sp4294

Anyone know what the schedule for A333 refurbishment is? Any chance they will have new J by October?
Yeah, I know ..

ChrisA330

There hasn’t even been an official announcement that this is happening.

short answer: doubtful.

songsc

If existing A330s are getting new J, then this is interesting. They would be going over 2 refurbish under 2 years.

D582

StuMcIlwain

Any refurbishment is unlikely to happen during the summer months, when AC needs all their planes flying, so I wouldn't expect new J by fall.

longtimeflyin

I remember reading the A330s were in fact getting a new J cabin, or was it the 767s? I'm not entirely sure but I do know that one of these aircrafts were getting the new J pods.

Stranger

Definitely not the 763.

flybit

nope not the 330's. Until AC finds some "new to the fleet" 330's i doubt anything will happen. So look for news late 2018 IF the planes get new seats.

Adam Smith

Perhaps you haven't been keeping up with the news. AC has announced that they are procuring more 333s next year. And our resident SD has reported that word is the existing 333s will get the new cabin "towards 2019"; whether this means late 2018, early 2019 or a combination thereof was unclear. There's a whole thread on the new 333s here:

AC purchasing more A330s in 2019

flybit

No i am aware AC is trying to buy/lease some gently used 330's "Until AC finds some "new to the fleet" 330's i doubt anything will happen"
When they find these planes then they will decide how to renovate the 330's.

heheheh Rouge might be part of the conversion, after all its AC they dont know what they want to do till its done.

Adam Smith

They wouldn't have publicly announced that they were bringing the planes in to the fleet next year if they hadn't already sourced them. Remember, this is not people speculating on PPRuNe or whatever, or even an offhand remark from an executive that they're looking at potentially adding 330s, this is AC telling the world, via investor materials, that they are acquiring four leased 333s.

flybit

a lot of things can change between now and 2019.

interesting Canada Jetlines just found out how difficult it is to lease planes. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...ticle38287172/
seems they even paid the deposits.
Canada Jetlines said it paid security deposits of US$100,000 in September on each of two Boeing 737s it leased and payments of another US$1-million were due by March 1.

Adam Smith

You're comparing a major, established airline with plenty of long-term relationships with lessors with a sketchy bargain-basement start-up outfit trying to secure its first two planes. Which of those do you think (a) has more credibility when it says it is going to have aircraft by a certain date and (b) has more bargaining power with lessors to make sure it gets what it wants?

The answer to (a) should be obvious and with regards to (b), as a finance guy, and one who used to finance airlines, I can tell you that Jetlines is going to be at the bottom of the pile for a lessor. Let's say that were me.

Startup airlines in Canada have a terrible track record and there's a good chance they would be defaulting on their leases at some point, leaving me out money and needing to place the planes with a new customer. Maybe with shoddy maintenance. The used aircraft market is pretty good and I likely have many other customers with established businesses and decent credit. It looks like Jetlines' lessor got a better deal elsewhere and threw them under the bus. I would have done the same.

On the other hand, AC is one of the largest airlines in the world, profitable and probably a company I already do business with or would like to. I would have a high degree of confidence that I would get my payments and that my plane would be well maintained. AC is the type of customer that a lessor would dump Jetlines for.

So if AC says it's going to have four new leased 333s in 2019, I'd say the likelihood of that coming to pass is extremely high.

ACYYZ/SD

Guessing you will not see any refurbishment until the end of the Summer Schedule which is the end of October 2018 as the 330 routes in question are generally full. Heavy maintenance often occurs in November when the loads start to dip.

sp4294

Thanks so much folks! Oh well. I guess I'll have to live with the old pods for our fall trip.