November 25, 2009
US Airways is dramatically slowing the arrival of new planes because of the industry’s continuing struggles, a move that will boost its finances but also delay fleet upgrades and international-expansion plans.
The Tempe-based carrier said Tuesday that it will defer delivery of two-thirds of the Airbus planes that were scheduled to be added from 2010 to 2012. It will now add 28 new planes to its fleet instead of the planned 82. It is also pushing out delivery of its first Airbus A350s, the new extra-wide-body plane that will fly farther than any of its current planes, to 2017 from 2015.
US Airways isn’t cutting any more flights than previously announced because it plans to keep existing aircraft on the routes that were earmarked for the new planes. It is delaying the deliveries by one to two years.
Scott Kirby, the airline’s president, said US Airways can’t afford to aggressively invest in new planes in the short term because of back-to-back years of heavy losses from an oil-price spike followed by the recession.
“It just leaves our balance sheet in a position where it is harder to take those kinds of risks,” he said.
US Airways, the smallest of the five big hub-and-spoke airlines and considered by Wall Street analysts as one of the weakest financially, would have had to use too much of its cash for required pre-delivery deposits and, given the tight credit markets, to help pay for the planes. He said that airlines used to be able to get 100 percent financing for planes but that now, it’s 60 to 70 percent.
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