I understand the economics of free PTV's in economy. What I find ironic is that a discount airline like Jetblue provides them on their A320's and AC, a so called "full service" airline doesn't.

I just booked a one way flight from BUF-FLL for $ 86.00 USD (all taxes, surcharges etc included)and I get 22 channels of DirectTv for free.

Jet Blue has baffled many airline experts as they are a low cost carrier. Yet they have PTVs and great service for their pax. Their friendly service is considered much superior than the mainline, full service carriers of North America. May be Zip or AC mainline should have had PTVs... But in Canada, I don't think any carriers have them.

I have felt that great service do help when it comes to return customers.. I do hope AC transforms into a carrier known for service...

[This message has been edited by AC_flyer (edited 04-03-2003).]

At least someone has a need for 747's:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/04/05/pos...ice/index.html

I'm not sure there - the deal was publicly announced, could be I miscounted the previous smaller 340's that werre committed and from what I can tell from the February Airbus ODO, it looks like they were counted in the totals:

AIRBUS Region A318 A319 A320 A321 A300 A310 A330 A340 A380 TOTAL

Iberia E 4 59 47 58 16 7 7 6 6 21 18 18 102 78 87

Anyway, no one is paying for options right now, not even on the 345's and 6's from what I can see.

Edit: Your are right: the 340's show 21/18/18, so the new order wasn't in the ODO, but it was still nailed down on the premise of a bigger deal than Airbus now has in hand. I do think that the carriers you mentioned are more than willing to see their planes arrive a bit later than planned, but that's just me. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by msn (edited 04-05-2003).]

I think airlines are trying to lock up aircraft prices in option, due to the current low aircraft prices.. The demand is just not there...

Looking at both U2 and FR ordering huge options are showing that airline companies are still getting some money for option prices to look the aircraft prices to the current prices. I do believe option rates may have dropped a bit... But not the level as for firm aircraft.

You're right with regards to airlines who would love to delay deliveries this year. SARS and the WAR and have helped the avaition slump dip even further. The usually stronger Asian carriers are also feeling the effects of SARS, while the Middle Eastern Carriers are seeing drop in pax due to the war in the region... So things are going to be very interesting for the rest of 2003.

Even 2004 - the big "if" here is the A380 - that needs infrastructure money in the airports, and while Dubai is committed, some of the other airports are getting cold feet about making any expenditures, like AMS this past week. Mind you, AMS is not an A380 problem, but the point is the same - less passenger volume growth makes for uncertainty on the ground.

I would like to take a look-see at a contract for deliveries into 2005-2006 - if Iberia was able to get a bit better than 40%, it is hard to imagine either of the two suppliers willing to see their average selling price stay depressed into the future. There must be some sort of indexing - unless, of course, they really are locked in, in which case it makes great sense to take up options as you mentioned, as long as an airline can afford to spend any non-rev money right now. Few can.