There have been a lot of announcements during the first couple of days of the Dubai Airshow, though they’ve largely involved Gulf carriers. Well, here’s an announcement involving a European airline, which will catch some people (including me!) off guard.
Air Europa taps Airbus A350 for long haul fleet renewal
Spanish airline Air Europa has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus for up to 40 A350-900 aircraft. The order hasn’t yet been finalized, so it’s not known how many of these will be firm orders, and when the planes will be delivered.
What’s noteworthy is that Air Europa’s long haul fleet currently consists exclusively of Boeing 787s (10 787-8s and 18 787-9s). With no additional Dreamliners on order, Air Europa is now looking to Airbus for fleet renewal.
Here’s how Air Europa President Juan Jose Hidalgo describes this development:
“This order is a strategic milestone in Air Europa’s fleet development, accelerating its profitable growth by renewal of the current widebody fleet. The A350-900 is a game-changer for key destinations in Latin America. It provides an exceptional cabin experience and the operational performance and economics needed to expand the airline’s network without compromise, delivering the highest standards in air travel.”
We should learn more when the order is finalized. I can’t help but wonder how last minute this was all put together, as Airbus’ rendering of the Air Europa A350 is much lower quality than usual.
I wouldn’t have expected this order from Air Europa!
It’s interesting to see a Boeing 787 operator with 28 of the frames now switching to the Airbus A350. If Air Europa had gone with Airbus wide body planes, I would’ve assumed that the airline would be more likely to select the A330-900neo, given its lower cost, better availability, and sufficient range for virtually all of Air Europa’s network.
The company’s president mentions the A350 allows the airline to expand its network “without compromise,” so is that intended to contrast the A350 to the A330neo? If so, I’m curious where the airline feels it would need to compromise with the A330neos? For that matter, anything out of the range of the A330neo could be covered by the 787s.
The other thing that stands out here is just how much growth Air Europa is planning. Presumably the Dreamliners aren’t going anywhere, so any newly ordered planes will be for growth.
Air Europa kind of has an odd and uncertain position in the market. We’ve seen a lot of consolidation in European aviation. Several years back, the plan was for IAG (the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, etc.) to acquire Air Europa, but that deal ended up being called off, due to regulatory issues.
We did recently see Turkish Airlines announce plans to acquire a 20% stake in Air Europa, in what can only be described as a wild card deal. That still leaves significant room for other consolidation, since it’s a minority stake.
It’s pretty clear that both Air Europa and TAP Air Portugal are prime acquisition targets, given their geography and route networks. It seems likely that at some point, Air France-KLM acquires one of the airlines, and Lufthansa Group acquires the other. Then again, regulatory approval for any sort of majority stake is an absolute pain in the European Union, so who knows…
Bottom line
Spain’s Air Europa intends to acquire up to 40 Airbus A350-900s, though exact details remain to be seen, including how many of those orders will be firm, and when the planes will be delivered. Regardless, it’s pretty significant to see an airline with an all-Boeing 787 long haul fleet now look to the A350 for its expansion. I’m curious what exactly motivated this decision…
What do you make of Air Europa selecting the Airbus A350 for its long haul fleet growth?
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