus 320 –
noting “we can learn from airasia as well its Batik air division next year using 10 with another 100
on the way
as learning from other budget airlines.” Boeing 737-900s.
the lesson is that for majors to compete With all these deals going down, the
they have to play the same game - or competitive stakes for both airbus and
continue to plunge. Which means more Boeing will be very high during the next
efficient, more versatile, less costly decade. they will also face competition
planes. narrow-bodies. from government-owned and subsidised
airasia subsidiaries network - thai firms in russia and china, as well as
airasia, airasia Philippines, airasia Japan from Bombardier, Embraer and Misubishi
and VietJet airasia - has a fleet of 62 with its MrJ. a new player in the market
airbus a320/200s with a big programme will be the coMac (commercial aircraft
involving the purchase of 200 airbus corporation of china) c919, a narrow-
a320neos. recently lion air and Boeing
sealed a deal as launch customer for
201 leap-1B-powered Boeing 737-9 MaX CHINA – ROOM TO gROW?
aircraft and 29 cfM-7B-powered nexgen Last year China overtook Japan as the largest aviation market in Asia.
737-900Er aircraft, with purchase rights Passengers passing through 175 airports in China reached a record high of
for an additional 150. “this is fabulous. it 564.3 million in 2010, with the year-on-year growth rate at 16.1%, according
comes at a good time when asia-Pacific to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. This included a 15.7% increase
aviation is booming,” said nicole lamb- in domestic passengers to 520 million, and a 20.6% jump in international
hale, uS assistant Secretary of commerce passenger numbers to 44.7 million. The country has said it will build 70 new
airports and renovate and expand 101 existing airports – meaning that by the
for Manufacturing and Services, at the end of 2020, it should have 240 civil airports capable of handling some 700
signing. “today more people are flying in million passengers a year. This rapid expansion will present opportunities -
asia at lower fares and this historic 737 but also challenges as this exponential growth will see significant constraints
MaX order will help connect more people in skilled technical and service support.
in the future,” said dinesh Keskar, VP of
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