HNA Group may cancel order for 10 A380s, will acquire other new aircraft in 2013

HNA Group chairman Chen Feng said the company is in talks with Airbus and may cancel its order for 10 A380 aircraft, expected to be used by Hong Kong Airlines, due to weak market conditions, according to a report by China Daily. "The world economic downturn may last for a long time and we have to be prepared to tackle it," he said. Mr Chen said the A380s were ordered when the market was good and now the group had to consider the potential for a prolonged period of global economic weakness. "A380 is such a big aircraft, in these years, 10 of them, who has such strength (to buy)," he said. He also said HNA would continue to order new aircraft in 2013, stating, "We have to buy new planes but whether we need to order that many and that soon is another matter."