Spring Airlines Pursues More Double-Digit Growth As A320neos Arrive, Prepares To Receive High Density A321neos From 1H2020
Spring Airlines chairman Stephen Wang discusses expectations for fleet and traffic growth in 2019, the recent launch of services to Myanmar, the initial performance of the A320neo fleet, plans for the A321neo and the possibility of acquiring A321neoXLRs. Spring is China’s largest LCC and currently operates an all-A320 fleet consisting of 87 aircraft. In 2020 Spring will reach the 100 aircraft milestone and also start taking delivery of the 240-seat A321neos. The A321neos will be a game-changer for Spring as it will allow the LCC to add capacity on domestic trunk routes and maximise use of slots at primary Chinese airports while further reducing its already very low unit costs. Spring is also now looking at acquiring A321neoXLRs, which would open up new longer routes connecting northern China and Southeast Asia.
Transcript
Stephen Wang:Today, Spring is the largest private airline and also the LCC in China. We have 92 aircraft as a whole, and we focus on the Chinese market as well as the other regional markets. We achieved a very good record, safety record and punctuality record last year for the company. Of the years. And also we're the most profitable airline in China. And we look forward to growing, you know, to add more aircraft, to open more routes across the country and also to our neighbour countries as well. We forecast it's up to the fleet increase because if everything, if the aircraft can get on time, the increase rate will be about 15 to 20%, 15% to 20% increase rate. And also we are also, we focus on both domestic and also the international market as well. So today, 75% of our seats are to the regional countries, Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Cambodia, and so on. So we will just focus on both markets simultaneously. Yes, we just launched the Shanghai to to Shantou Yangguang by the end of next month. Myanmar is our— it's the updated destination. It's quite— because it's Myanmar, there are lots of beautiful landscape. And also we have a lot of Chinese. Chinese, they have open companies there. So I think it's good for both business traveller and also the leisure market. A320 has been approved. It's a good aircraft, very good aircraft. And the fuel efficiency and with lots of new technology. So we today we have 5 aircraft and this year we have another— we have another more than another 12, another 12 more coming. So we look in the future, we think we will very soon we reach 100 aircraft. So I think we might be the solo A320 family. Fleet in China. We focus on the, I mean, the international routes and we try to get further, which is not only Singapore but also destinations like Myanmar and also Cambodia, Thailand. So we are new, our A320s are new. We put on firstly, we put on these routes. We just look forward because we only have a very short experience, you know, on A320neo. We just need more data. to see how far it can go. Yeah, we ordered a bunch of A321neo. It starts from next, the first half of next year. We just look forward to see the new aircraft. We are very excited. Our configuration is of 240 seats. The 240 seats, which means that we, and also plus we have a very high load factor. The A321 means like, we're using the seats like very similar to 787, But the passenger will carry just like very similar to the size of an A330. So in China, the slots congestion is a bit— so it's a serious problem. But we try to get mostly— get more efficient. Of course, to reduce the cost. And also we will put those A321neo on the most congested routes like Shanghai to Guangzhou to Shenzhen to those kind of first-tier cities. We already have We already purchased 18, and we look forward to have more because we have options. We have 60 orders, 60 aircraft in order, and we just like— first of all, we have 18 A321neo, but we have options to switch from A320neo to A321neo. We pay a lot of attention to A321neoXLR, but we just need more data. We just see the other See the practice from the from the other airlines. From China to we head to Indonesia, to to northern parts of the country China, to the to the southernmost of the of just just just of the continent. Like from Beijing to Singapore, from Shanghai to Indonesia. There's lots of new routes can be reached. So we have we have plenty of time. Still, the 321neo is still we are waiting. We are we need to we need to settle down the 321neo. Initially, after that, then we start to think about XLR. Today we can see China is getting more open. We think we can see lots of deregulations. I think it's good for LCCs in China. We just look forward to have another good years for property, not only property lines, but also for the LCCs. Japan is a very important destination for Chinese tourism, for Chinese tourists. So there's lots of cities less than 3 hours can fly China to most of the major destinations in Japan. So I think Japan is very welcome. The Japan products are very welcome for Chinese tourists. So I think we try to send more passengers to Japan and also let the Let the Chinese passengers know better, know better of just know better of Japan. China-Japan does not have very, you know, has some problem politically, but looks like the this problem is going to be is getting is getting solved. So we look forward there there will be more more traffic volume in in the future. Yeah, Japan is the of Spring's first JV. So is our Spring's first JV. So we pay first of all we And we pay our first, our primary attention to Japan, to Spring Japan. Thank you.
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