Airline efforts to improve fuel efficiency depend on fleet renewal programs to reduce fuel burn. But the Boeing 737 Max debacle has thrown a wrench in those plans, with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials revealing last week that the troubled aircraft may not return to the skies before year’s end. Aviation regulators from Canada, Europe, China and elsewhere meeting in Texas in late May indicated they would not necessarily follow the FAA’s lead in determining when the aircraft could return to service (JFI Apr.29’19). Commercial airlines were expected to take delivery of 1,750 new aircraft this year at a cost of around $80 billion, with around half of those deliveries replacing existing planes. In its latest report on Economic Performance of the Airline Industry released earlier this month, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) pointed out that “the improvement in [financial] returns gave the industry confidence to invest on this scale, but business conditions are becoming less favorable.” By the end of next year the global fleet will total more than 30,000 aircraft, with another 1,000 planes added in 2020 even though “the outlook has deteriorated and uncertainty has grown.” Airlines have upgauged by adding more seats on each plane, which has boosted industry load factors to record levels of more than 82% this year.
展开▼
