Interflug IL-62 lands on field

DDR-SEG featured on the cover of an October 1985 Interflug publication

Perhaps it's because I'm a fan of Soviet aircraft, but I couldn't resist posting about these videos that I came across recently, which show an Ilyushin IL-62 from the now-defunct East German airline Interflug landing on a field. Apparently the story goes like this: On October 23, 1989, aircraft DDR-SEG was landed (intentionally) on a 900-meter grass runway at the Stölln-Rhinow airfield, north-west of Berlin. The aircraft was put on display and can still be viewed today (there's a museum there). It's also used for weddings.

Hawaiian dumps Boeing for Airbus long-haul

photo by Ack Ook

Hawaiian Airlines announced yesterday that it was replacing its 18-strong fleet of Boeing 767-300s with 24 new long-range airplanes from Airbus. The order, which is for six A330-200s and six A350 XWB-800s (plus six options on each kind), is worth approximately $4.4 billion at list prices and will "enable [the airline] to open new routes to more distant markets on a nonstop basis from Hawaii," said a company press release. The first A350s will be delievered in 2017 (that's a ten year wait!), but Hawaiian will only have to wait five years for the first A330.

Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian CEO and president, said that "we are building flexibility into the plan with some aircraft purchased, some to be leased and having options for others, which will allow us to scale the fleet according to our needs and opportunities over the next two decades". He also said that agreements with Airbus allow the company to lease additional A330s starting in 2009, which will allow Hawaiian to expand and to replace the Boeing 767s with leases that are due to expire in the next few years.

American to spin off Eagle

photo by caribb

American Airlines announced today that it will be spinning off its regional carrier American Eagle. In a press release earlier today, parent company AMR said that the spin off, which is expected to be completed by 2008, "is in the best interests of AMR and its shareholders". American Eagle could be spun off to AMR shareholders or to a third party (or in yet another way).

AMR went on to say that the spin off will allow American to focus on its mainline operations but still have access to a "cost-competitive regional feed". However, this depends upon how the spin off proceeds - if Eagle gets sold in parts (i.e., if one airline were to take its operations at Miami, and another airline were to take its operations at Chicago), then this might be a bit problematic.

A possible explanation for the spin off (besides the official corporate explanation) that I've seen comes down to finances. American Eagle uses a capacity purchase agreement with American Airlines. Eagle only makes money if it can operate for less than American Airlines pays it. But if Eagle's costs go up compared to other, similar carriers, the cut that American Airlines gives Eagle might have to go up to. It might be that AMR is looking for lower-cost regional feed in the future.

Since the event was only announced today, there are certainly going to be a lot more details announced in the future - stay tuned.

SAS looks towards fleet renewal

photo by Larsz

ATW has reported that Scandinavian carrier SAS has announced that it will be looking to replace its fleet of Bombardier Q400s (like the one pictured above) as well as its sizable fleet of MD-80s. Last month, SAS made the decision to ground its fleet of 27 Q400s after three much-publicized crash landings in a six week period. Although Bombardier has repeatedly said that the Q400 is safe, SAS CEO Mats Jansson said in a statement that "confidence in the Q400 has diminished considerably" and that SAS "customers are becoming increasingly doubtful about flying in this type of aircraft.'' (Qantas, Austrian, and Horizon are three airlines with larger Q400 fleets, and as of right now, none have plans to ground their fleets, although Qantas did temporarily take its Q400 fleet out of service to perform safety checks.) Finding a suitable replacement for the Q400 is "a top priority," according to a spokesperson for the airline, and it is currently seeing "big interest from airlines all over the world" as it looks to sell off the Q400s.

SAS will also be looking to replace its 44-strong MD-80 fleet, and a spokesperson for the airline said that a decision could be made as early as the first half of 2008. SAS is split up into three divisions: SAS Sweden, SAS Denmark, and SAS Norway. (SAS Norway does not operate the MD-80.) Along with the MD-80, SAS Denmark operates A319s and A321s while SAS Sweden flies the Boeing 737-600 and 737-800. This might mean that SAS would order new airplanes from both the A320 and 737 families. SAS Norway, which acquired several Boeing 737-400s and -500s from its merger with Braathens, might also be looking at some newer 737 models as well.

United's "urge to merge"

The world of airline mergers has been buzzing since last week's report that United Airlines and Delta Airlines were being pushed by Pardus Capital Management (which owns a sizable stake in both airlines) to merge. Delta CEO Richard Anderson stated that "there have been no talks with United regarding any type of consolidation transaction and there are no such ongoing discussions." In a press release, Delta said that it "will not speculate on possible airline consolidation".

It's no secret that United has been shopping around for a merger partner for some time. They haven't bought any new planes in quite some time, and United has relatively thin profit margins and high debt.

That said, rumors have been flying for the last few years that United would find a merger partner. These partners have included Continental (which already said no) and Northwest (which wouldn't work out because the two airlines both have strong Midwest hubs) - almost everyone except American (a United-American merger couldn't happen because the combined airline would be too big). The latest to crop up on the aviation forums involves jetBlue, since the two airlines have complementary fleets/networks. United would use jetBlue as an opportunity to become a player again at JFK, which would tie in nicely with international feed from Star Alliance carriers and make it more competitive on the East Coast. And a United-jetBlue merger would also put an end to the fight at Washington-Dulles between the two airlines.

But a United-jetBlue merger isn't too likely, and any merger wouldn't be a cure-all fix for United. Even though United may be holding out on buying new planes to attract merger partners, they're going to need to upgrade eventually to keep up with competitors. And employee-management relations aren't very good, either. Merger or no merger, United really needs to address these issues (and others) if it wants to remain a viable competitor in the industry.