Page 10 - AAA JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2018 Online Magazine
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Higher fuel burn means less its -8X model to gain extra legs
range. It now appears that this – or the same legs with more lift.
model may have difficulty on Still on wide-bodies there is
Trans-Pacific routes.” Backing considerable interest surround-
that claim up Bernstein notes ing what Air Asia may do with its
that “United Airlines announced order for 66 A330neo, with CEO,
that it would swap its 40 A350- Tony Fernandes saying late last
1000s for 45 A350-900s, which year that he could swap the entire
are planned to be used heavily on order for either A350s or 787s.
the Pacific routes. Cathay Pacific Interestingly Air Asia X actu- had fewer issues than the GTF
swapped its first 6 A350-1000s for ally ordered A350s initially and it remains to be seen how they
A350-900s and LATAM recently swapped to the A330neo on that both perform in service this year.
swapped its first two A350-1000s basis that it passengers would Both the A320neo and 737 MAX
for A350-900s.” One of the chal- really not know the difference are well established sellers with
lenges that the A350-1000 has, is and thus there was no justifica- huge backlogs and most interest
also a lack of commonality with tion in the extra cost according centers on the battle at the top
the A350-900, with a different to one insider. Also at the time end of this market between the
engine, significant modifications Air Asia X was cooling on its lon- A321 and 737MAX 10. Boeing
to the wing, and a different landing ger-range ambitions. Fast forward launched the MAX 10 at last year’s
gear says Bernstein. five years and the dynamics have Paris Air Show with resounding
The order book for the -1000 is altered with more sophisticated orders for 361 aircraft although
not strong with 169 aircraft, with low-cost passengers and AirAsia many (214) were conversions
16 of those for Iran Air, which is X eying markets that are better from other models. Just over five
uncertain. However, despite the suited to the A350 capabilities. feet longer than the MAX 9, the
softness for the larger model Scoot has proved the popularity new aircraft will carry between
Bernstein says that the A350- of the plastic fantastic 787 with 180-230 passengers as is just a
1000 as “a positive addition to its passengers. few feet shorter than the A321
the A350-900.” The other heavy- effectively one seat row shorter.
weight the 777X is well-positioned The one-class 28-inch (71cm)
for the long term as the only 400 seat capacity is 230 for the MAX
seat aircraft available at a time 10 and 236 for the A321, so really
when the A380 appears to be nothing in it. On range, the stated
fading. But Bernstein is much less performance, of both standard
confident in the 777-8X, which will models is also much the same at
compete against the A350-1000. a round 6000km.
It is in this 350-370 passenger However, the A321neo-LR is
range where the offerings from A Level Playing Field another beast again. This vari-
each OEM appear suboptimal. ant has increased MTOW to 97
But the ultra-long-range demand hile the wide-bodies tonnes and can carry 206 passen-
from Qantas and Air New Zealand have the glamour gers in a 2-class layout with range
is an impetus for Boeing to tweak and the luxury fit- of 7,400 km with three additional
Wtings it’s the narrow 2,990 L fuel tanks. Airbus deliv-
bodies where the spectacular ered 7 A321neos last year and
growth and numbers are, partic- has a massive 1470 on backorder.
ularly in Asia, where for instance Prior to the launch of the MAX 10
only seven per cent of traffic Bernstein said that Airbus had “a
in China is LCC. But both new modest advantage over Boeing
models of the A320 (neo) and in narrow-bodies resulting from
737 (MAX) have been dogged the fact that the A321neo is two
with engine issues. Fixes are in meters longer than the 737MAX-
place and the CFM engines has
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