It's been rumoured on another site that AR will be taking QR's four A340-600s; AR's current A340s - two -200s and two -300s - are all quite old (all four in double digit line numbers, dating them back to 1994/95) and Qatar presumably wants to standardise its long haul fleet on the 777.
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4932249/
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News about AR getting these birds have been making its rounds in the Buenos Aires press since the last week of August. During a visit to Buenos Aires the Qatari Emir and the Argentina government signed the deal, subject to final approval by the board of Aerolineas Argentinas SA. What has been made public is that Qatar will lease the 4 A346HGW to AR for an undisclosed period of time.
These birds should be deployed primarily on the routes to Madrid and Rome. AR's 3 744 are due to be returned to the lessor in 2011 which is when the ex Qatar planes should arrive in Argentina.
For starters, AR has the financial clout of the Argentine State, so its pockets are far deeper than when Marsans or Iberia ran the airline. Argentina's economy is expected to grow by 5% this year, behind Peru and Brazil only. While AR is projected to be in the red thru the end of 2011, it has recorded in July its highest load factor and most hours flown in a month ever. And as to new aircraft purchases, the first 2 of 20 EMB190AR are arriving in Buenos Aires tomorrow.
I don't see why the LATAM deal will be such a threat to AR. It is not a merger in the typical sense of the word, but the combination of the two airlines which will continue to operate independently, pooling resources for purchases, and stuff like that. Much as the KLM/AF deal.
And there is no shortage of leased planes in AR's fleet and deals keep coming to its management (738s are rumored) so I suppose that you don't need to worry about the state of affairs between AR and the lessor community.
And by December you should see AR back in MEX, daily with A340. With the disappearance of MX, there is only AM left providing the only non stop link between the two largest capitals in Spanish America.
Rds,
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4932249/
Riporto il commento di uno che pare piuttosto informato dei fatti
News about AR getting these birds have been making its rounds in the Buenos Aires press since the last week of August. During a visit to Buenos Aires the Qatari Emir and the Argentina government signed the deal, subject to final approval by the board of Aerolineas Argentinas SA. What has been made public is that Qatar will lease the 4 A346HGW to AR for an undisclosed period of time.
These birds should be deployed primarily on the routes to Madrid and Rome. AR's 3 744 are due to be returned to the lessor in 2011 which is when the ex Qatar planes should arrive in Argentina.
For starters, AR has the financial clout of the Argentine State, so its pockets are far deeper than when Marsans or Iberia ran the airline. Argentina's economy is expected to grow by 5% this year, behind Peru and Brazil only. While AR is projected to be in the red thru the end of 2011, it has recorded in July its highest load factor and most hours flown in a month ever. And as to new aircraft purchases, the first 2 of 20 EMB190AR are arriving in Buenos Aires tomorrow.
I don't see why the LATAM deal will be such a threat to AR. It is not a merger in the typical sense of the word, but the combination of the two airlines which will continue to operate independently, pooling resources for purchases, and stuff like that. Much as the KLM/AF deal.
And there is no shortage of leased planes in AR's fleet and deals keep coming to its management (738s are rumored) so I suppose that you don't need to worry about the state of affairs between AR and the lessor community.
And by December you should see AR back in MEX, daily with A340. With the disappearance of MX, there is only AM left providing the only non stop link between the two largest capitals in Spanish America.
Rds,