Author: Close the curtains.
An Air China A320neo passenger plane broke down while heading to Singapore in September, with thick smoke in the cabin, emergency landing, and emergency evacuation, but fortunately no one **. This failure once again involved the quality problem of Pratt & Whitney engines, which led to many companies around the world being "replaced". The resulting capacity impact is still ongoing today.
Pictured: Air China suffered a recent failure in its network**.
The Pratt & Whitney engine incident was basically characterized as a "PW1100G batch manufacturing defect", and the FAA has issued a directive requiring operators to test the engine for flaw detection of the first and second turbine wheels as soon as possible. The A320neo with this engine is called A320-271N, and there are more than 160 in our country alone, and many companies around the world have been affected.
Philippine Air Cebu was more affected by the incident, as it adopted the A320neo earlier and now has 36 of the 66 mainline aircraft that are A320-271N. Cebu is a low-cost airline, and the A320 flies 8 to 10 take-offs and landings per day. Most of its aircraft are leased, and each aircraft incurs tens of thousands of dollars in losses for every day it stops.
Photo: Air Cebu A320-271N Photo by Draw the curtains.
The Philippines is also the most religious country, and seeing that Christmas is approaching, the peak of passenger flow is coming. In order to make up for the loss of capacity caused by engine replacement and repair, Cebu Air began to search for "aircraft sources" around the world. Recently, it was revealed that it has reached an agreement with Bulgaria Airlines to lease two A320-200 airliners on a short-term basis to tide over the storm.
Bulgarian Airlines was originally state-owned, but it collapsed and liquidated in 2002 and is now run by a company called "Chimimport Inc". But the company's performance has not been good, and now it has only ten mainline aircraft, including five A320s. The data shows that the LZ-FBD, LZ-FBI and LZ-FBK of the 5 A320s are currently "suspended", and perhaps Cebu will lease two of them.
Picture: Bulgaria Airlines A320 network**.
Interestingly, the information also shows that the owner of LZ-FBK is "ICBC (ICBC Leasing)". Therefore, if the Filipinos do succeed in leasing, it will be beneficial to China. Otherwise, if Bulgaria cannot afford to pay rent, China will also suffer.
Internationally, short-term leased aircraft are mostly "wet leased", that is, leased together with the aircraft and crew. And due to the cost, the painting will not be changed. The two planes are expected to fly to the Philippines soon, possibly on the busy Manila-Cebu and Manila-Davao routes. Short-term rentals** are higher, but there is no way to do it.
Photo: One of Air Cebu's home bases: Cebu Airport Photo: Draw the curtains.
The civil aviation industry in the Philippines is extremely developed, and most people use airplanes for travel. Cebu Airlines is a well-known "butcher" in the industry, and domestic flights usually only cost 100 yuan. Cebu Airlines has a good future, and there is news that it will order another 100 or so A320neo, but perhaps not all of them will be available with PW1100G engines.
At present, except for China and Russia, the global civil aviation market sentiment is high, and the supply of aircraft exceeds demand. Since waiting for factory deliveries is out of reach, it makes sense to rent planes from a "sluggish" company like Bulgaria Air. But I'm afraid that even Bulgaria itself could not have imagined that such "good luck" - it would come to the door on its own!