Air Asia : AK : AXM :

Malaysian headquartered low-cost airline group [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] plans to delay the delivery of eight of the 24 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] A320s it is due to receive next year

La compagnie malaisienne à bas coûts AirAsia va demander le report de la livraison de huit nouveaux Airbus A320-200 qu'elle devait recevoir en 2011, rapporte lundi le journal Star.
"Nous reporterons huit des 24 livraisons pour 2011", a déclaré le directeur général de la compagnie, Tony Fernandes, cité par le quotidien. Les appareils sont désormais attendus en 2014, précise Star.
AirAsia, première compagnie low-cost d'Asie du Sud-Est, avait déjà demandé le report à 2014 de la livraison de huit A320 prévue en 2010.
Airbus avait alors accepté de modifier le calendrier sans infliger de pénalité au transporteur et lui laissait la possibilité de reporter la livraison de huit appareils de 2011 à 2014.
AirAsia a signé une commande ferme de 175 Airbus A320 pour des livraisons étalées entre 2005 et 2014 mais elle est confrontée à une limite de la capacité d'accueil de son terminal actuel et n'a pour l'heure pas de site de repli.

Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia has firmed up plans to launch scheduled services from Kuala Lumpur to three more Indian destinations.
It will begin services to Kochi on 12 November, to Trivandrum on 16 November and Kolkata on 19 November, says the carrier. These services will be daily and use Airbus A320s, it adds.
AirAsia already operates on the Kuala Lumpur-Tiruchirappalli route.
No other carriers operate between Kuala Lumpur and Kochi, Kolkata and Trivandrum, according to Innovata.
The airline said earlier this month that it was planning to launch services to these three cities in the fourth quarter of this year.

Group CEO says carrier is ‘not yield driven but volume driven’
PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Bhd, which has steadfastly widened its reach to new markets even as the financial crisis was unfolding, expects its passenger load factor to remain robust next year, according to group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.
“Our business is great. Our passenger numbers are up even during the puasa (fasting) month. Ancillary incomes are coming up very fast and we’re getting rights to many destinations,” Fernandes told StarBiz.
AirAsia’s load factor stood at 75% in the second quarter ended June 30. He said given the green shoots of economic recovery, yields were likely to improve and that things were not as gloomy as they were a year ago.
As such, “we are in a better position” now. However, he pointed out that the airline was “not yield driven but volume driven. That’s the key to a low-cost carrier (LCC )
In keeping with its aggressive route expansion, Fernandes said by year-end, AirAsia would add seven more routes to India.
It currently flies to four Indian destinations – Kolkata, Kochi, Tiruchirappalli and Trivandrum. It would continue its expansion mode next year as well, he said.
The carrier has deferred taking delivery of a third – or 16 of 48 – aircraft originally scheduled for 2010 and 2011 due to doubts over the timely completion of the new LCC terminal.
On whether this move might limit the airline’s capacity to tap the opportunities if there was a strong uptick in demand for air travel, he said it would be highly unlikely.
“We’ve got 82 planes! And we’re still getting deliveries. But if that’s the case, then it will just push our yields up.”
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, AirAsia said it did not have to pay any penalty for the revision of delivery dates for eight Airbus A320 aircraft, initially scheduled for delivery in 2011 to 2014 and 2015.
The deferment is because it “foresees infrastructural constraints with the current airport facilities” and needs to “optimise its fleet and avoid the costs associated with leaving idle or under-utilised aircraft” due to such limitations.
The carrier had signed an amendment agreement with Airbus SAS for the revision. Under a purchase agreement signed in 2005 and a number of amendment agreements, AirAsia had agreed to a firm order of 175 Airbus A320 aircraft.
AirAsia said the original number of deliveries in 2014 would be increased from 18 aircraft to 24 whereas, in 2015, the company would take delivery of two aircraft as opposed to none from before.
AirAsia had much earlier unwound its fuel hedges, a stance Fernandes said the airline would continue to adopt for a while, even as crude oil prices might rise next year on the back of an economic recovery.
“Even if it (oil price) reaches US$100 per barrel we’re ready for it. We are okay at the moment,” he said, pointing out that the budget carrier had overcome the turbulence even when oil prices skyrocketed to a high of US$150 a barrel.
Over the last two weeks, crude oil had been trading around US$79 a barrel, touching a high of US$81.37 last Wednesday.
“Fuel price is a fake price. Eventually it (price) will settle on real demand,” Fernandes said, adding that it was also painful to hedge sometimes, especially given the high volatility of oil prices.
As such, he said that although AirAsia might remain “naked” or unhedged, it might hedge some fuel requirement over three- to 12-month contracts.
Although there were green shoots of recovery, the economy still remained fragile, he said.
Last year, fuel prices fell sharply from US$145.29 a barrel in July to a low of US$33.87 in December. AirAsia had unwound huge hedging contracts in the third quarter last year that led it to post its first quarterly loss of RM465.5mil since its listing in 2004.
Since then, AirAsia has not got into new hedges. In any case, Fernandes said, fuel hedging only offered short-term benefits. “What we have to do is to build a sustainable business.”

AirAsia's growth continued unabated in the third quarter despite the recession, as the LCC posted a MYR130.1 million ($38.4 million) profit that represented a reversal from the MYR465.5 million loss suffered in the year-ago period.
A 19% year-over-year increase in passenger numbers to 3.8 million, rising ancillary income and a "relentless focus on costs" were key drivers of the result, CEO Tony Fernandes said. "While the airline industry is facing arguably the most difficult environment in recent memory, AirAsia is determined to grow traffic, market share and profits. We see vast opportunities to grow our business." He said India is a particularly attractive growth market and that airports around the region "now look at us as their engine of growth and offer us attractive deals."
He said fourth-quarter demand is "positive" and that the group intends to transport 25 million passengers in 2009, although fares continue to fall.
Third-quarter revenue rose 4.5% to MYR739.7 million and operating profit more than doubled to MYR230.3 million from the MYR91.6 million earned in the 2008 third quarter. AirAsia's loss last year was the result of one-time charges relating to fuel hedges and currency exchange rate fluctuations.
Traffic at the Malaysia-based mainline rose 10% to 3.77 billion RPKs against a 13% lift in capacity to 5.45 billion ASKs. Seat capacity climbed 19% along with passenger traffic. Average fare fell 27% to MYR141.6 but ancillary revenue per passenger soared 57% to MYR36.2. Unit revenue dropped 11% to 12.6 sen and unit cost plunged 22% to 11.3 sen. The airline operated 48 aircraft as of Sept. 30, two more than a year earlier.
Thai AirAsia swung to profit as well, posting earnings of MYR130.1 million compared to a MYR470.6 million deficit in the year-ago period, while AirAsia Indonesia reported a MYR21.2 million profit compared to a MYR4.3 million loss last year.
Through the first nine months of 2009, the company was MYR398.5 million in the black, reversed from a MYR441.1 million deficit in the year-ago period. Operating profit rose nearly threefold to MYR963.8 million from MYR375.3 million and revenue climbed 18.1% to MYR2.28 billion.
"Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the directors remain positive with the prospects of the group in the fourth quarter 2009," it said

AirAsia second quarter profit up 43%; defers seven A320 deliveries to 2015
AirAsia reported second quarter net income of MYR199 million ($63 million), up 43% over a MYR139.2 million profit in the year-ago period, and announced that it will defer delivery of seven A320s from 2011 to 2015.
"Capacity concerns … are one reason for the deferments," CEO Tony Fernandes said in a statement. "Another is our strategy to lower our gearing ratio, ensure we have the sufficient revenue from our operations to fund the purchase of aircraft."
Second quarter revenue increased 26% to MYR941 million. The company said the revenue total was its best ever for a second quarter, adding that the second half the year is "potentially dynamic."
Fernandes noted that ancillary revenue is providing a big boost, pointing out that the airline's average passenger is now spending MYR40 on ancillary services. "The numbers reaffirm our conviction that in ancillary [charges] we have unearthed a gushing revenue stream that can boost our bottom line and also serve as a buffer to rising fuel prices," he said.
Passengers carried in the second quarter lifted 11% year-over-year to 3.9 million. Load factor rose 2 points to 77%.
AirAsia Thailand posted 24% year-over-year growth in second quarter revenue to THB2.66 billion ($84.1 million) and its net income heightened 161%, AirAsia said, but declined to provide an exact profit figure. Fernandes said the subsidiary airline could be publicly listed in Thailand as soon as "next year." AirAsia Indonesia saw its pre-tax second quarter income jump 272% to IDR111.4 billion ($12.5 million), the company said.
Fernandes expressed optimism regarding AirAsia's full year results. "The fourth quarter, of course, is traditionally our strongest quarter," he stated. "To head into our strongest season on the back of a soaring first quarter ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) and a record-breaking second quarter puts us in a fantastic position."

La mienne, .... pour rire ! Boeing pourrait le prendre immédiatement, .... mais EADS / Airbus ne serait pas forcément d'accord ! "No-compete clause" obligatoire ! :lol:

Airbus's long-awaited re-engined narrowbody programme, the A320 New Engine Option, or NEO, will mean there is "virtually no business case left" for Bombardier's CSeries, according to the European airframer's chief salesman John Leahy.

Airbus has yet to secure a customer for the A320NEO, but Leahy lists CSeries launch customer Lufthansa among several airlines and lessors that he says are "very interested" in the aircraft. In addition to Lufthansa, Airbus is in discussions with AirAsia, Qatar Airways, International Lease Finance, GECAS and Indigo.

"The job for the Canadians has become much harder" since the unveiling of the A320NEO, says Leahy. "It has the same number of seats, we have a wider fuselage, the fuel burn is similar and we offer 1,200 miles [1,930km] more range". He adds that it is "no surprise to the industry that CSeries sales dried up" at the beginning of this year, which he claims is due to customers "watching and waiting" to see whether Airbus would announce a re-engined narrowbody option.

Bombardier is unfazed by Leahy's comments, pointing out that it had fully expected the move. "This is no surprise to Bombardier. From the beginning of the CSeries we had factored in a competitive response such as this," says the Canadian company. "There is a considerable first-mover advantage for the CSeries with the entry-into-service date considerably sooner than any competing re-engined product." Service entry for the CSeries is 2013, while the A320NEO is scheduled to enter service in spring 2016.

The A320NEO "changes nothing", adds Bombardier, which has secured 90 firm orders, 90 options and three customers for the CSeries. "There is a compelling case for the CSeries, which remains the only optimised aircraft in the 100-plus seat range. We will take that message to airlines and operators around the world. We are in discussions, we will continue with those discussions and some will result in further orders."

The absence of a customer for the A320NEO does not concern Leahy, who says that Airbus does not need a launch customer because the A320NEO is "not a typical" launch programme. "It's not important how many we sell as NEO, it's how many A320s we sell," he notes, adding that whether customers order existing A320-family aircraft or the NEO version is "immaterial".

Airbus sees a market potential for 4,000 A320NEO-family aircraft over the next 15 years.

It does not expect customers with existing orders for A320-family aircraft to switch to the A320NEO.

"Virtually nothing in our backlog will convert to the NEO," says Leahy, adding that he expects "a large portion" of new A320 orders for deliveries in 2016 and 2017 to be for the NEO version.

Development costs for the Airbus A320NEO will be "slightly more than €1 billion [$1.3 billion]" and the aircraft's list price will be $6 million more than existing models.

Leahy says the additional $6 million list price includes $3.5 million for modifications to the airframe and around $900,000 for the addition of "sharklet" wing tips.
Airbus may look at offering its new engine option on the A318 in the future, but has decided to focus on the A319, A320 and A321 for now because these models represent its main market.

Pour de nombreux "segments professionnels", LEAHY dit beaucoup trop de choses !

"At a later date we may or may not choose to look at that [A318], but that market is relatively small for us right now and we are concentrating on our core market for the time being," says Leahy.

The A320 will be the first model to offer a NEO version when it enters service in spring 2016, with the A321NEO set to follow six months later. The A319NEO will be the last model to be made available under the new programme, and this will be available six months after the A321NEO.

Airbus has not set a cut-off date for when existing A320-family models will no longer be available. "I would envision that you could always order an A320 with the existing engine if there is enough demand," says Leahy.
However, he points out that "at some point in time" it will make more sense for customers to order the NEO because of the fuel savings the new engines offer over models powered by International Aero Engines V2500s. These fuel savings will compensate for the extra weight added by the NEO engines, says Airbus.

The chief executive of Malaysia's AirAsia is considering a possible takeover bid for British airline Virgin Atlantic, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Tony Fernandes, who runs Asia's largest budget carrier by fleet size, has renewed his interest in the UK airline after previously considering and deciding against a bid, the newspaper said in an unsourced report.
Any deal could be worth up to GBP£1 billion (USD$1.54 billion), it said.
British billionaire Richard Branson has a 51 percent stake in the airline he founded in 1984. Singapore Airlines paid GBP£600 million for a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic in 2000.
The UK airline said earlier this month it had received several "lines of enquiry" about tie-ups with rivals after it hired Deutsche Bank to assess the aviation market.
It said the bank's review was expected to last for several months and did not name those interested in a possible tie-up.
Increased competition from low-cost airlines, weak demand and high fuel prices have combined to squeeze many carriers in recent years.
The low-margin industry has gone through a period of rapid consolidation and analysts believe larger carriers such as Virgin Atlantic need partners to stay ahead of the competition.

(Reuters)

PHM75 a écrit:Air Asia envisagerait de créer une filiale aux Philippines.

Une nouvelle fournée Airbus en vue ? Avec une option new engine ?

Probablement : non

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Hertre a écrit:Virgin ne peut plus rester seul, surtout depuis BA / IB ( mais avant c'était déjà une nécessité de trouver DES alliances.

Hertre a écrit:Tony Fernandes sait toujours où placer ses billes, dans une industrie qui n'est pas un secteur à forte rentabilité. Et il sait aussi quand les retirer.

La présence de SIA ne permet pas es partenariats avec n'importe qui...

Hertre a écrit:Voilà une affaire suivie depuis un moment, n'est-ce pas ?

The chief executive of Malaysia's AirAsia has denied considering a possible takeover bid for Virgin Atlantic, a Malaysian newspaper reported on Monday.

Tony Fernandes, responding to an unsourced Sunday Times report that he had renewed an interest in the UK airline, told the Star newspaper that there had been no such discussions.
"There are no discussions taking place," he said.

La réponse est claire, .... et prompte !

The Sunday Times had reported that Fernandes, who runs Asia's largest budget carrier by fleet size, had previously considered and decided against a bid which could be worth up to GBP£1 billion.
The airline said earlier this month it had received several "lines of enquiry" about tie-ups with rivals after it hired Deutsche Bank to assess the aviation market.

It said the bank's review was expected to last for several months and did not name those interested in a possible tie-up.
Increased competition from low-cost airlines, weak demand and high fuel prices have combined to squeeze many carriers in recent years.
The low-margin industry has gone through a period of rapid consolidation and analysts believe larger carriers such as Virgin Atlantic need partners to stay ahead of the competition.

(Reuters)

Oui ! C'est l'évidence ! Pas la peine d'essayer d'en faire un paquet cadeau !

AirAsia négocie "activement" avec Airbus

La compagnie malaisienne à bas coûts AirAsia négocie "activement" avec Airbus une commande d'A320 Neo (remotorisés) et compte annoncer une commande portant sur des avions long-courriers de l'avionneur européen d'ici quinze jours, a annoncé mardi à l'AFP son président.

"Nous discutons activement sur cet avion" moyen-courrier A320 Neo (New engine option), a déclaré Tony Fernandes lors d'un entretien, précisant qu'il avait rencontré la veille le président d'Airbus, Tom Enders, et le directeur commercial, John Leahy.

En 2005, AirAsia avait commandé 175 Airbus A320 qui doivent être livrés jusqu'en 2015 voire 2016, coïncidant avec l'entrée sur le marché des moyen-courriers Neo, dotés de nouveaux moteurs plus économes en carburant.

S'agissant de nouvelles commandes long-courriers, M. Fernandes a affirmé: "une annonce sera faite prochainement, dans les deux semaines", laissant entendre qu'il s'agirait d'A330. "Nous croyons beaucoup en l'A330. C'est un des meilleurs avions jamais construits", a-t-il estimé.

Tony Fernandes est en déplacement à Paris à l'occasion du lancement de la ligne Paris-Kuala Lumpur opérée par la filiale d'AirAsia, AirAsia X. Le premier vol a atterri lundi à Paris-Orly.

Jeannot a écrit:AirAsia négocie "activement" avec Airbus sur des NEO s et des longs courriers.

AirAsia négocie "activement" avec Airbus

.....S'agissant de nouvelles commandes long-courriers, M. Fernandes a affirmé: "une annonce sera faite prochainement, dans les deux semaines", laissant entendre qu'il s'agirait d'A330. "Nous croyons beaucoup en l'A330. C'est un des meilleurs avions jamais construits", a-t-il estimé.

Tony Fernandes est en déplacement à Paris à l'occasion du lancement de la ligne Paris-Kuala Lumpur opérée par la filiale d'AirAsia, AirAsia X. Le premier vol a atterri lundi à Paris-Orly.

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Air Asia Close To Huge A320NEO Order

Malaysian low-cost carrier Air Asia is in talks for a massive Airbus A320NEO order.
CEO Tony Fernandes told reporters in Paris that a planned order for the aircraft would be “not dissimilar” in size to the previous purchase of 175 classic A320s. He cautioned, however, that financial terms of the deal have not yet been agreed on. Virgin America became the first airline to sign a firm order for the A320NEO in January with a commitment for 30 aircraft. Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo wants to buy 180 aircraft, but has not closed a firm order yet.
Airbus expects to collect orders for several hundreds of A320NEOs before the Paris Air Show in June. Demand for the aircraft has exceeded expectations of most analysts and has made sales campaigns for the Bombardier CSeries more difficult. Boeing plans to decide by mid-year what to do with the Boeing 737. The company has recently been leaning toward developing an all-new aircraft to be delivered at around 2020.