LCC airline news: AirAsia bid draws scrutiny; WestJet goes upscale; M&A potential

There are two items of note for low-cost carriers that we find interesting: AirAsia’s bid to buy Batavia Air looks like it is to become a political football, according to this article in the Wall Street Journal. Canada’s… Read More

Ft Worth columnist blasts American’s Horton

This is one of the most blistering critiques we’ve seen of a company CEO where no improprieties were involved. Mitchell Schnurman of American’s hometown paper, The Ft. Worth Star Telegram, just pummels AMR/American CEO Tom Horton.

Odds and Ends: the cost of a 737-800; Planes take off despite ground mishap; ‘We know about this’

Boeing 737-800: Wells Fargo’s aerospace analyst team issued a note today that confirms its previous calculations that American Airlines is paying $40m-$41m for its 737-800s. Update, August 1: We received this note from Wells Fargo: What was confirmed… Read More

SPEEA, Boeing contract: Don’t expect an “IAM breakthrough”

SPEEA, the engineers union at Boeing, and the company appear to be at odds in the early stages of contract negotiations and there appears virtually no chance of a surprise breakthrough similar to the IAM 751-Boeing contract last… Read More

Perspective on 787/GEnx engine event at Charleston

It wasn’t even 10:30 PDT and we had already received quite a few phone calls from media and Wall Street asking what we thought of the weekend engine event on an Air India Boeing 787 equipped with GEnx… Read More

Allegiant Air selects A319

Allegiant Air, an Ultra-Low Cost Carrier in the US, announced that it will lease Airbus A319s from GECAS and purchase more from The Philippines’ Cebu Air. Update: Here is the Allegiant presentation. This confirms Allegiant is getting the… Read More

It’s official–new A350 delay

EADS, parent of Airbus, reported that there will be a three month delay for the A350 EIS due to wing drilling issues. We reported on July 6 we expected a delay of 5-6 months and earlier this week… Read More

Air Asia acquires stake in Batavia Air; opening for CSeries?

Air Asia will acquire 77% of Batavia Air and the rest of the shares next year. Air Asia is an A320/A330 operator. Batavia has a mix of A320s, A330s and Boeing 737 Classics. We can’t help but wonder… Read More

Odds and Ends: Aeromexico orders 90 MAX 8s, 10 787s; CSeries; A350

Aeromexico ordered 90 Boeing 737-8s and 10 787s. This order had been expected to be ready at the Farnborough Air show. Aspire Aviation has a long profile on the Bombardier CSeries. A350 delay: It looks like the wing… Read More

Boeing 2Q12 earnings up

Boeing reported its second quarter and half-year results today. The press release may be found here. Initial analyst take: Bernstein: Boeing reported Q1:2012 EPS of $1.27, versus our estimate of $1.20 and consensus of $1.12. Q1 sales came… Read More