Gilesdavies From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 2884 posts, RR: 1 Posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3263 times:
Short question?
Is US Airways still receiving the order for 10 A330-200's as well as the A350's they have ordered? Or is the order for the A350's a further defurral for the 332 order.
I have checked several sources and can find no recent info on the A330-200 orders.
Here is US Airways' initial Press Release while in Chapter 11 first time round annoucning the order...
US AIRWAYS RESTRUCTURES AIRCRAFT PURCHASE AGREEMENTS
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 31, 2003 -- US Airways and Airbus have reached an agreement in principle to restructure US Airways' existing orders for A330 and A320 family aircraft. The new agreement will enable US Airways to complement its existing fleet of A330-300 aircraft with A330-200 aircraft, and better match its future fleet of A320 family aircraft for domestic single-aisle operations. It would substitute a new firm order for 10 A330-200 aircraft and 19 A320 family aircraft for existing firm orders of one Airbus A330-300 and 37 A320 family aircraft.
."We have a great partnership with Airbus, as demonstrated by this agreement," said US Airways President and Chief Executive Officer David Siegel. "Long-term, we see Airbus playing an important role in our company's future, and this agreement confirms our commitment to begin taking delivery of new aircraft once we are in a better financial position."
Separately, US Airways has filed a motion with the bankruptcy court seeking relief from lease obligations from a variety of financial institutions for up to 29 A320 family aircraft currently operating in the US Airways fleet. If granted, this will give the airline significant flexibility to complete lease restructuring negotiations and determine the final make-up of it fleet upon emergence from bankruptcy.
As part of the company's current fleet plan, US Airways will continue to operate no fewer than 279 aircraft upon emergence from bankruptcy.
Then while reading Airbus' press release for the A350's for US Airways it makes no mention of the 332's.
US AIRWAYS FIRMS UP ORDER FOR 20 A350's
Following a commitment announced in May 2005 by US Airways and America West, US Airways Group - the merged entity of the two low-cost carriers - has firmed up their order and signed the contract for 20 Airbus A350 aircraft. The airline has not yet announced its engine selection or seating configuration for the aircraft. US Airways' intention is for the A350 to broaden its international service from both the eastern and western United States. Deliveries of the aircraft will begin in 2011 and run through 2014.
"When we restructured the airline, we knew we would need a new aircraft to grow with us, and the A350 truly fits the bill," said Doug Parker, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the newly merged US Airways. "As both halves of our heritage include Airbus fleets, we have great confidence in the brand, and look forward to an airplane that meets our needs for range, economy, and comfort, while offering our crews technology with which they are already experienced."
In addition to a single-aisle fleet of some 200 Airbus aircraft, US Airways flies nine A330 widebodies, the pilots of which will need no additional training to transition to the A350. The cockpit commonality between the two aircraft allow pilots of the A330 and A350 to share the same type rating.
"US Airways is our first U.S. airline customer for the A350, and we know they are leading a trend," said Gustav Humbert, President and Chief Executive Officer of Airbus. "We designed the aircraft in direct reaction to airline requests, offering more range and new materials to lighten the load and better the fuel economy. The A350 will be an ideal complement to the existing US Airways fleet."
Orders and commitments for the A350 currently total 155 from eleven customers worldwide. Following a launch of the aircraft programme in October of this year, the first A350 is scheduled to be delivered in 2010. The A350 will seat between 253-300 passengers in three classes, with a range of up to 8,800 nautical miles.
Ouboy79 From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 4009 posts, RR: 23 Reply 1, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 3217 times:
They are still on the books for delivery in 2009. There is an option to convert to the A350 if they wish, but I think it all depends on how desperately they'll need to get the 767s replaced.
Any opinion/comment posted is that of my own and not that of Southwest Airlines Co.
Mah584jr From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 497 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 3185 times:
One can safely assume that the A330-200 order is still intact, since there has been no further updates on the order. However, it feels like we have waiting a long time for those planes to be delivered.
DAYflyer From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 3807 posts, RR: 4 Reply 3, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 3109 times:
I thought they had been converted to A-350 orders as part of the new financing deal....
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8816 posts, RR: 19 Reply 4, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 3059 times:
no... US doesn't run the A332s... It is all a figment of your imagination...
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
Ouboy79 From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 4009 posts, RR: 23 Reply 6, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 2822 times:
From all the talk, it looks like for the next couple years the only "new" planes coming in are used 757s and the new Embraer 190s.
Any opinion/comment posted is that of my own and not that of Southwest Airlines Co.
HPRamper From United States of America, joined May 2005, 3665 posts, RR: 8 Reply 7, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2752 times:
No, there are still going to be A319 and A320 deliveries.
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8816 posts, RR: 19 Reply 8, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2752 times:
Quoting HPRamper (Reply 7): No, there are still going to be A319 and A320 deliveries.
That is what I thought myself. They are purchasing A320 family aircraft to eventually replace the 737 aircraft I believe...
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
Airwave From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 1117 posts, RR: 3 Reply 9, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 2694 times:
Quoting Steeler83 (Reply 8): That is what I thought myself. They are purchasing A320 family aircraft to eventually replace the 737 aircraft I believe...
According to the Airbus Orders & Deliveries page, there are still about 20 of the A320 family to be delivered.
The thing is, they have 67 active 737s (all 2/3/400s) with an average age of about 17 years, and what's more, they have 60 in storage. So, my question is, once the higher-time 737s are phased out and retired outright, will US just allow a reduction in the overall mainline fleet size or will they place another order in the small- to medium-range category?
Airwave
When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
HPRamper From United States of America, joined May 2005, 3665 posts, RR: 8 Reply 10, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 2681 times:
You can bet they will be ordering more, but no huge batches as they probably want to see how the E-190 pans out. We all know there is a point at which an airline simply has too many mainline (ok, bigger than E-190 size) planes flying around.
Airwave From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 1117 posts, RR: 3 Reply 11, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2669 times:
Quoting HPRamper (Reply 10): You can bet they will be ordering more, but no huge batches as they probably want to see how the E-190 pans out.
Good point, I completely forgot about the E-190s, lol.
Airwave
When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8816 posts, RR: 19 Reply 12, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2649 times:
Quoting Airwave (Reply 9): The thing is, they have 67 active 737s (all 2/3/400s)
I thought US already phased out the supremely aged 732s, but I could be wrong...
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
Mah584jr From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 497 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2645 times:
Well it seems there is no answer to the 332's. I wonder what's really going on.
Airwave From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 1117 posts, RR: 3 Reply 14, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2606 times:
Quoting Steeler83 (Reply 12): I thought US already phased out the supremely aged 732s, but I could be wrong...
No no, you're absolutely right. A miskey on my part. Oops!
US no longer has any 732s in service and I think they've sold or scrapped most of them. They did transfer a bunch to Metrojet at one point, and I have no clue what the fate of those birds was. At this point, they only have 733s and -4s in the fleet, but some of those have been taken out of service, mostly as returns to lessors.
Really a great resource for all sorts of this info is airfleets.net. The particular page for US Airways is located here.
Airwave
When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
Ouboy79 From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 4009 posts, RR: 23 Reply 15, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2603 times:
Quoting HPRamper (Reply 7): No, there are still going to be A319 and A320 deliveries.
I should have clarified my comments to point towards new orders, versus existing ones. You are right though on the narrowbodies still yet to come.
Quoting Steeler83 (Reply 12): I thought US already phased out the supremely aged 732s, but I could be wrong...
HP got rid of the 732s a year or two ago. The US 732s vanished when TomatoJet, MJ, whatever you care to call it ... was grounded after 9/11.
Quoting Mah584jr (Reply 13): Well it seems there is no answer to the 332's. I wonder what's really going on.
The A330-200s are still on the order books for delivery in 2009-2011. The A350s start coming in around 2011, but its still a paper airplane for now - so we'll see when it actually starts flying. So there is your answer...the 332s are coming, but it'll be a few more years. Hopefully a couple more 330s will pop up before then to help keep international service growing. At least Tempe seems to be committed to keeping US Airways an international airline.
Any opinion/comment posted is that of my own and not that of Southwest Airlines Co.
Mah584jr From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 497 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 2578 times:
Airwave From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 1117 posts, RR: 3 Reply 17, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 2564 times:
Quoting Ouboy79 (Reply 15): At least Tempe seems to be committed to keeping US Airways an international airline.
As did Arlington before them, else they wouldn't have invested the money they did in the new 12-gate Terminal A-West (International) at PHL nor restructured that order for A333s into one for A332s as well.
Airwave
When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
Ouboy79 From United States of America, joined Nov 2001, 4009 posts, RR: 23 Reply 18, posted (7 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 2531 times:
Quoting Airwave (Reply 17): As did Arlington before them, else they wouldn't have invested the money they did in the new 12-gate Terminal A-West (International) at PHL nor restructured that order for A333s into one for A332s as well.
I think there was some concern early on in the merger that the Tempe-originating team may abandon the international side and make US a typical LCC instead of the hybrid it is becoming.
Any opinion/comment posted is that of my own and not that of Southwest Airlines Co.