In a statement to the ASX, Alliance said it had expected to settle purchases of 17 more E190s from Dublin-based AerCap Ireland Limited over the course of this year, at a cost of between $182 million and $204 million, as part of its plan to acquire 30 more E-Jets between 2023 and 2026.
The delivery delays come as Boeing continues to face scrutiny over the safety of the 737 MAX family following the mid-air blowout of a door plug on board an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 in January.
In its final report into the incident on 24 October 2022, the transport safety watchdog said the crew of VH-VEQ, which was operating a scheduled flight from Canberra, was given “erroneous on-slope indications, without any failure indication” as it approached runway 34L on a cloudy night.
Despite media reports of smoke in the flight deck of VH-UJK “Sheila” (pictured) as it operated flight AB570 from Avalon on Tuesday, a Bonza spokesperson has told Australian Aviation that the two pilots only reported an unusual odour and were unharmed.
Both Bonza and Jetstar were ahead of all other major airlines for on-time arrivals in the official BITRE data for last month. Bonza led the pack, while Jetstar saw its lowest cancellation rate in more than five years and beat both Qantas and Virgin services in on-time departures.
Qantas says it has seen its best on-time performance since February 2023, while Virgin Australia says it marked its most reliable month in two years; however, official BITRE data for March still showed that OTP across both major airlines and the sector as a whole remained below long-term averages.