Odds and Ends: Post-SPEEA Vote; LionAir and RyanAir; ANA skeptical of Boeing timeline

Post-SPEEA Vote: The ratification of the contract offer by Boeing by the SPEEA technical workers is welcome news. It gives Boeing and its stakeholders certainty at a time when the 787 issues remain outstanding and the developmental programs of the 777X, the 787-9 and 10, the 737 MAX and the KC-46A are at important stages. Although SPEEA took a loss over the pension issue, the union was able to extend the previous contract provisions over economic issues for another four years. Call this a draw for the two sides.

LionAir and RyanAir: On Monday Airbus announced an order for 234 A320ceo/neo family members from LionAir, previously an all-Boeing customer. Today Boeing announced an order for 175 737-800s from RyanAir, an exclusive Boeing customer. There were no MAXes in the order, however. RyanAir CEO Michael O’Leary has not been a fan of the re-engined 737.

ANA skeptical of 787 timeline: Reuters has an interview with All Nippon Airways in which it expresses some skepticism about the Boeing timeline of returning the 787 to service within weeks. ANA calls this a “best case” scenario.

On the other hand, LOT, which took the 787 out of its schedule through September, now says the airplanes could be back in service by summer.

Vote in the Polls: All Nippon Airlines has begun its effort to rebuild the 787 brand flying in its colors. Boeing began its effort last week. Is the view of the 787 turning? If you haven’t already done so, please be sure to vote in these polls (scroll down after clicking the link).

Paine Field Pleads its Case: Targeted for closure in Sequester, with a decision to be announced this week, the director of Everett Paine Field pleaded his case to remain open in this letter:  FAA Tower Closure – Paine Field (1).

Well wishes: Daniel Tsang, founder of Aspire Aviation, has been hospitalized in Sydney, Australia, with an unknown ailment first thought to be measles but it’s not. Well wishes to him.

 

23 Comments on “Odds and Ends: Post-SPEEA Vote; LionAir and RyanAir; ANA skeptical of Boeing timeline

  1. I am happy to see the SPEEA and Boeing issues are now behind both the union and the company.

    After reading the letter from Paine Field re; ATCT closure, I get the feeling that Paine is just like everyone else on the closure list; yes close some ATCTs to save FAA monies, just don’t close our ATCT. This is typical crying that anyone has when the government needs to reduce or eliminate services. There is nothing stopping Paine Field from hiring a contract ATC company, with certified controllers, themselves to replace the FAA ATCs.

    The Airbus crowd critisized Boeing for taking the Lyon Air order of 231 B-737s a few years ago. Now that Lyon has ordered A-320s I wonder what they will say now?

    The Ryan Air order for Boeing was almost a given since Airbus refused to do business with them a few years ago.

    • The Airbus crowd critisized Boeing for taking the Lyon Air order of 231 B-737s a few years ago. Now that Lyon has ordered A-320s I wonder what they will say now?

      Due to the TGV high speed train, “Lyon Air” ceased to exist some time ago. 🙂

    • Let’s see how many airplanes either Boeing or Airbus deliver to that airline.

    • You missed telling us that Lion Air did this purchase to bribe their way back into European Airspaces 😉

    • “… since Airbus refused to do business with them a few years ago.”

      “But while Leahy did not let EasyJet slip through his grip again, he adopted a different approach to Ryanair, whom he has never forgiven for wasting his sales team’s time a decade ago. “I am not going to use Airbus resources to help an airline get a better deal out of my competitor,” he says. So when Airbus was not prepared to be played off against Boeing, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary “got the Chinese working on it”, jokes Leahy, referring to the airline’s talks with Comac about its C919 twinjet.”
      http://www.flightglobal.com/interviews/john-leahy/issue/

      • Why would anyone listen to what OLeary says? He is in continuous negotiation mode, trying to get something for nothing. Watch what he does not what he says.

  2. Lionair introduced 90 aircraft in 10 years and now has 400-500 on order. You sure have to be a strong believer to expect all those to be delivered this decade, if ever. But it doesn’t hurt Airbus or Boeing so much I guess. Ryanair has a better track record of actually realizing the growth / taking the aircaft, so good deal for Boeing filling up the lines until 2017 or so.

    • Mixed feelings about this. Lionair is a badly run airline, it seems hard to believe it can take on anything like this number of planes. On the other hand, Indonesia as a country seems ripe for a fast development of air travel: a very large and increasingly prosperous population spread out over many islands. And the other airlines are even worse.

  3. Rudy Hillinga Why is filling out these two lines a new equirement every time I write somethingScott?

    Are we talking about Ryan Air in Europe, or Lion Air in Indonesia here?

  4. “RyanAir CEO Michael O’Leary has not been a fan of the re-engined 737.”

    Nevertheless, he expects to buy a bunch of them before the end of the year, according to Flightglobal:
    “Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair expects to sign a deal by the end of this year or early next year for more than 100 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, on top of today’s agreement for 175 737-800s.
    Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary confirmed the acquisition plans in a formal signing ceremony for the 737-800 commitment”

    http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/ryanair-expects-to-sign-737-max-deal-by-end-year-383630/

  5. ANA skeptical of 787 timeline: Reuters has an interview with All Nippon Airways in which it expresses some skepticism about the Boeing timeline of returning the 787 to service within weeks. ANA calls this a “best case” scenario.

    How dare they.

  6. TopBoom addressed some of my questions about Paine Field. Based on his comments, it could be that the Government might just follow through on closing the tower. I assume that only the Paine Field management could hire or engage a private ATC company? How would they pay for that? Are the FAA ATC personnel paid by Paine Field or does Paine Field in some way pay the FAA for their services? Actually that same question would apply to all airports. If so, would it even be possible that a contract ATC might be cheaper than the FAA? Okay, probably doubtful but one never knows.

    This could be the next big change in the overall bureaucratic structure for the country, privatizing the complete ATC network.

    • Sorry, my point for all of this was really that even if the FAA follows through on the ATC closure, Boeing should in all likelihood, continue to be able to operate all of the flights it requires in order to test and deliver their aircraft. At least it seems that way based on TopBoom’s comments.

      • What is the arrangement for Airbus and XFW like? ( always beeen a “private” airport.)

  7. Re: Ryanair. Just like Scott’s evealuation of the SPEEA/Boeing deal, I see this as another draw. Boeing got orders for pre-MAX 737s and Ryanair got more aircraft at a good price, even if they don’t match the prices they got 11 years or so ago.

  8. As for the ANA and LOT estimates; even if ANA is skeptical of Boeings timeline and LOT has a more positive outlook than they did a few weeks ago, it seems they both agree that resumption of commercial 787 flights will more likely occur in a matter of months rather than the Boeing touted weeks.

  9. Uwe :What is the arrangement for Airbus and XFW like? ( always beeen a “private” airport.)

    No idea. I have never flown out of there. I do know there is security screening and customs though.

    • Expected a customs station as airplanes freshly sold to foreigners presents “border crossing goods “. In hindsight screening would be expected also.
      My eye was on who operates the tower and other ATC and general airfield activity. FXW is a private “Sonderlandeplatz” not even a “Sonderflugplatz” like Oberpfaffenhofen.

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