Boeing's April 2022 order book changes revealed

Chinese carriers order 292 A320neo Family jets

China's four largest carriers by fleet size have placed orders with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for a total of 292 A320 Family aircraft, separate stock market filings dated July 1 have revealed.

Air China (CA, Beijing Capital) said it had agreed an order with the Europeans covering sixty-four A320neo Family jets while its Shenzhen Airlines (ZH, Shenzhen) subsidiary will acquire thirty-two. Deliveries to Air China will run from 2023 to 2027 while those for Shenzhen Airlines will arrive from 2024 to 2025. However, the introduction of new aircraft will be concentrated on beyond 2024.

Airbus gave both airlines a "relatively large" discount in the form of a credit memo that can be used to pay for Airbus aircraft, the final payment, or the purchase of Airbus products and services. Air China and Shenzhen Airlines will fund the acquisition via their own funds, commercial bank loans, and other financing methods respectively.

Air China and Shenzhen Airlines will use the incoming aircraft to both renew and grow their existing narrowbody fleets with the...

India's Vistara considers short-term B787 leases

Vistara (UK, Delhi Int'l) is scouting the market for B787s available for short-term leases to cover delays in new deliveries by Boeing (BOE, Washington National), Chief Executive Vinod Kannan told reporters during the 2022 IATA AGM in Doha.

"I would like to have [more B787s] yesterday. But the facts are that these things do take time... The last thing we want is to hurry and get stuck with an aircraft that we cannot utilise viably," he said.

He underlined that any additional aircraft would be signed only for the time until Boeing hands over Vistara's new B787-9s. The airline is in no rush and wants to make sure that whatever aircraft it sources on an interim basis will be well-suited forto its network in terms of range, payload, and efficiency.

The Indian full-service carrier - a joint venture of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines Group - ordered six aircraft of the type from Boeing but took only two prior to last year's suspension in deliveries caused by manufacturing issues....

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Azerbaijan's Silk Way West Airlines orders 2+2 A350(F)s

Silk Way West Airlines (7L, Baku) has placed a firm order for two A350-1000(F)s from Airbus with options for a further two units of the type.

"We are delighted to sign the first but surely not the last agreement with Airbus, which marks the start of what I am sure will be a very fruitful partnership as we strive for future growth," President Wolfgang Meier said.

The delivery of the two firm-ordered units is planned for 2027/8.

The order represents a shift away from Silk Way West Airlines' current fleet strategy based on Boeing aircraft. The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows the Azeri carrier operates seven B747-400FSCDs and five B747-8Fs and also has a firm order for five B777-200Fs due for delivery between 2023 and 2027. It also operated two B767-300Fs between 2012 and 2015, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows.

Parent company Silk Way Airlines (ZP, Baku) focuses on Soviet-era freighters and currently operates three Il-76TDs and two Il-76TD-90s.