By Leithen Francis in Singapore
SilkAir has delayed issuing a request for proposals (RFP) for narrowbody aircraft until around August because it is waiting for parent Singapore Airlines (SIA) to complete its long-awaited order for widebody aircraft.
SilkAir initially planned to issue an RFP in April, but has since decided to delay it to “late summer”, says chief executive Mike Barclay. “We have the same Airbus and Boeing reps as SIA and they are focused right now” on SIA’s RFP for widebodies, says Barclay, adding that SilkAir wants to wait until the SIA aircraft order “is out of the way”.
SilkAir still plans to include Airbus A320-family aircraft and Boeing 737s in the RFP and at this stage regional jets are also still being considered for inclusion, he says.
Barclay said in February that new aircraft, either A320-family or 737 narrowbodies, would be used to replace older A320-family aircraft and to support 10% per year capacity growth. SilkAir wants to place orders because it has no aircraft scheduled for delivery after 2008 and needs to secure slots for deliveries starting in 2009.
Barclay also says SilkAir is considering 70 to 90-seat regional jets in addition to the larger narrowbodies and, if it adds regional jets, the airline will increase its annual capacity growth by more than 10% per year.
SIA issued its RFP in mid-2005 for widebodies and has been evaluating the Boeing 777-200LR as a replacement for its Airbus A340-500s. It has also been evaluating the A350 against the Boeing 787 as well as the A380 against the 747-8.
The carrier was originally expected to make a decision at the beginning of the year, but since then has delayed it several times. Issues that have arisen during the decision-making process include availability of aircraft delivery slots and expected changes to the A350’s design.
Source: Flight International
