logo
Bangkok Airways Seeks 30 New Jets as White Lotus Boosts Tourism

Bangkok Airways Seeks 30 New Jets as White Lotus Boosts Tourism

Bloomberg18-03-2025
By , Danny Lee, and Filipe Pacheco
Save
Bangkok Airways Pcl is gearing up to order as many as 30 new aircraft as it renews its aging fleet and plans for a tourism boost driven by the popularity of television series the White Lotus.
The mid-sized Thai carrier plans to tap planemakers Airbus SE, Boeing Co. and Embraer SA for at least 20 single-aisle jets in the first half of the year, with options to order about 10 more, said Chief Executive Officer Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth. Its goal is to grow its fleet to at least 30 jets in the next four to five years, including the lease of some aircraft, he said.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Airbus Is About to Eclipse a Record That Boeing Held for Decades
Airbus Is About to Eclipse a Record That Boeing Held for Decades

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

Airbus Is About to Eclipse a Record That Boeing Held for Decades

(Bloomberg) -- In 1981, the year Airbus SE announced it would build a new single-aisle jetliner to take on Boeing Co., the 737 ruled the roost. The US-made narrowbody, already in use for more than a decade, had reshaped the airline industry by making shorter routes cheaper and more profitable to operate. By 1988, when Airbus began producing its upstart A320, Boeing had built a formidable lead by delivering some 1,500 of its cigar-shaped best-seller. The US-Canadian Road Safety Gap Is Getting Wider Festivals and Parades Are Canceled Amid US Immigration Anxiety A Photographer's Pipe Dream: Capturing New York's Vast Water System To Head Off Severe Storm Surges, Nova Scotia Invests in 'Living Shorelines' Five Years After Black Lives Matter, Brussels' Colonial Statues Remain It's taken the better part of four decades, but Airbus has finally caught up: The A320 series is poised to overtake its US competitor as the most-delivered commercial airliner in history, according to aviation consultancy Cirium. As of early August, Airbus had winnowed the gap to just 20 units, with 12,155 lifetime A320-family shipments, according to the data. That difference is likely to disappear as soon as next month. 'Did anyone back then expect it could become number one – and on such high production volumes?' Max Kingsley-Jones, head of advisory at Cirium Ascend, wrote of the A320 in a recent social-media post. 'I certainly didn't, and nor probably did Airbus.' The A320's success mirrors the European planemaker's decades-long rise from fledgling planemaker to serious contender, and finally Boeing's better. By the early 2000s, annual deliveries of the A320 and its derivatives had surpassed the 737 family; total orders eclipsed the Boeing jet in 2019. But the 737 stubbornly remained the most-delivered commercial aircraft of all time. At the outset, Airbus faced an uphill battle. The European planemaker, an assemblage of aerospace manufacturers formed in 1970 with backing from European governments, didn't yet offer a full aircraft lineup. Infighting hindered everything from product planning to manufacturing, and leadership decisions had to finely balance French and German commercial and political interests. Yet it was clear even then that Airbus needed a presence in the narrowbody segment to firmly establish itself as Boeing's top rival. Those aircraft are by far the most widely flown category in commercial aviation, typically connecting city pairs on shorter routes. Higher fuel costs and the deregulation of the US aviation industry in the late 1970s had given the European planemaker an opening with American airline executives, who clamored for an all-new single-aisle, according to a history of Airbus written by journalist Nicola Clark. To set the A320 apart, Airbus took some risks. It selected digital fly-by-wire controls that saved weight over traditional hydraulic systems, and gave pilots a side-stick at their right or left hand instead of a centrally mounted yoke. The aircraft also sat higher off the ground than the 737 and came with a choice of two engines, giving customers greater flexibility. Airbus's gamble paid off. Today, the A320 and 737 make up nearly half of the global passenger jet fleet in service. And the A320's success contrasts with strategic blunders like the A380 behemoth that proved short-lived because airlines couldn't profitably operate the giant plane. Boeing maintained that smaller, nimbler planes like the 787 Dreamliner would have an edge — a prediction that proved right. Yet the longtime dominance of the two narrowbody aircraft raises questions about the vitality of a duopoly system that favors stability over innovation. Both airplane makers have repeatedly opted for incremental changes that squeeze efficiencies out of their top-selling models, rather than going the more expensive route of designing a replacement aircraft from scratch. Airbus was first to introduce new engines to its A320, turning the neo variant into a huge hit with airlines seeking to cut their fuel bill. Under pressure, Boeing followed, but its approach proved calamitous. The US planemaker came up with the 737 Max, strapping more powerful engines onto the aircraft's aging, low-slung frame. It installed an automated flight-stabilizing feature called MCAS to help manage the higher thrust and balance out the plane. Regulators later found MCAS contributed to two deadly 737 Max crashes that led to a global grounding of the jet for 20 months, starting in 2019. More recently, Airbus has been bedeviled by issues with the fuel-efficient engines that power the A320neo. High-tech coatings that allow its Pratt & Whitney geared turbofans to run at hotter temperatures have shown flaws, forcing airline customers to send aircraft in for extra maintenance, backing up repair shops and grounding hundreds of jets waiting for inspection and repair. With both narrowbody families near the end of their evolutionary timeline, analysts and investors have begun asking about what's next. China, for its part, is seeking to muscle into the market with its Comac C919 model that's begun operating in the country, but hasn't so far been certified to fly in Europe or the US. Boeing Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg said in July that the company is working internally toward a next-generation plane, but is waiting for engine technology and other factors to fall into place, including restoring cash flow after years of setbacks. 'That's not today and probably not tomorrow,' he said on a July 29 call. Airbus's healthier finances give it more flexibility to explore design leaps. CEO Guillaume Faury toyed with rolling out a hydrogen-powered aircraft — potentially with a radical 'flying wing' design — in the mid-2030s but has since pushed back the effort to focus on a conventional A320 successor. The Toulouse, France-based company is considering an open-rotor engine that would save fuel through its architecture rather than the current jet turbines that push the limits of physics to eke out gains. Speaking at the Paris Air Show in June, Faury called the A320 'quite an old platform' and affirmed plans to launch a successor by the end of this decade, with service entry in the mid-2030s. 'I have a lot of focus on preparing that next-generation of single aisle,' Faury said. 'We are very steady and very committed to this.' --With assistance from Jinshan Hong. What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates Bessent on Tariffs, Deficits and Embracing Trump's Economic Plan How Syrian Immigrants Are Boosting Germany's Economy Twitter's Ex-CEO Is Moving Past His Elon Musk Drama and Starting an AI Company ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Shopee Owner Sea Tops $100 Billion in Market Value as Stock Surges
Shopee Owner Sea Tops $100 Billion in Market Value as Stock Surges

Bloomberg

time2 days ago

  • Bloomberg

Shopee Owner Sea Tops $100 Billion in Market Value as Stock Surges

By , Filipe Pacheco, and Low De Wei Save Each week we'll bring you insights into one of Asia's most dynamic economies. If you haven't yet, please sign up here. Shopee owner Sea is inching closer to becoming Southeast Asia's most valuable company, Olivia Poh reports. Sticking with retail (sort of), Filipe Pacheco and Low De Wei report on Singapore preparing to sell hundreds of confiscated luxury items, and Katrina Nicholas gives us the lowdown on Australian eatery Club Street Laundry.

American Eagle ‘almost paralyzed by body positivity' before it launched ‘sultry' Sydney Sweeney ads
American Eagle ‘almost paralyzed by body positivity' before it launched ‘sultry' Sydney Sweeney ads

New York Post

time2 days ago

  • New York Post

American Eagle ‘almost paralyzed by body positivity' before it launched ‘sultry' Sydney Sweeney ads

American Eagle Outfitters has made a bold, divisive bet on its 'sultry' Sydney Sweeney ads — but only after its commitment to the 'body positivity' movement started to falter, experts told The Post. A decade ago, the mall-based chain's 20-year-old lingerie brand Aerie famously took off as millennials shunned Victoria's Secret and its leggy, angel-winged supermodels in favor of Aerie's ads featuring ordinary women and diverse body types. But recently, American Eagle's flagging sales show that 'inclusive fashion' has its limits — especially after the election of President Trump, experts say. Advertisement 7 Sydney Sweeney's provocative ad for American Eagle Outfitters has created a firestorm that's even drawn in President Trump. American Eagle 7 Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle was ratcheting up the provocative ads before the Sweeney campaign. American Eagle 'They were almost paralyzed by their body positivity movement and were cautious about coming across too sexy,' according to retail analyst Gabriella Santaniello, who heads up A-Line Partners. Advertisement In recent months, the retailer has been pivoting to more provocative looks — even before the Sweeney campaign rocked the internet late last month, Santaniello said. String bikinis and 'cheeky bottoms' that expose more of women's butts, for example, were previously only available on American Eagle's website, but started cropping up in its stores earlier this year, she noted. Susan Scafidi, director of the Fashion Law Institute, has likewise noticed 'edgier' looks and 'more sultry styling. 'This means featuring fewer boxy t-shirts and more cropped camisoles,' she said. 7 American Eagle has been edgier in its marketing even before the Sydney Sweeney campaign, experts told The Post. American Eagle Advertisement What's more — unlike competitors including Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, and the Gap — some pages on American Eagle's website have lately shown models going braless under various tops — and they aren't always subtle about it. 'All of the teen retailers shy away from the nipple,' Santaniello said. 'That's why it's so odd that they're going for it.' 7 Most teen retailers avoid the nipple look, according retail analyst Gabriella Santaniello. American Eagle Then, in late July, came the Sweeney spots. In one video, the 'White Lotus' and 'Euphoria' star tinkers under the hood of a vintage Mustang GT350 before slamming it shut, wiping her hands on the butt of her jeans — and peeling off in a cloud of burning rubber. Advertisement Days later, President Trump gushed that the ads were 'hot' and 'fantastic' after he learned Sweeney was a registered Republican. The company's shares surged 23% on Trump's comment, drawing comparisons to meme stocks. 7 American Eagle has been among the leading voices among retailers on body positivity messaging. Getty Images for Aerie 'They had to do something different,' said Hitha Herzog, a fashion management professor at Parsons School of Design. 'We have a conservative president in office and we are seeing conversations that skew away from body positivity, inclusion and diversity. 'American Eagle has always been good about knowing where the conversations are going,' Herzog added. Traffic to American Eagle's US website soared following the campaign's rollout on July 23, rising more than 60% on July 28 compared to the same day last year, according to data and insights company Consumer Edge. Meanwhile, however, left-wing critics seized upon the campaign's tagline 'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans'. In one clip, Sweeney explains that genes 'often determin[e] traits like hair color, personality and even eye color,' before declaring, 'My jeans are blue.' 7 The Sydney Sweeney American Eagle campaign includes scenes of the star looking under a hood of Mustang. American Eagle An ensuing fracas claimed the ads were promoting Nazi ideology, calling for boycotts of the 48-year-old company. According to a survey this week by Axios and Generation Lab, 39% of young women and 42% of Democrats said the ads made them less likely to buy American Eagle jeans. Advertisement In the week of Aug. 3, foot traffic at American Eagle stores dropped 8.9% on top of a 3.9% decline the previous week — far steeper than drops at rival chains including Abercrombie and the Gap, according to Pass_by. 'When a brand sees momentum stall so sharply, it often reflects a reputational or cultural factor,' said James Ewen, vice president of marketing for Pass_by. 7 Aerie won market share from Victoria Secret's teen brand, Pink. Bloomberg via Getty Images Advertisement American Eagle posted its only message about the ad so far on Aug. 1 on its Instagram account. 'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone,' the company said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store