EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday signed a NT$50 billion (US$1.6 billion) deal with Boeing Co to procure five new freight aircraft.
The Taiwanese carrier is expected to receive the first of five Boeing 777 Freighters in October 2017 and have all five in operation by September 2019, EVA Air chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒) said.
The 777 Freighter uses about 20 percent less fuel than the older Boeing 747-400 cargo aircraft in the company’s fleet, Chang said.
Photo: EPA
He said that it is crucial for the company to modernize its fleet, as the cargo sector is beset by dwindling margins and declining transport volume.
“The Boeing 747-400 is no longer the ideal choice, as there is no longer enough demand to fill it to capacity on each flight,” Chang said, adding that the 777 Freighter’s smaller capacity of 85 to 90 tonnes affords much more flexibility.
The new aircraft also shares many characteristics with other 777 series aircraft in EVA Air’s fleet, which will allow pilots to easily switch between flying cargo and passenger aircraft and simplify maintenance, he said.
EVA Air also plans to purchase 24 to 26 passenger aircraft in 2018 or 2019, which is expected to be one of the carrier’s largest procurement bids ever, Chang said.
The company is considering the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350, and has urged Boeing senior vice president John Wojick to provide a more “friendly” price in the upcoming purchase, he said.
In light of the carrier’s lengthy history with Boeing aircraft powered by General Electric Co (GE) engines, Chang said that the 787 would be the ideal choice, as the A350 is powered by Rolls-Royce PLC engines, which would complicate maintenance.
Growth prospects are expected to be constrained for its maintenance business, he said.
“In terms of engine maintenance, many manufacturers are requiring clients to use their own first-party services or risk having their warranties voided, leaving other operators out of the picture,” Chang said.
Evergreen Aviation Precision Corp (EGAP, 長榮航與精密), an affiliated business of EVA Airways, has started shipments of its rigid cargo barriers for Boeing freight aircraft and has delivered 11 units since December last year as part of a contract that runs through 2019, he said.
GE awarded EGAP a six-year contract to supply 45 parts for the US company’s next-generation LEAP (leading-edge aviation propulsion) engine, he added.
Chang said the Taiwanese firm is striving to establish a vertically integrated aviation supply chain, aiming to tap into the market for aircraft parts assembly.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS