Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Russia’s S7 Group today announced an order for 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and purchase rights for 10 additional 787s. S7 Group subsidiary S7 Airlines will operate the Dreamliners. The 787s will replace S7’s fleet of aging twin-aisle airplanes and provide capacity for growth. The order is valued at $ 2.4 billion at catalog prices. At a press conference today in Moscow, S7 Airlines said the new 787s will allow the airline to increase frequencies and add new destinations domestically and internationally.
AIR travel between the major east coast capitals is no longer booming, as August passenger numbers on the nation’s busiest route, Sydney-Melbourne, were just 0.2 per cent higher than a year ago.Transport Department figures released yesterday suggest business travellers on the so-called “golden triangle” of Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane may be tightening their belts as the economic crunch bites, reports The Australian.The new figures came as Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said international passenger demand was falling.”There is lessening in demand in all classes,” Mr Dixon said as he boarded the airline’s first A380 .
“Qantas has held up better than most airlines.”
The lacklustre Sydney-Melbourne growth figures on the corresponding month a year earlier compare with a 2.7 per cent rise in June, a 10.6 per cent jump in May and a 6.3 per cent increase in April.
The government figures show that, while passenger numbers nationwide were up 4.4 per cent in August, the number flying between Brisbane and Sydney rose just 2.1 per cent and passengers travelling between Brisbane and Melbourne fell 5.2 per cent.
Planes were also flying less full, with load factors down from 80.5per cent to 77.6 per cent as increases in capacity outstripped rises in passenger traffic.
The trend appears to be continuing. Sydney airport released passenger numbers for September showing a 0.1per cent overall fall as a 2.3per cent increase in domestic and regional travel was overshadowed by a 4.3 per cent fall in international passengers.
Financial analysts have been warning for some time of a potential softening of corporate travel demand, although airlines insisted it was still holding up.
“The finance sector is a huge user of corporate travel and everyone’s looking at their travel budgets,” one aviation analyst said yesterday.
“It’s really going to hit Qantas hard, I think, because everyone’s looking to … lower transport costs and use telecommuting where they can.