Fleet News

[BoeingBoy]

The company and Airbus (and affiliates) have reached agreement concerning undelivered orders for both A320/321 and A330 aircraft. The end result is that the company will receive about $6 million in refunds from Airbus and affiliates in exchange for the cancellation of 35 A320/321 orders and an unspecified number of A330 orders. Docket #1615 has the details.

Jim

 

[delldude]

scrounging up $100 million jim??

 

[BoeingBoy]

They call it "fleet rationalization".....

Jim

 

[mweiss]

It's probably "rational" not to add new aircraft when you can't afford to buy them, can't grow, and can't afford to retrain the 737 pilots.

 

[CLT-Douglas]

Maybe they are going to cancel the order in favor of A380's soon. 🙂

 

[BoeingBoy]

Michael,

No disagreement there - for the short term - and I suspect that Airbus could find some delivery positions for U if fortunes improve. However, I read this as a way to get some money back for the short term even if it means paying more for the aircraft in the long term (assuming there is a long term). The gossip has always been that Wolf got a good deal on the Buses since we were the first North American customer.

Besides, training E-170 or CRJ pilots costs money, but the agreement with Embraer calls for getting 6 E-170's (3 by Jan 31 and 3 more by Mar 31) and the Bombardier agreement calls for getting 3 CRJ-700's. It could be that Airbus was willing to refund the deposits/progress payments while Embraer and Bombardier weren't.

There seems to be a pretty constant theme developing. Where a vendor has more pre-petition claims than deposits, advance payments, etc, the company is fighting any attempt to "settle up" the balance - it would require a cash outlay by the company. But where thare is a pre-petition balance in U's favor, they seek judicial approval to "settle up" with the resulting payment to U.

Nothing wrong or illegal, just seems the company is trying to get hold of every dollar it can.

Jim

 

[AP Tech]

No reason for a regional airline to purchase larger aircraft when they can get RJ's who's expense to operate are much less than its larger counterpart.

 

[Heinrich]

The company and Airbus (and affiliates) have reached agreement concerning undelivered orders for both A320/321 and A330 aircraft. The end result is that the company will receive about $6 million in refunds from Airbus and affiliates in exchange for the cancellation of 35 A320/321 orders and an unspecified number of A330 orders. Docket #1615 has the details.

Jim

[post="240074"][/post]​

I see alot about delayed orders but the legal mumbo jumbo was giving me a headache so I closed out

 

[BoeingBoy]

For the A320/321 aircraft:

"(iv) cancel all rights or obligations of the Debtors and AVSA with
respect to the purchase and delivery of 35 “Purchase Right Aircraftâ€￾ as
provided for under said Purchase Agreement, with AVSA paying the
Debtors approximately $2,943,000 in consideration of such cancellation
and a complete waiver and release of all claims on account of or relative
to such Purchase Right Aircraft and the Reconfirmable Aircraft (as
defined in the A320 Purchase Agreement);"

For the A330 aircraft:

"Subject to the approval of the Court, pursuant to Amendment No. 9 to the
A330 Purchase Agreement, dated as of January 17, 2005, the Debtors
and AVSA have agreed to convert $500,000 of credits described in
paragraph 4 of that certain Amendment No. 7 to said Purchase
Agreement to a current cash payment to the Debtors, thereby reducing
the balance of such credits to zero."

Jim

 

[mweiss]

Jim,

I think you're correct as well. It certainly smacks of burning the furniture. I was just being flip more than anything.

 

[RowUnderDCA]

This is what I'm getting from this:

This is not a new development in aircraft orders or cancellations or deferrments. Rather, it is a 'settling up' of some perceived balance owing to U from Airbus of past deposit payments. These deposit payments are associated with a change, cancellation or deferment of airbus orders announced months ago.

Is this correct?

 

[Smartest Loser]

Row,

I find it hard to say " perceived balance ". They both know exactly how much money was owed from one to the other; it was just a matter of agreeing on a dollar amount.

Example: (Airbus) You owe me 200 Million in orders...(USAirways) But, I gave you 10 Million as a down payment...(Airbus) we’ll forgive the orders and refund you 6 Million...keeping 4 Million for our trouble (USAirways) Agreed.

SL

 

[BoeingBoy]

Row,

You're right that the deliveries had been delayed previously. However, these latest amendments to the purchase agreement are dated this month:

The A320/321 agreement:
"2. Amendment No. 15:
Subject to the approval of the Court, pursuant to Amendment No. 15 to the A320 Purchase Agreement, dated as of January 17, 2005,"

The A330 agreement:
"Subject to the approval of the Court, pursuant to Amendment No. 9 to the A330 Purchase Agreement, dated as of January 17, 2005"

For the A320/321 agreement, amendment 15 is the one that pertains to ""(iv) cancel all rights or obligations of the Debtors and AVSA with respect to the purchase and delivery of 35 “Purchase Right Aircraftâ€￾ as provided for under said Purchase Agreement"

For the A330, amendment 9 is the one that calls for "reducing the balance of such credits to zero." It is strictly my interpretation that this effectively cancels the firm delivery positions on some (or all) A330's since we will have zero deposits in place to hold those delivery positions, but that could very well be a wrong interpretation on my part.

Jim

 

[justaumechanic]

Information coming soon.

US Airways will announce very shortly the purchase of up to 30
Boeing 7E7 aircraft with GECAS being the Leasing company providing
the planes.

US Airways will return to the leasors all of the A330's and 767's.

This is from informed sources deep inside US Airways.

You heard it here first.

With special thanks to all of the employees who are going to make this
purchase possible.

 

[Art at ISP]

If I am not mistaken, US owns the A330's outright.

It would make sense to replace 767's though...