Aeroflot to restructure fleet, loadfactors down 40%

Lockheed

According to this german article (http://www.aerotelegraph.com/aeroflot-legt-ein-viertel-der-flotte-still) Aeroflot will be returning 43 aircraft to lessor.
1 A320, 21 A321, 13 77W and 8 A330-300.

This means the entire aeroflot fleet of 777s will be gone, and most of the airbus fleet too.

billy few mates

Scrapped or returned to lessor....?
I've done a bit of work with Aeroflot in the past and they were all leased aircraft that were involved...

Lockheed

Well, just getting rid of them. not putting them in the junkyard

billy few mates

Aeroflot to restructure its fleet might be a more accurate thread title then...?

I can't read German so I don't know what it says in the article you linked to but I imagine it's as a result of the collapse of the Rouble due to trade sanctions imposed as a result of the Crimea conflict...?
TransAero had to shed their Irish maintenance operation due to economic issues also partly due to this conflict and my guess is it won't be long before they announce something similar...

DubDani

It says that they are starting negotiations with the leasing companies to cancel the relevant leasing contracts.

The report also says that they cancelled their order of 22 Dreamliners, which were due for delivery in 2016.

billy few mates

That's better, couldn't bear to think about all those airframes being scrapped....

LeChienMefiant

Anything of interest to Ryanair?

Lockheed

LeChienMefiant wrote: »

Anything of interest to Ryanair?

doubt it, part of Ryanair's buisness plan is only operating one aircraft type to lower operating costs, and ryanair have no plans for long haul as of today

Preset No.3

EI would have no interest in the A330's as they are RR Trent engines versus EI's GE powered.

JCX BXC

I have actually noticed a severe decline in air travel to and from Russia, which I find strange. There's no raging wars or serious terrorism, is it an economic recession that's causing the drop?

VG31

Carnacalla wrote: »

I have actually noticed a severe decline in air travel to and from Russia, which I find strange. There's no raging wars or serious terrorism, is it an economic recession that's causing the drop?

Maybe knowing that Russia was responsible for the deaths of almost 300 people when MH17 was shot down last year and the fact that they're heavily involved in the Ukrainian conflict.

Locker10a

VG31 wrote: »

Maybe knowing that Russia was responsible for the deaths of almost 300 people when MH17 was shot down last year and the fact that they're heavily involved in the Ukrainian conflict.

This coupled with the costs of visas and limited freedoms for locals and tourists or at least they make its seem that way and like to be authoritative!

Tenger

Preset No.3 wrote: »

EI would have no interest in the A330's as they are RR Trent engines versus EI's GE powered.

I had the same thought, had a look at some pics to check out the engine type!!

Razor44

Where will the 787s go ?

Tenger

Razor44 wrote: »

Where will the 787s go ?

Well they are not delivered yet so another airline will snap them up. They are probably actually owned by a leasing company anyway.

This announcement seems huge but it could just be an adjustment of the leasing agreements. Its not reducing the fleet by 40%. Could be just allowing the current lease's to expire. Perhaps coupled with some sale and leaseback deals to inject cash to the airline.

Boeing restricted the airline specific galley setup with the B787, precisely in order to make them easier to offer to other airlines when orders fall through or on the secondhand market. Or so a Boeing sales rep told me when I got the tour of ZA003 back in 2011.

billy few mates

Tenger wrote: »

Boeing restricted the airline specific galley setup with the B787, precisely in order to make them easier to offer to other airlines when orders fall through or on the secondhand market. Or so a Boeing sales rep told me when I got the tour of ZA003 back in 2011.

About time too, there are too many options and choices out there making it really difficult to re market aircraft if you have to change the whole galley layout from one operator to another. Plus you also have the difficulties in sourcing spares from the myriad of suppliers and the long lead times they often have. Other than colour I think the manufactures should offer one standard galley for each position on each type and operators should have to tailor their product to fit this standard. It will never happen though as too many airlines have whole departments whose only job seems to be to come up with random odd ball galley layouts....

Locker10a

billy few mates wrote: »

About time too, there are too many options and choices out there making it really difficult to re market aircraft if you have to change the whole galley layout from one operator to another. Plus you also have the difficulties in sourcing spares from the myriad of suppliers and the long lead times they often have. Other than colour I think the manufactures should offer one standard galley for each position on each type and operators should have to tailor their product to fit this standard. It will never happen though as too many airlines have whole departments whose only job seems to be to come up with random odd ball galley layouts....

Agreed !! Galleys designed by people who have never worked in one !! You can imagine how ergonomic those designs can be !

MuffinsDa

the likes of Mahan Air must be licking their lips now...

smurfjed

the likes of Mahan Air must be licking their lips now...

Why?

I understand that the sanctions regarding aircraft were relaxed, but have they ordered any US built aircraft?

MuffinsDa

Last month they acquired 7 used A340-600s and one A321 which are both banned from selling to Iran under current sanctions due to more than 10% of parts (Engine / avionics etc?) being US made. This sanction has so far been strictly applied but those guys managed to circumvent it through a complex network of deceit and work-arounds involving various stages of sales etc. American government is really pissed off about it and has threaten to ground A340s if they can. But one has already resumed commercial service (to Milan).

Any large number of used Airbuses coming to market would probably of interest to them as they are in dire need of renewing their fleet - the estimates are that they need 400-500 aircraft between them and Iran Air. Russians might help them in acquiring more just to annoy the west!

billy few mates

MuffinsDa wrote: »

Last month they acquired 7 used A340-600s and one A321 which are both banned from selling to Iran under current sanctions due to more than 10% of parts (Engine / avionics etc?) being US made. This sanction has so far been strictly applied but those guys managed to circumvent it through a complex network of deceit and work-arounds involving various stages of sales etc. American government is really pissed off about it and has threaten to ground A340s if they can. But one has already resumed commercial service (to Milan).

Any large number of used Airbuses coming to market would probably of interest to them as they are in dire need of renewing their fleet - the estimates are that they need 400-500 aircraft between them and Iran Air. Russians might help them in acquiring more just to annoy the west!

All of the Aeroflot A/C I was involved with were owned by US A/C leasing companies, they will be easily remarketed and won't be going anywhere near that part of the world.
A340s are ten a penny at the moment because nobody wants them, there are dozens of them parked up all over the place.
The big problem with getting equipment to that part of the world is not just about the A/C themselves but some of the spares and equipment. You need to obtain all sorts of US export licences and End User Guarantees for a lot of the stuff even if the A/C is European. I had huge difficulties in the past trying to get GNADIRUs and (the appropriately named) ISIS indicators into that part of the world over the years as they don't want them falling into the wrong hands and being used as missile guidance systems......