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JULY/AUGUST 2023 AviationWeek.com/ATW

BY THE
NUMBERS
World’s top airlines

Ascending
by fleets, financials
and traffic

CEO INTERVIEW
IndiGo’s Pieter Elbers from the abyss
ANALYSIS Fleets and traffic almost
Why that 2050
net zero goal
totally restored
looks scary The 2023
ATW World
CAPA PERSPECTIVE
Is the travel surge over Airline
or just beginning? Report
IFC2
THE
DEFINE
WHAT WILL

FUTURE OF

AEROSPACE AND

DEFENSE?
Electrification. Advanced, secure networking. Next generation materials.
Hypersonic flight. Artificial intelligence and machine learning. High-energy lasers.
Autonomous, smart sensors. Sixth generation engine technologies. These are
just some of the ways we’re transforming how we connect and protect our world.
Finding answers to the biggest questions is what defines us.

Visit Raytheon Technologies to learn more at rtx.com/WeAreRTX


July/August 2023 | Volume 60 | Number 6

SIAE/ANTHONY GUERRA

FEATURES

COVER STORY
14
2023 WORLD AIRLINE REPORT
Airlines have almost fully restored their fleets;
new orders indicate a shift in growth centers.
by Karen Walker

2023 World Airline Report Index


16 Top 50 Airline Financials
17 Top 50 Airline Traffic
18 Top 100 Airline Fleets

On The Cover: Boeing 777X demonstration at the Paris Air Show. Photo: SIAE/Anthony Guerra

Aviationweek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 1


July/August 2023 | Volume 60 | Number 6

NASA
BUSINESS/AUDIENCE
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MANAGING DIRECTOR, MEDIA &
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DAVID CASEY

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4 Editorial 12 Key Routes
Buttigieg: A poor scorecard A selection of 50 new routes SUBSCRIPTIONS
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Editorial

EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-Chief
Karen Walker
+1 703-656-6300 Karen Walker | Editor-in-Chief
karen.walker@informa.com karen.walker@informa.com
Routes Editor-in-Chief
David Casey
David.casey@informa.com
Buttigieg:
Managing Editor
Jack Wittman
jack.c.wittman@informa.com
A poor scorecard

P
Senior Associate Editor
Linda Blachly ete Buttigieg has been US system will have the biggest effect in
linda.blachly@informa.com transportation secretary since terms of reducing flight disruptions and
Europe Bureau Chief February 2021. His perfor- raising customer satisfaction.
Victoria Moores mance on overseeing the country’s It's taken two-and-a-half years, but
Tel: +44 (0) 7966 389 339
victoria.moores@informa.com aviation system has been, to put it Buttigieg is finally showing signs of
Europe/Middle East Editor
kindly, underwhelming. understanding what needs to be done.
Alan Dron Early on, Buttigieg showed little On US news programs in July, he has
South East Asia & China Editor interest in aviation, even though the pledged to hire 1,500 controllers this
Chen Chuanren industry was still deep in the worst cri- year and to request funds for 1,800
Senior Editors sis it had ever endured because of the more next year.
Henry Canaday pandemic. Ever the politician, Buttigieg “If we keep pressing airlines on their
Kurt Hofmann
Aaron Karp
instead focused on crowd-pleasing performance, scheduling and invest-
Chris Sloan ground transportation issues, such ments, we have to make sure as a
Director, Editorial Production as road, rail and bridge infrastructure country on the public sector side that
Michael Lavitt improvements. investments are being made in our air-
Director, Content Design When he finally turned his attention ports, in our runways and taxiways and,
Lisa Caputo to aviation, it was not a good turn. most important, in our people,” he told
Content Designers Instead of recognizing, learning about CNBC’s Squawk Box program.
Thomas De Pierro and addressing the major issues, US airlines made considerable
Rosa Pineda
Colin Throm including the urgent need for invest- reductions and changes in their 2023
Production Editors
ment in the air traffic control system, summer schedules to allow for antic-
Audra Avizienis Buttigieg focused on attacking US air- ipated ATC system shortages and
Rosa Pineda lines and their leaders. constraints. Those were hard busi-
Contributing Photographers Those verbal attacks turned into ness decisions because, as Buttigieg
Rob Finlayson threats of investigations, retribution, acknowledges, travel demand “is off
Joe Pries
and new, unnecessary regulation. the charts” and post-pandemic airlines
Buttigieg initially dismissed the role desperately need the revenue.
© Air Transport World 2023. All Rights
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01923, U.S.A. (Code No. 0002-2543/04 $1.25
ground stop. Buttigieg needs to show line leaders as bad guys who don’t
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of issues or articles can be ordered from The sibility and set in place a plan that will will achieve a lot more for traveling
Proquest Company, 300 North Zeeb Rd, PO
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address the ATC/FAA issues. A mod- Americans and the economy if he works
800-521-0600. ern, fully staffed and functioning ATC with the industry, not against it.

4 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


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Analysis

Why Airlines Need a Hero


Who can make the giant leap for aviation-kind?
BY KAREN WALKER
expected to provide—some two-
thirds. Availability of SAF remains
exceedingly scarce—around 0.1%
of what’s required—and SAF is
many times more costly than con-
ventional jet fuel.
Second, development of
new-technology engines and air-
craft has been fast-tracked, but
in the near term—and relative
to the 2050 goal—they will only
address short- and maybe me-
dium-haul regional routes (and
turboprops already serve those
markets very efficiently). There’s
no technology solution for the
long-haul international markets
NASA
that could be financed, devel-

T
he 2021 IATA AGM concluded with a sense of oped and certified in 20 years.
achievement: Much of the world was still in lock- Third, and most important of all, IATA’s 2050 goal
down, yet the meeting was a successful in-per- has not yet succeeded in moving the dial significantly
son event. It was also where the IATA member in terms of getting full-on political, strategic and finan-
airlines made their commitment to being carbon net cial support from the world’s governments. That’s crit-
zero by 2050, which ICAO aligned with a year later ical to addressing the SAF supply gap. Airlines can’t
when governments agreed to an aspirational goal for and shouldn’t diversify into SAF production, but gov-
aviation to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. ernments can incentivize production and use, and
This year’s AGM, in Istanbul in June, with borders turn it into an important economic growth industry for
reopened and most restrictions lifted, saw a record their countries.
attendance and a strong agenda. But when it came None of this is news to the IATA or airline execu-
to that 2050 goal, the mood was far more cautious. tives. In his opening address, director general Willie
Not bleak—the airlines understand how much is at Walsh said governments were accountable to de-
stake with sustainability and that they must address liver a global policy framework to achieve net zero
their forced reliance on fossil fuels. The concern cen- by 2050. “Even though ‘aspirational’ is a qualifier in
ters on the timing: 2050 seems awfully close given LTAG [the ICAO long-term aspirational goal], failure is
what has been achieved since 2021, which is to say not an option,” he said.
quite a lot but nowhere near enough. Walsh stressed that the series of 2050 net zero
The hurdles to being carbon neutral by 2050 are roadmaps IATA has published—laying out the key
multifaceted and were much discussed during the steps necessary to meet the timeline—are not just for
AGM and its adjacent conference. In summary, how- airlines.
ever, it comes down to three problems. First, sustain- “Governments, suppliers and financiers cannot be
able aviation fuel (SAF) development and production spectators to the challenge. We all have skin in the
are nowhere close to the levels needed to meet the game. And each must deliver the products, policies
significant proportion of the 2050 goal that they are or investments needed to decarbonize,” he said.

6 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


Quotables

He rightly stressed the need for expert, validated


research and for a global, accurate standard meth- “Keeping a balance
odology to track progress toward net zero. “Decar-
bonizing aviation is a serious multitrillion-dollar initia-
between Boeing
tive. … Governments must not be allowed to use it to
shore up exchequer finances.”
and Airbus
The problem is most politicians are not listening.
As Walsh pointed out, they have not made good on
product is really
their COP 26 promise to stop financing fossil fuels important to us.”
and there’s been no major shift of subsidies from fos- Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian
sil fuel to SAF or other green energy production. The
US has taken the surprise lead with its SAF tax credits
embedded in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act bill.
But those credits are not permanent and could be “This business is no longer heavily
rolled back by a Republican-majority House that does dependent on me.”
not like the Biden administration’s bill. Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary,
In his op-ed in Aviation Week, The Plain Truth on how the company structure is sufficiently diversified.
About Aviation’s 2050 Sustainability Goals, and
during an ATW podcast, aviation lawyer Ken Quinn
agrees with Walsh’s view that “huge government “We got into AI before it was
investment and tax incentives” are essential. He
even popular. … We’ve only used
promotes the idea of a “moonshot” for the aviation
industry, similar to how President John F. Kennedy
it on a portion of our flights, but
motivated Americans, industry and the scientif- on average it saves three-and-a-
ic community to put a man on the moon within 10 half minutes a flight.”
years, not because it was an easy goal but because Alaska Air Group CEO Ben Minicucci,
it was hard. at an Aero Club of Washington luncheon.
It’s a good idea. The question is how and who?
The Apollo mission, as it became, was essentially
a US goal to inspire Americans—though the whole
world was transfixed when Neil Armstrong stepped “I used to say that
onto the lunar surface. The aviation climate-neutral Heathrow was the worst
goal needs to be global—net zero will only be as
good as the weakest part of the international sys- airport in the world.
tem—but governments tend to look at aviation as Schiphol now holds
“their” space, to laud, chastise or tax according to
the local political winds. ICAO is the world’s govern- that prize.”
ment representative body for aviation but is hardly IATA director general Willie Walsh, during a media brief at the
an inspirational motivator in the vein of Kennedy. IATA AGM in Istanbul, where he pointed out that the
Amsterdam hub has continued three years of high
Airlines need to find their world-stage non-avia-
airline fee hikes, with a 12% increase this year.
tion champion or champions. Instead, they are stuck
with “leaders” who either cling to the easier rewards
of supporting the oil, gas and arms industries, or tout
the crowd-pleasing but lousy alternatives of cap- “I would like the whole world to state
ping, or even banning, aviation growth. that we need SAF as soon as
As Quinn says, commercial aviation is in the cross- possible for humanity
hairs. It needs its own Armstrong—and soon.
and the planet.”
IATA chief economist & SVP sustainability
The ATW Window Seat podcast with Ken Quinn can
Marie Owens Thomsen
be heard at bit.ly/46L7TA1.

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 7


INTERVIEW: INDIGO CEO PIETER ELBERS

BIG Ambitions
At the Paris Air Show in June, Indian LCC IndiGo
firmed an order for 500 Airbus A320 family air-
craft, believed to be the largest-ever single aircraft
purchase agreement. The fast-growing airline oper-
ates a fleet of about 300 aircraft and the new order
came on top of existing orders for 480 aircraft to be
delivered before the end of the decade. CEO Pieter
Elbers took the helm at IndiGo in 2022 after a long
career at KLM, where he was also CEO. He did so
as India’s aviation market is growing rapidly, fu-
eled by an expanding middle class. IATA estimates
the market size will swell by 430 million additional
air passenger journeys to and from and within the
country by 2040 compared with 2019. The United
Nations has also projected that India will overtake
China in 2023 to become the world’s most-populous
country, with an estimated total of more than 1.4
billion. IndiGo placed its first order with Airbus in
2005 for 100 A320 family aircraft and placed sub-
sequent orders in 2011, 2014 and 2019. The airline
is now the largest domestic operator in India with a
DAVID CASEY

64% capacity share of seats.

– Interview by KURT HOFMANN

How different are the European and Indian mar- From my personal perspective, this is a new, won-
kets? Let me take a slightly different angle in my an- derful opportunity and it’s an honor really to take this
swer. The Indian government is clearly on a mission airline to the next level.
to bring forward India, which is important. There is
a strong drive to bring it forward and it is showing. What gives you confidence in the Indian market?
Soon India will be the third-largest economy in the The potential is enormous. There are around 700 to
world. Aviation is seen very much as an integral part 750 aircraft in operation in India for 1.4 billion peo-
of that, like we saw in Europe two decades ago, ple. In China there are around 4,000 aircraft, and 1.4
where aviation has been seen as a force for good, billion people also living there. India has just 0.5 air-
as [former IATA director general] Tony Tyler said, craft per million people, versus 3.1 aircraft per million
and as a new opportunity for jobs, investments, as for China and 15 per million for the European Union.
well as connections between universities, technical We are very confident that the Indian market over
institutes, etc. All these positive things are what we the coming years will continue to expand, and we
saw in Europe, and this is very much live now in In- will continue that steady growth. There are around
dia. Yes, there is complexity. Yes, there is regulation. 140 airports, including very small ones in the coun-
But I also experience a lot of support here and it will try. We fly to 78 airports; actually, to nearly all that
evolve over time. The general mindset here is very can handle airlines. We are expecting to add anoth-
positive. That’s different compared to Europe now. er handful of destinations in India. And the govern-

8 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


“We are low cost, but we are not low quality.”
ment has plans to open up another 40 to 50 new Do you anticipate having a business cabin on the
airports. India has also done a lot on safety, which is A321XLR and how will the longer range of that
a number one priority. There have been some safety aircraft affect your network? We have not decid-
rankings recently where India has really jumped up ed on that. We are low cost, but we are not low
significantly. There is a lot of oversight by the Indi- quality. We have one class, but in today’s config-
an aviation authorities. And, of course, with a lot of uration we offer XL seats, which have a generous
growth, this has a lot of attention, and rightfully so. pitch, and we see more and more corporate cus-
tomers choosing those seats. It is very smart how
How can IndiGo keep its costs low? This is a very IndiGo has done this; we keep the simplicity of the
important point. There is a very strong cost-con- one-class concept while addressing the most im-
scious culture in the company; we are very much portant element for customers, which is space. But
focused on that. Of course, growth helps regarding international growth is one of the cornerstones of
efficiency, fleet utilization, optimization of productiv- our strategy. Today we operate to 26 destinations
ity, resource centers, etc. We have a training center internationally, another six were announced in ear-
that starts at 7 a.m. and runs until 10 p.m. We train ly June, including flying to Africa for the first time,
1.800 people a day and this just goes on and on. In- starting with Nairobi, which is fantastic. We are
dia is a very competitive landscape. Don’t forget we gradually expanding the range of our international
are doing a lot of flying for first-time flyers. As part network, which is very important. The next step will
of our ambition, giving wings to the nation, a point be Europe: Frankfurt, Rome, Tel Aviv.
of reference for those first-time flyers is a relatively
low fare. Against that background, the competition Is IndiGo experiencing some of the technology/re-
is intense, but things are changing. Air India, with the liability and supply chain issues that are affecting
merger with Vistara, is changing; this creates a more the industry? Engines don’t like three things: dust,
mature market. You have seen that in Europe, the sand and heat. And we have dust and heat in India,
US. It will take a bit of time here, but with the size of which is a different environment in which to oper-
India, there will be multiple carriers. ate compared to Amsterdam. We have an excellent
group of technicians and have developed very in-
You have leased widebodies from Turkish Air- depth knowledge. With the [narrowbody] engines,
lines. How is that cooperation going? We have we operate both the Pratt & Whitney and the CFM,
had the cooperation with Turkish Airlines for sev- and there is deep cooperation with both compa-
eral years; this is the next step in our partnership, nies. But there is a lot of in-house expertise. So yes,
which at the same time addresses our situation engines and the supply chain are issues for us as
with a shortage of aircraft because of the supply well, but I prefer to look to solutions, rather than
chain issues. We are operating two [Boeing] 777s only addressing the problem. We found mitigating
to Istanbul, one out of Delhi and one out of Mum- measures in terms of lease extensions. We have a
bai, with a Turkish cockpit crew and our cabin crew. steady flow of aircraft coming in.
This is a first for IndiGo. As we have no 777s in our
fleet, we needed their support. We have operated What is the main challenge? We need to keep up
from Delhi since February, Mumbai since the end the foundations of the company. We need to keep
of May and we are connecting to the network of the costs down, but we need to invest further in
Turkish Airlines. It gives us an opportunity to look digitalization and internationalization. This is new
at IndiGo’s potential capabilities: how we sell, how for us. We have started to codeshare, which means
we can spread our wings. We will get the Airbus we have to create a seamless journey for our cus-
A321XLR in 2025. With those aircraft, we can fly tomers. A lot of that is new stuff. I see it more as a
well into Europe, so cities like Frankfurt can be positive challenge because it is creating a lot of ex-
reached. For today, the Turkish codeshare allows citement inside the company. We have big ambi-
us to spread our wings in Europe. When we have tions and plans. My message is: Watch this space.
the XLR and fly to a dozen or more European desti- Keep following where IndiGo is going as India’s
nations, we will be in a totally different game. preferred airline.

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 9


Routes Insights

New Horizons
Three carriers expand
international networks.
BY DAVID CASEY

A
ir Canada is returning to Singapore after
more than 30 years, while Virgin Atlantic is
planning to make its long-awaited debut in
South America and Turkish Airlines is fur-
ther expanding its footprint in North America.

VANCOUVER-SINGAPORE Seoul until April 2009.


Air Canada plans to expand its Asia network by The carrier returned to the Canadian market in De-
introducing nonstop flights between Vancouver cember 2021 after a 12-year absence by adding a Van-
International Airport (YVR) and Singapore’s Chan- couver stop on its existing Singapore-Seattle route. Ser-
gi International Airport (SIN), marking a return to vice between Singapore and Vancouver then became
the Singapore market after a hiatus of more than nonstop in June 2022.
three decades. According to Sabre Market Intelligence, O&D traffic
The airline will replace Star Alliance partner between Canada and Singapore totaled 72,000 two-way
Singapore Airlines (SIA) on the route, which be- passengers during 2022, with Vancouver-Singapore ac-
gan serving the cities nonstop in December 2021 counting for 47% of the traffic.
but is scheduled to suspend flights in Septem- Although SIN is dropping Vancouver from its network,
ber. Like Singapore Airlines, Air Canada will offer it will continue to serve five destinations in North Amer-
three round trips per week. ica, flying to Los Angeles, New York John F. Kennedy,
Service from YVR will be from April 3, 2024, on Newark, San Francisco, and Seattle-Tacoma. United Air-
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, lines also serves San Francisco-Singapore.
departing at 12:15 a.m. aboard Boeing 787s. The
return from SIN will leave at 9:10 a.m. on Tues- LONDON HEATHROW-SÃO PAULO
days, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Virgin Atlantic will make its South American debut during
The schedule has been built to offer connec- the summer 2024 season, four years later than originally
tions to and from destinations across North Amer- planned. Flights to São Paulo’s Guarulhos International
ica via Air Canada’s hub at YVR and, at SIN, to Airport (GRU) will begin on May 13, 2024, operating daily
and from destinations across Southeast Asia, using Boeing 787-9s.
South India and Western Australia with codeshare The airline initially announced its intention to begin
partner SIA. serving the Brazilian city from London Heathrow (LHR)
At 12,807 km (6,915 nm), the ultra-long-haul in September 2019, targeting a March 2020 launch.
route will become the farthest in Air Canada’s However, the start of the planned 9,460-km (5,878-nm)
network by distance, surpassing Vancouver-Syd- route was halted indefinitely following the onset of the
ney by 314 km (170 nm). It will also become the pandemic.
sole nonstop connection between Canada and Two carriers serve the London-São Paulo market at
Singapore. present, with British Airways (BA) offering daily Airbus
SIA’s resumption of operations to Canada A350-1000 fights and LATAM Airlines Group providing
two-and-a-half years ago ended an absence of daily service using 777-300s. In total, there are about
more than a decade without nonstop flights be- 10,300 two-way nonstop seats between the cities, and
tween the two countries. The airline previously LATAM has a 55% share.
operated a 3X-weekly route to Vancouver via Virgin Atlantic announced a codeshare partnership

10 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


Singapore will see the return of Air ROUTE PERFORMANCE
Canada after more than 30 years with
nonstop flights from Vancouver Inter- VANCOUVER-SINGAPORE
national Airport beginning in
Carrier: Air Canada
April 2024.
Aircraft: Boeing 787
with LATAM in January 2022 as Frequency: 4X-weekly
the Chile-headquartered group Start date: April 3, 2024
moved closer to Delta Air Lines Distance: 12,807 km (6,915 nm)
and its partners, Virgin Atlantic O&D traffic demand (2022): 33,659
and Aeromexico. The agreement O&D change vs 2019: -13.8%
covers LATAM’s LHR-GRU service, Average base fare (2022): $1,214
alongside onward connections to
12 domestic airports in Brazil. LONDON HEATHROW-SÃO PAULO
Sabre data shows that point-to- Carrier: Virgin Atlantic
point traffic from London Heath- Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
row to São Paulo Guarulhos Frequency: Daily
AKEN ARIN/PIXABAY amounted to 86,790 passengers Start date: May 13, 2024
in 2022. A further 73,322 passen- Distance: 9,460 km (5,878 nm)
gers traveled to destinations beyond São Paulo, while O&D traffic demand: (2022): 253,003
49,117 passengers flew to São Paulo from points behind O&D change vs 2019: +20.4%
the UK airport. Bridge traffic—travelers starting their jour- Average base fare (2022): $662.23
ney from behind LHR and flying onward from GRU—to-
taled some 30,916 passengers. ISTANBUL-DETROIT
As well as targeting leisure traffic, Virgin Atlantic hopes Carrier: Turkish Airlines
São Paulo will be a popular cargo route. Trade between Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
the UK and Brazil amounted to about £7.7 billion ($9.6 bil- Frequency: 3X-weekly
lion) in 2022, according to UK government figures. The Start date: Nov. 15, 2023
airline expects to carry regular shipments of car parts, Distance: 8,502 km (4,591 nm)
pharmaceuticals, food and agricultural products. O&D traffic demand: (2022): 26,151
O&D change vs 2019: 76.2%
ISTANBUL-DETROIT Average base fare (2022): $391.0
Turkish Airlines is further expanding its US network during
the northern winter 2023-24 season with the launch of a Data provided by Sabre Market Intelligence
new route to Detroit. unless otherwise stated.
Starting on Nov. 15, the Star Alliance member intends
to offer three flights a week to Detroit Metropolitan
Wayne County Airport (DTW) from its Istanbul Airport (IST) ies in Europe at present. Delta Air Lines serves
hub. Service will be on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fri- seven markets, flying to Amsterdam, Frankfurt,
days using 787-9s. London Heathrow, Munich, Paris Charles de
The US has been a major growth market for Turkish Gaulle, Reykjavik Keflavik and Rome Fiumicino.
since the pandemic, with the carrier adding capacity to Air France also serves DTW from Paris; Lufthansa
existing points and launching routes to Newark in May from Frankfurt; and Icelandair from Reykjavik.
2021, Dallas-Fort Worth in September 2021 and Seattle Although Detroit is not a Star Alliance hub,
in June 2022. Turkish Airlines will be targeting flows transfer
According to data provided by OAG Schedules Anal- traffic, primarily to Arabic-speaking destinations it
yser, Turkish serves 12 US cities and offers about 83,100 serves in the Middle East and Africa. According to
two-way Turkey-US weekly seats. This compares with 10 a study of US Census data by the PEW Research
destinations and 47,900 two-way seats during summer Center in Washington DC, the Detroit region has
2019. The figures show that the US is now the airline’s the most Arabic speakers of any US metropolitan
third-biggest international market by capacity, behind area. It said there are more than 190,000 people
Germany and Russia. in the area who speak Arabic, representing 13%
Meanwhile, Detroit has 10 nonstop connections to cit- of all Arabic speakers in the US.

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 11


Key Routes A selection of 50 new routes starting in July and August 2023.
Weekly Start
Airline Departing airport Code Country Arrival airport Code Country Aircraft
frequency date
Air Arabia Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi AUH UAE Tehran IKA Iran A320 3 July 18
Air Canada Toronto Pearson YYZ Canada Brussels BRU Belgium 787-8 5 Aug. 1
Air Cote d'Ivoire Abidjan ABJ Cote D'Ivoire Casablanca CMN Morocco A319 4 July 2
Air Europa Madrid MAD Spain Sal Island SID Cape Verde 737-800 1 July 9
Air France Nice NCE France Marrakech RAK Morocco A319 2 July 7
AirAsia Kota Kinabalu BKI Malaysia Beijing Daxing PKX China A320neo 7 July 1
Airasia X Kuala Lumpur KUL Malaysia Chengdu TFU China A330-300 3 July 1
Atlantic Airways Faroe Islands FAE Faroe Islands New York Stewart SWF US A320 1 Aug. 22
Avianca San Salvador SAL El Salvador Las Vegas LAS US A320neo 3 July 15
Batik Air Malaysia Kuala Lumpur KUL Malaysia Adelaide ADL Australia 737-800 3 July 6
Braathens
Visby VBY Sweden Aarhus Tirstrup AAR Denmark ATR 72 2 July 3
Regional Airlines
Breeze Airways Providence PVD US Tampa TPA US A220-300 4 July 3
Taipei Taiwan Czech
China Airlines TPE Taiwan Prague Ruzyne PRG A350-900 2 July 18
Taoyuan Republic
Condor Munich MUC Germany Pristina PRN Serbia A321 1 July 26
Copa Airlines Panama City PTY Panama Austin-Bergstrom AUS US 737-800 4 July 6
Delta Air Lines New York LaGuardia LGA US Salt Lake City SLC US A220-100 1 July 1
easyJet Porto OPO Portugal Palermo PMO Italy A320 1 July 1
Egyptair Cairo CAI Egypt Manchester MAN UK 737-800 5 July 15
Emirates Airline Dubai DXB UAE Montreal YUL Canada 777-300ER 7 July 5
Eurowings Hamburg HAM Germany Tunis TUN Tunisia A320 1 July 4
Flair Airlines Edmonton YEG Canada Quebec YQB Canada 737 MAX 8 2 July 7
Fly Baghdad Airlines Baghdad BGW Iraq Dalaman DLM Turkey 737-800 1 July 14
Hong Kong Airlines Hong Kong HKG Hong Kong Nagoya Chubu Centrair NGO Japan A330-300 4 July 8
Iberia Malaga AGP Spain Funchal FNC Portugal CRJ1000 1 July 18
IndiGo Ahmedabad AMD India Jeddah JED Saudi Arabia A320neo 7 Aug. 11
ITA Airways Rome Fiumicino FCO Italy San Francisco SFO US A350-900 5 July 1
Jazeera Airways Kuwait KWI Kuwait Islamabad ISB Pakistan A320/A320neo 2 July 1
Jeju Airlines Jeju CJU South Korea Beijing Capital PEK China 737-800 3 Aug. 2
Jet2.com Bristol BRS UK Chania CHQ Greece 737-800 1 July 24
JetBlue Airways New York JFK JFK US Amsterdam AMS Netherlands A321neo 7 Aug. 29
Juneyao Airlines Beijing Daxing PKX China Osaka Kansai KIX Japan A320 7 July 1
LATAM Bogota BOG Colombia Orlando MCO US A320 7 July 1
Qatar Airways Doha DOH Qatar Lyon St-Exupery LYS France 787-8 4 July 3
Ryanair Sevilla SVQ Spain Duesseldorf Weeze NRN Germany 737-800 2 July 2
SalamAir Muscat MCT Oman Kuala Lumpur KUL Malaysia A321neo 2 July 3
SAS Scandinavian
Stockholm Arlanda ARN Sweden Montpellier MPL France A320/A320neo 2 July 3
Airlines
Saudia Jeddah JED Saudi Arabia Birmingham BHX UK 787-9 3 July 2
Sky Airline Lima LIM Peru Sao Paulo Guarulhos GRU Brazil A320 4 July 3
Sky Express Rhodes RHO Greece Lille Lesquin LIL France A320neo 1 July 3
Southwest Airlines Long Beach LGB US El Paso ELP US 737-700 7 July 11
Spirit Airlines Boston Logan BOS US Los Angeles LAX US A320 7 July 5
Starlux Airlines Taipei Taiwan Taoyuan TPE Taiwan Angeles/Mabalacat CRK Philippines A321neo 7 Aug. 15
Transavia Brussels BRU Belgium Thira JTR Greece 737-800 1 July 2
Transavia France Strasbourg SXB France Algiers ALG Algeria 737-800 2 July 4
Vietjet Ho Chi Minh City SGN Vietnam Cochin COK India A320 4 Aug. 12
Volaris El Salvador San Salvador SAL El Salvador Ontario ONT US A320 3 July 1
Vueling Airlines Bilbao BIO Spain Marrakech RAK Morocco A320 2 July 2
Wizz Air Larnaca LCA Cyprus Jeddah JED Saudi Arabia A321neo 1 July 5
Xiamen Airlines Xiamen XMN China Paris Charles de Gaulle CDG France 787-9 1 July 6
Zipair Tokyo Tokyo Narita NRT Japan Manila MNL Philippines 787-8 7 July 1
Data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser (correct as of May 26, 2023, and subject to change).

12 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


13
2023 WORLD

en
AIRLINE REPORT

Back
By Karen Walker
on the A s c
T
he world’s airlines are forecast to post a “Our industry is whack-a-mole. We get hit over
$9.8 billion net profit this year, more than the head over and over and are amazingly resilient
double what had been anticipated just six and always get up. Robustness is about not falling
months earlier as economic and other con- down, so it’s about things like stronger balance
ditions have improved. sheets and less debt,” she said.
Significant factors in the upgrade from This year’s ATW World Airline Report details the
IATA’s December outlook, when it forecast a collec- 2022 full-year financial and traffic numbers for the
tive net profit of $4.7 billion, include China lifting its world’s top 50 airlines, as well as the status of the
COVID-related restrictions in January—six months fleets of the 100 largest carriers as of late April. The
earlier than anticipated—cargo revenues remaining IATA revised outlook shows the improvement that
above pre-pandemic levels even though volumes has already been achieved this year versus 2022
have shrunk, and lower oil prices. as traffic demand surged.
IATA chief economist Marie Owens Thomsen Illustrating the growing confidence in that de-
set out the revised forecast at the 79th IATA AGM mand continuing, the first half of 2023 has seen
in Istanbul in early June. Total revenues are ex- a number of large aircraft orders, many of which
pected to be $803 billion—the first time they will were confirmed at the Paris Air Show in June and
have exceeded $800 billion since 2019—while which included significant orders for new widebod-
operating profit is expected to reach $22.4 billion, ies. That indicates that confidence is also being re-
much improved over the December forecast of stored in demand for long-haul international travel,
$3.2 billion. Costs are expected to grow 8.1% over which was hit harder by the pandemic than short-
2022 to $781 billion. or medium-haul domestic demand.
Some 4.35 billion people are expected to travel Paris ’23 was where India made its mark. LCC
in 2023, close to the 4.54 billion who flew in 2019. IndiGo, now India’s largest domestic airline ahead
For all the big numbers, the industry’s net profit of Air India, firmed an order for 500 Airbus A320
margin will be a very weak 1.2%, far below what most family aircraft. Then Air India firmed orders with Air-
corporations or investors would consider adequate. bus for 140 A320neos and 70 A321neos as well as
Owens Thomsen said the continued financial for 34 A350-1000s and six A350-900s. Air India also
fragility illustrated how the airline industry was re- firmed a deal with Boeing for 190 737 MAXs, 20 787s
silient but not robust. and 10 777Xs with options for 50 737 MAXs and 20

AMERICAN AIRLINES PHOTOS

14 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


ent Airlines have almost fully restored their fleets;
new orders indicate a shift in growth centers.

787s. Finally, Mumbai-based startup Akasa Air firmed


its order for four additional Boeing 737 MAX 8s, tak-
ing the carrier’s order book to 76.
If these orders are fulfilled and the Indian gov-
2023 WORLD WIDE
AIRLINE REPORT INDEX
ernment sets in place an environment in which its
TOP 50 AIRLINE FINANCIALS . . . . . . 16
air transport business can truly flourish and com-
pete—still a big if—then the future shape of global TOP 50 AIRLINE TRAFFIC . . . . . . . . . . . 17
aviation could look quite different in the next 10 to
20 years, as a comparison of current fleets versus TOP 100 AIRLINE FLEETS . . . . . . . . . . . 18
aircraft orders shows.
Certainly, India’s aviation market is growing rap- Data compiled by
idly, boosted by an expanding middle class. IATA Antoine Fafard, Mark Nensel
estimates the market size, compared with 2019, will and Jack Wittman.
increase by 430 million additional air passenger jour-
neys to and from and within the country by 2040. order than American but many of those will be re-
The United Nations has also projected that India placement. American started its fleet renewal ear-
will overtake China in 2023 to become the world’s lier and the overall rankings within the US will stay
most-populous country, with an estimated total of about the same.
more than 1.4 billion. And China’s extended lockdown Internationally, however, Indian carriers could get
and border closures through the pandemic gave a close to, or even overtake, US carriers in terms of
boost to India’s aviation market, with many airlines fleet size if those new orders are all absorbed. In
switching focus from Chinese to Indian destinations. the case of the Indian orders, they are pinned
For now, American Airlines retains is clear posi- against anticipated market growth, so the aircraft
tion as the world’s largest carrier by fleet size, with will mostly be incremental to current fleets. IndiGo
almost 1,200 aircraft. That includes a lot of regional alone has almost 1,000 narrowbodies on order.
aircraft but also hundreds of narrowbodies and a While India has a vast and underserved domestic
significant widebody fleet of more than 100 jets. market that is the main target for these aircraft, it is
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, the next two reasonable to assume its airlines will also want to
largest carriers by fleet size, have more aircraft on grow their international networks.

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 15


2023 World Airline Report
World Airline Financials 2022 Operat- 2021 Operating 2022 Net
Airline/Airline Financial 2022 Operating % Chg. 2022 Operating % Chg. 2021 Net Profit/
ing Profit/Loss Profit/Loss Profit/Loss
Group Year End Revenue ($,m) 2022/2021 Expense ($,m) 2022/2021 Loss ($,m)
($,m) ($,m) ($,m)
Aeroflot* 12/31/22 $6,600 30% NA NA NA -$477 NA -$610
Air Canada 12/31/22 $12,202 142% $12,340 66% -$138 -$2,398 -$1,253 -$2,833
Air China 12/31/22 $7,669 -35% $13,296 -11% -$5,138 -$2,653 -$5,598 -$2,617
Air France-KLM 12/31/22 $29,787 84% NA NA $1,346 -$2,858 $822 -$3,687
Alaska Air Group 12/31/22 $9,646 56% $9,576 74% $70 $685 $58 $478
American Airlines 12/31/22 $48,971 64% $47,364 53% $1,607 -$1,059 $127 -$1,993
ANA* 3/31/23 $11,606 38% $10,027 748% $1,578 -$1,422 $164 -$1,180
Asiana 12/31/22 $4,461 24% $3,874 1560% $588 $77 $124 -$300
Atlas Air 12/31/22 $4,549 13% $3,552 22% $997 $1,119 $356 $493
Avianca Group 12/31/22 $4,047 NA $3,967 NA $80 NA -$322 NA
Azul 12/31/22 $3,017 68% $2,802 57% $215 $8 -$261 -$621
Cathay Pacific 12/31/22 $6,535 12% $6,081 1% $454 -$185 -$838 -$709
China Airlines 12/31/22 $4,929 -2% $4,557 9% $372 $843 $94 $338
China Eastern
12/31/22 $6,685 -37% $11,403 -16% -$5,821 -$2,755 -$5,420 -$2,090
Airlines
China Southern
12/31/22 $12,621 -21% $16,710 -9% -$3,268 -$1,562 -$4,888 -$1,733
Airlines
Copa Holdings 12/31/22 $2,965 96% $2,514 NA $451 $146 $348 $40
Delta Air Lines 12/31/22 $50,582 69% $46,921 67% $3,661 $1,886 $1,318 $280
EasyJet 9/30/22 $6,689 240% $960 188% -$31 -$1,227 -$196 -$1,157
Emirates Airline 3/31/23 $29,233 81% $25,454 57% $3,779 -$119 $2,881 -$1,067
Etihad Airways** 12/31/22 $4,500 43% NA NA NA NA NA $410
EVA Air 12/31/22 $4,515 20% $3,871 27% $645 $697 $232 $238
Frontier Airlines 12/31/22 $3,326 61% $3,371 55% -$45 -$117 -$37 -$102
GOL Airlines 12/31/22 $2,875 115% $2,279 48% $596 -$208 -$295 -$1,296
Grupo Aeromexico 12/31/22 $3,534 60% $3,161 46% $372 $31 -$525 -$810
Hainan Airlines 12/31/22 $3,315 -38% $5,019 -25% -$1,705 -$1,767 -$2,935 $743
International Airlines
12/31/22 $26,032 173% $24,615 94% $1,418 -$3,121 $486 -$3,310
Group (IAG)
IndiGo 3/31/23 $6,625 96% $5,579 55% $1,046 -$226 -$37 -$812
Japan Airlines* 3/31/23 $8,961 55% $5,472 17% $3,489 $1,113 -$248 -$1,458
Jet2.com* 3/31/23 $5,394 233% $4,605 154% $789 -$194 $252 -$415
JetBlue Airways 12/31/22 $9,158 52% $9,456 55% -$298 -$80 -$362 -$182
Korean Air 12/31/22 $11,123 56% $8,084 48% $3,038 $1,661 $1,365 $457
LATAM Airlines 12/31/22 $9,517 86% $9,638 55% -$121 -$1,119 $1,337 -$4,653
Lufthansa 12/31/22 $36,984 95% $37,991 68% $1,389 -$2,614 $893 -$2,473
Qantas 6/30/22 $6,283 40% $7,104 159% -$822 $1,736 -$593 -$1,278
Qatar Airways** 3/31/23 $19,000 33% NA NA NA $2,900 NA $1,500
Ryanair 3/31/23 $11,709 120% $10,142 78% $1,568 -$376 $1,428 -$267
SAS 10/31/22 $2,886 84% $502 134% -$313 -$602 -$639 -$732
Singapore Airlines 3/31/23 $13,356 138% $11,334 87% $2,023 -$450 $1,621 -$710
SkyWest Airlines 12/31/22 $3,005 11% $2,824 16% $181 $276 $73 $112
Southwest Airlines 12/31/22 $23,814 51% $22,797 62% $1,017 $1,721 $539 $977
Spirit Airlines 12/31/22 $5,068 57% $5,667 72% -$599 -$57 -$554 -$473
TAP Air Portugal 12/31/22 $3,933 151% $3,233 12% $700 -$1,332 $74 -$1,805
Thai Airways 12/31/22 $3,002 7% $2,685 205% $317 $1,931 -$7,180 $1,722
TUI Group 9/30/22 $14,488 205% NA NA NA NA -$44 -$1,703
Turkish Airlines 12/31/22 $18,426 72% $14,036 69% $4,390 $2,364 $2,725 $959
United Airlines 12/31/22 $44,955 82% $42,618 66% $2,337 -$1,022 $737 -$1,964
Vietnam Airlines 12/31/22 $2,989 144% $3,304 84% -$315 -$575 -$443 -$565
Virgin Atlantic
12/31/22 $3,453 175% $3,867 102% -$414 -$658 $86 -$555
Airway
Volaris 12/31/22 $2,847 29% $2,601 58% $246 $562 -$30 $103
Wizz Air 3/31/23 $4,233 130% $4,741 101% -$507 -$515 -$581 -$712
*Trailing Twelve Months for 2022. **Estimate for 2022. NA: Data not available Source: Aviation Week Intelligence Network and Direct Airline Reports

16 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


2023 World Airline Report
World Airline Traffic
Airline/Airline Passengers % Chg. % Chg. Load % Chg.
RPKs (m) FTKs (m)
Group (000) 2022/2021 2022/2021 Factor % 2022/2021
Aeroflot 40,690 -11% 98,407 -2% 84% 854 -34%
Air Canada 36,144 174% 107,077 216% 81% NA NA
Air China 38,607 -44% 60,354 -42% 63% 3,402 -21%
Air France-KLM 83,323 87% 237,567 105% 84% 6,888 -15%
Air India Group 17,917 37% 45,029 52% 80% NA NA
AirAsia 24,247 213% 24,378 488% 83% NA NA
Alaska Airlines 41,468 28% 82,657 33% 84% NA NA
Allegiant Air 16,797 23% 24,516 27% 83% NA NA
American Airlines 199,288 20% 347,221 33% 83% 2,879 -5%
ANA 29,188 150% 44,107 215% 61% NA NA
Avianca Group 24,998 77% 33,944 132% 82% NA NA
Azul NA NA 31,561 27% 80% NA NA
China Eastern
42,528 -46% 61,272 -44% 64% 2,608 -23%
Airlines
China Southern
62,636 -36% 102,078 -33% 66% 7,387 -4%
Airlines
Copa Airlines NA NA 33,426 77% 85% NA NA
Delta Air Lines NA NA 314,783 45% 84% NA NA
EasyJet* 69,700 242% 84,874 260% 87% NA NA
Emirates Airline 43,626 123% 225,867 141% 80% NA NA
Ethiopian Airlines** 8,680 50% 30,000 30% 61% NA NA
Frontier Airlines 25,486 23% 41,335 26% 81% NA NA
GOL 27,361 45% 32,617 47% 80% NA NA
Grupo Aeromexico 21,724 31% 38,861 48% 81% NA NA
Hainan Airlines 21,074 -49% 33,515 -46% 68% 803 -28%
Hawaiian Airlines 9,995 53% 24,046 49% 80% NA NA
IndiGo 75,313 64% 80,737 86% 81% NA NA
International
94,726 144% 215,749 174% 82% 3,980 0%
Airlines Group (IAG)
Japan Airlines 29,838 137% 41,382 218% 63% NA NA
JetBlue Airways 39,562 31% 84,625 28% 82% NA NA
LATAM Airlines 62,467 55% 92,588 64% 81% 3,532 18%
Lufthansa 101,774 117% 207,035 132% 80% 8,562 1%
Norwegian Air
17,840 188% 22,757 231% 83% NA NA
Shuttle
Pegasus 26,940 34% 39,830 84% 84% NA NA
Qantas† 21,257 34% 34,363 85% 68% NA NA
Qatar Airways 29,467 99% 154,372 114% 77% 14,263 -11%
Ryanair 160,440 122% 116,625 233% 82% NA NA
S7 Airlines Group** NA NA 32,000 -13% NA NA NA
SAS 18,681 103% 24,317 195% 72% NA NA
Singapore Airlines 20,735 859% 91,747 693% 77% NA NA
SkyWest Airlines 40,065 9% 33,031 3% 82% NA NA
Southwest Airlines 156,982 27% 199,425 20% 83% NA NA
Spirit Airlines 38,463 25% 64,050 24% 82% NA NA
Spring Airlines 13,605 -36% 22,660 -34% 75% 120 -18%
TAP Air Portugal 13,800 137% 36,782 147% NA NA NA
Thai Airways 4,711 2341% 23,200 NA 67% NA NA
TUI Airways NA NA 35,163 NA NA NA NA
Turkish Airlines 71,818 60% 162,665 88% 81% NA NA
United Airlines 144,300 39% 332,997 60% 83% 4,440 -7%
Viva Aerobus 20,698 36% 24,667 38% 86% NA NA
Volaris 31,051 27% 48,617 27% 86% NA NA
Wizz Air 45,662 110% 76,141 121% 88% NA NA
* For year ending Sept. 30, 2022. ** Estimate. † Data up to June 30, 2022. NA: Data not available.
Source: Aviation Week Intelligence Network, ASM and Annual Reports

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 17


2023 World Airline Report

100 STORAGE/
LARGEST
AIRLINE FLEETS

STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

AEROFLOT AIR CANADA continued


A320-200 45 4 3 A330-300 13 1 3
A320-200neo 4 1 1 737 MAX 8 39 1
A321-200 24 1 8 767-300ER 1 3
A321-200neo 3 767-300F/ER 3 1 2
A330-300 8 2 2 777-200F/LR 2
A350-900 5 2 9 777-200LR 5 1
737-800 28 2 1 6 777-300ER 18 1
777-300ER 16 3 1 2 787-8 6 1 1
MC-21-300 50 787-9 29 1 2
SSJ100 2 TOTAL 212 4 16 9 62
Tu-214 11
AIR CHINA
TOTAL 133 6 9 26 70
A319-100 32 1
AEROLINEAS ARGENTINAS A319-100neo 9
A330-200 7 1 A320-200 40 1 1 1
737 MAX 8 7 10 A320-200neo 49 9
737-700 6 2 A321-200 61
737-800 25 1 3 A321-200neo 30 50
737-800F 1 A330-200 19 2 2 2
E190 19 3 4 A330-300 28
TOTAL 64 3 6 6 10 A350-900 22 1 7
737 MAX 8 9 7 30
AEROMEXICO
737-700 17 1
737 MAX 8 34 8
737-800 96 3 4 3
737 MAX 9 15 1
747-400 2 1
737-700 1 4
747-400F 3
737-800 34 1 1
747-8 2 2 1 1
787-8 8
777-200F/LR 9 4
787-9 12
777-300ER 27 1
E190 40 1 1
787-9 11 1 1 1 1
TOTAL 143 2 4 4 8
ARJ21 20
AIR CANADA C919 5
A220-300 31 1 1 28 TOTAL 457 11 12 15 135
A319-100 21 1 1
A320-200 21 2
A321-200 26 1 5
A321-200neo 30

Fleet data current as of April 21, 2023


Source: Aviation Week Intelligence Network Fleet Data Services

18 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

AIR FRANCE AIRASIA


A220-300 19 2 39 A320-200 102 1 27
A318-100 9 A320-200neo 33 2 1 9
A319-100 12 3 A321-200neo 4 381
A320-200 34 1 4 A330-300 16 2 4
A321-100 3 1 A330-900 2 15
A321-200 12 1 TOTAL 155 2 4 42 396
A330-200 11 2 2
ALASKA AIRLINES
A350-900 19 1 21
A319-100 2
A350-950F 4
A320-200 29
777-200ER 15 3
A321-200neo 9 1
777-200F/LR 2
737 MAX 8 10
777-300ER 40 3
737 MAX 9 44 1 42
787-9 10
737 MAX 10 48
CRJ1000 9
737-700 10 1
E170 13
737-700C 3
E190 16 2
737-800 58 1 2
TOTAL 215 5 20 64
737-900 11 1
AIR INDIA 737-900ER 75 2 2
A319-100 11 1 1 5 Dash 8-400 4 27
A320-200 9 E175 32 1 17
A320-200neo 27 140 TOTAL 242 5 11 58 117
A321-200 12 1
ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS
A321-200neo 2 70
A320-200neo 7 1 3 15
A350-900 6
A321-200 3 1
A350-1000 34
A321-200neo 19 1 2 3
737 MAX 8 125
A380-800 2 1
737 MAX 10 65
737 MAX 8 20
737-800 24 1
737-700 1
777-200LR 7
737-800 37 1 1
777-300ER 11 1 1
767-300ER 13 2
777-9 10
767-300F/ER 8 1
787-8 24 1 2
777-200 2
787-9 20
777-200ER 7 1
TOTAL 127 1 4 9 470
777-200F/LR 2
AIR NEW ZEALAND 777-300 5
A320-200 16 1 777-300ER 12 1
A320-200neo 6 777-8F 2
A321-200neo 8 2 4 777-9 18
A330-200 1 787-8 31 3 2
777-300ER 6 1 787-9 37 3 8
787-9 13 1 1 787-10 3 11
787-10 7 Dash 8-400 23 1
ATR72-500 1 TOTAL 211 11 15 77
ATR72-600 28 1
Dash 8-300 23
TOTAL 101 5 1 12

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 19


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

ALLEGIANT AIR ATLAS AIR


A319-100 34 1 737-800F 7 1
A320-200 82 2 5 3 747-400 2 3
737 MAX 7 30 747-400ERF 1
737 MAX 8-200 20 747-400F 24 3 1
TOTAL 116 3 5 3 50 747-400LCF 1 1 1 1
747-400SF 3 1
AMERICAN AIRLINES
747-8F 7
A319-100 125 3 5
767-300ER 4 1 1
A320-200 44 4
767-300F/ER 3
A321-200 209 4 4
777-200F/LR 2 3
A321-200neo 69 1 54
767-300F/ER 15 3
A330-200 15
TOTAL 69 5 11 1 3
737 MAX 8 42 88
737-800 284 3 11 6 AUSTRIAN AIRLINES
757-200 6 A320-200 25 1 3
777-200ER 44 3 A320-200neo 2 2
777-300ER 18 2 A321-100 3
787-8 31 2 1 3 A321-200 3
787-9 20 1 1 30 767-300ER 3
CRJ700 38 1 3 19 777-200ER 5 1
CRJ900 67 2 1 3 787-9 5
E170 1 E195 17
E170 10 3 TOTAL 58 1 4 7
E175 92 2 1
AVIANCA
ERJ145 64 2 4 37
A319-100 9 1 3
MD-83 24
A320-200 66 1 9 1
TOTAL 1157 24 37 114 175
A320-200neo 22 2 99
ASIANA AIRLINES A330-200 2 2
A320-200 1 787-8 13
A321-200 13 TOTAL 110 2 16 3 99
A321-200neo 6 1 18
AZUL
A330-300 14 1
A320-200neo 44 1 2 4
A350-900 12 1 17
A321-200neo 6 20
A380-800 4 2
A330-200 3 1
747-400 1
A330-900 4 1 3
747-400F 9 1
A350-900 2
767-300 1
737-400F 2
767-300F/ER 1
ATR72-600 37 2
777-200ER 8 1
Cessna 208 23 1 2
TOTAL 69 3 3 2 35
E195 38 1 4 2
E195-E2 10 49
TOTAL 169 3 11 3 76

20 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

BATIK AIR CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS continued


A320-200 34 2 A350-1000 18
A320-200neo 1 120 747-400ERF 6
A321-200neo 65 747-8F 13 1
A330-300 1 777-300 7 10
737-800 29 2 777-300ER 20 4 7 10
TOTAL 64 5 185 777-9 21
TOTAL 155 7 13 37 44
BEIJING CAPITAL AIRLINES
A319-100 5 10 CEBU PACIFIC AIR
A320-200 30 2 A320-200 17 1 2
A320-200neo 7 A320-200neo 8 1 1 11
A321-200 18 A321-200 7
A321-200neo 3 A321-200neo 10 21
A330-200 5 2 A330-300 1 1 2
A330-300 4 A330-900 4 12
TOTAL 72 4 10 ATR72-500 5
ATR72-500F 1 1
BRITISH AIRWAYS
ATR72-600 14 2
A319-100 21 3 6
TOTAL 62 1 3 10 46
A320-200 60 1 6 1
A320-200neo 19 12 CHENGDU AIRLINES
A321-200 9 1 8 A319-100 4
A321-200neo 10 8 A320-200 35 1 1
A350-1000 13 5 A320-200neo 1
A380-800 12 ARJ21 21 2 2 3 5
777-200ER 39 1 3 TOTAL 61 3 3 3 5
777-300ER 16
CHINA AIRLINES
777-9 18
A320-200 10 1
787-8 11 1
A320-200neo 4 8
787-9 18
A321-200neo 10 15
787-10 5 1 6
A330-300 14 2 6
E190 19 1 2
A350-900 13 1
TOTAL 252 4 15 17 49
737-800 8 2 2
CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS 747-400F 14 4
A320-200 4 1 2 2 777-200F/LR 5 5
A320-200neo 8 1 1 777-300ER 9 1
A321-200 10 4 787-9 16
A321-200neo 11 21 ATR72-600 9 1
A330-300 31 1 2 10 TOTAL 96 2 7 10 45
A350-900 27 1 2

22 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

CHINA EASTERN AIRLINES DELTA AIR LINES


A319-100 33 2 A220-100 43 1 1
A320-200 162 2 4 11 A220-300 15 59
A320-200neo 91 3 1 33 A319-100 54 1 2
A321-200 72 2 3 A320-200 58 3
A321-200neo 68 A321-200 125 2
A330-200 27 1 2 A321-200neo 26 129
A330-300 21 2 A330-200 9 2
A350-900 15 1 4 A330-300 27 1 3
737 MAX 8 1 2 7 A330-900 20 1 17
737-700 33 1 1 A350-900 23 3 1 1 16
737-800 104 1 3 717-200 62 1 5 14
777-300ER 19 1 737 MAX 10 100
787-9 3 1 737-800 73 2 2
ARJ21 18 737-900ER 141 3 8 11
C919 1 4 757-200 90 5 9 7
TOTAL 581 12 18 14 135 757-300 15 1
767-300ER 42 3
CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES
767-400ER 20 1
A319-100 8 1
CRJ200 6 41
A319-100neo 4 5
CRJ700 8 1 9
A320-200 102 2 2 8
CRJ900 112 4 11
A320-200neo 39 27
TOTAL 969 22 44 94 321
A321-200 95 4
A321-200neo 51 2 2 1 68 DHL AVIATION
A330-200 9 2 3 A300-600F 21 2
A330-300 25 1 A330-200F 3
A350-900 15 1 4 A330-300 2
737 MAX 8 16 1 7 51 A330-300F 4
737-700 20 5 1 737-400F 1
737-800 133 2 4 1 737-800F 2
777-200F/LR 15 1 3 757-200F 39 2
777-300ER 13 2 1 767-200F 1 1
787-8 10 767-300F/ER 17 3
787-9 16 1 3 777-200F/LR 3 1
ARJ21 19 ATR42-300F 1
C919 5 Cessna 208B 1
TOTAL 571 9 24 21 186 TOTAL 92 1 1

COPA AIRLINES EASYJET


737 MAX 8 13 A319-100 85 2 5 4
737 MAX 9 21 10 A320-200 156 1 11
737 MAX 10 9 A320-200neo 44 2 3 130
737-700 9 A321-200neo 15 33
737-800 64 2 1 TOTAL 300 5 19 4 163
737-800F 1
TOTAL 95 2 1 32

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 23


24

92% asset availability

LEADERS
AREN’T BORN.
THEY’RE
ENGINEERED.
25

LEAP turns heads in the boardroom. cfmaeroengines.com


LEAP-powered aircraft are achieving the highest days flown ratio* for their thrust class.
That means fewer spare aircraft and more flights, which helps profitability climb.
Another reason to say LEAP. By example. *Compared to 83% for competition, per third-party data.
2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

EGYPTAIR ETIHAD AIRWAYS


A220-300 4 1 6 A320-200 10 1 4
A320-200 1 2 A321-200 8 1
A320-200neo 7 1 A321-200neo 20
A321-200neo 2 5 A330-200 7
A330-200 2 1 A330-300 6
A330-200F 2 1 A350-950F 7
A330-300 4 A350-1000 2 1 15
737-800 25 2 1 A380-800 1 9
737-800F 1 777-200F/LR 5
777-300ER 5 1 777-300ER 6 1
787-9 6 777-8 8
E170 7 777-9 17
TOTAL 58 4 4 16 5 787-9 29 1 11
787-10 9 21
EMIRATES AIRLINE
TOTAL 69 5 27 99
A350-900 50
A380-800 82 2 10 27 EUROWINGS
777-200F/LR 11 5 A319-100 31 1 4 2
777-200LR 9 1 A320-200 69 6
777-300ER 116 1 6 A320-200neo 7 13
777-8 16 A321-200 2 3
777-9 99 A321-200neo 1
787-9 30 A330-200 2 1
TOTAL 218 3 16 28 200 A330-300 9
TOTAL 118 3 14 2 14
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES
A350-900 18 1 1 EVA AIRWAYS
A350-1000 4 A321-200 16 1 2
737 MAX 8 13 17 A330-200 3
737-700 3 1 A330-300 8 1
737-800 12 1 777-200F/LR 7 1 1
737-800F 4 777-300ER 33 1
767-300ER 2 787-9 4 9
767-300F/ER 1 787-10 6 1 10
777-200F/LR 9 5 TOTAL 77 2 5 20
777-200LR 6
FEDEX EXPRESS
777-300ER 4
A300-600F 59 4 1
787-8 17 1
757-200F 96 3 2
787-9 8 2
767-300F/ER 124 3 25
Dash 8-400 16 1 1
777-200F/LR 52 1 6
TOTAL 113 5 1 29
ATR72-600F 18
Cessna 408 1 44
MD-11F 3
TOTAL 335 11 3 93

26 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

FINNAIR HAINAN AIRLINES continued


A319-100 5 737-700 1
A320-200 7 2 737-800 129 1 3 3
A321-200 13 1 787-8 8 2
A330-300 7 1 787-9 26 2
A350-900 16 1 2 C919 20
ATR72-500 12 TOTAL 200 6 6 13 63
E190 10 2
IBERIA
TOTAL 70 2 5 2
A319-100 6
FRONTIER AIRLINES A320-200 24 2 1
A319-100 2 A320-200neo 14 1 2
A320-200 8 1 3 A321-200 15
A320-200neo 79 2 1 49 A321-200neo 6 14
A321-200 21 A330-200 16 1
A321-200neo 10 169 A330-300 7 1
TOTAL 118 3 4 2 218 A350-900 15 1 4
TOTAL 103 3 4 20
GARUDA INDONESIA
A320-200 32 1 5 INDIGO
A320-200neo 5 5 25 A320-200 20 1 2
A330-200 5 A320-200neo 136 1 7 21 177
A330-300 9 8 A321-200F 1 1
A330-800 4 A321-200neo 68 1 9 306
A330-900 1 1 3 11 777-300ER 1
737 MAX 8 49 ATR72-600 39 10
737-800 34 3 2 TOTAL 265 2 9 32 493*
777-300ER 4 2 1 *Does not include IndiGo’s June order for 500 Airbus A320neo family aircraft.
ATR72-600 5 2 10
ITA AIRWAYS
CRJ1000 6
A220-100 8
TOTAL 90 1 8 45 89 A220-300 4 9
GOL A319-100 15 3
737 MAX 8 36 2 66 A320-200 25 1 3 1
737 MAX 10 25 A320-200neo 4 22
737-700 14 2 3 A321-200neo 9
737-800 66 1 5 9 A330-200 8 1
737-800F 3 1 A330-900 17
TOTAL 119 1 10 12 91 A350-900 6
TOTAL 62 1 7 1 65
HAINAN AIRLINES
A330-200 7 1 1
A330-300 22 2 1
A350-900 1 4
737 MAX 8 7 1 3 13
737 MAX 9 30

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 27


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

JAPAN AIRLINES JUNEYAO AIRLINES


A350-900 16 2 A320-200 31 1
A350-1000 13 A320-200neo 18
737 MAX 8 21 A321-200 27
737-800 41 2 A321-200neo 5 1
767-300ER 24 3 787-9 6 4
777-200ER 1 2 787-10 1
777-300ER 12 1 TOTAL 87 2 5
787-8 24 1 1
KLM
787-9 22
A330-200 6
ATR42-600 8 1
A330-300 5
ATR72-600 2
737-700 5 1 1
E170 17 1
737-800 29 2
E190 13 1
737-900 5
TOTAL 179 2 11 37
747-400SCD 1
JAZZ AVIATION 747-400ERF 1
CRJ200 8 1 6 777-200ER 15
CRJ900 33 1 1 777-300ER 16
Dash 8-400 36 1 2 787-9 11 1 1
E175 21 2 2 787-10 8 7
TOTAL 98 5 11 E175 17
E190 28 2
JET2.COM
E195-E2 1 4 2 11
A320-200neo 35
TOTAL 148 2 10 2 18
A321-200 6
A321-200neo 1 62 KOREAN AIR
A330-200 1 A220-300 9 1
737-300 7 A321-200neo 4 26
737-800 73 2 11 A330-200 4 1 3
757-200 8 A330-300 19 2
TOTAL 95 3 11 97 A380-800 5 5
737 MAX 8 4 1 24
JETBLUE AIRWAYS
737-800 6
A220-300 16 84
737-900 10
A320-200 122 1 7
737-900ER 6
A321-200 62 1
747-400ERF 3 1
A321-200neo 20 1 3 61
747-8 7 1 1
E190 46 1 1 12
747-8F 7
TOTAL 266 3 12 12 145
777-200ER 4 1 4
JETSTAR AIRWAYS 777-200F/LR 12
A320-200 52 3 2 777-300 4
A320-200neo 45 777-300ER 24 1
A321-200 6 787-9 9 1 10
A321-200neo 6 33 787-10 16
787-8 11 TOTAL 137 3 5 15 76
TOTAL 75 3 2 78

28 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


The Ideal Cargo Gateway
29
DFW Airport is focused on air cargo,
an essential industry to North Texas
and the regional economy.
• Central US location
• Airside cold chain facility
• Cargo friendly connection for transit freight
• CEIV Certified cargo community
• 14 of the top 20 major cargo hubs served
• states, Canada, and Mexico are
Nearly all 48 st
within a two-day drive

For more information, visit dfwairport.com/cargo


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

LATAM LUFTHANSA
A319-100 27 1 2 1 A319-100 24 8 3
A320-200 116 3 3 2 A320-200 50 4
A320-200neo 16 21 A320-200neo 27 1 2 2 25
A321-200 46 1 1 A321-100 12 8
A321-200neo 69 A321-200 31 1 1 5
767-300ER 10 3 A321-200F 2
767-300F/ER 4 2 A321-200neo 17 22
777-200F/LR 1 A330-300 9 1 1
777-300ER 10 A340-300 14 3
787-8 9 1 A340-600 8 1 8
787-9 17 1 1 6 A350-900 19 1 1 28
TOTAL 255 6 12 4 97 A350-1000 10
A380-800 1 1 12
LION AIR
747-400 6
A330-300 1 3 2
747-400SCD 2
A330-900 1 2 3 2
747-8 17 2
737 MAX 8 200
777-200F/LR 10 1 2
737 MAX 9 3 1
777-8F 7
737 MAX 10 50
777-9 34
737-800 38 3 2
787-9 3 1 1 29
737-900ER 53 1 1 10
CRJ900 28
TOTAL 96 6 10 14 250
E190 7
LOONG AIR TOTAL 286 6 26 38 157
A319-100 1
MALAYSIA AIRLINES
A320-200 28
A330-200 4 1 1
A320-200neo 28 1
A330-200F 3
A321-200neo 10 1
A330-300 14 1
737-300F 3
A330-900 10
TOTAL 70 1 1
A350-900 5 1
LOT POLISH AIRLINES 737 MAX 8 21
737 MAX 8 11 737 MAX 9 4
737-800 4 1 1 737-800 43 2 2
787-8 7 1 ATR72-500 15 1 1 2
787-9 7 ATR72-600 8
Dash 8-400 2 Dash 6-400 3 3
E170 5 1 TOTAL 87 7 6 2 43
E175 10 1 2
MALTA AIR
E190 7 1
737 MAX 8-200 33
E195 14 1
737-800 123 2
TOTAL 65 2 7 2
TOTAL 156 2

30 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

MESA AIRLINES QATAR AIRWAYS continued


737-400F 3 747-8F 2
737-800F 1 777-200F/LR 26 2
CRJ900 21 2 15 26 777-200LR 8 1
E175 54 3 2 1 777-300ER 53 1
TOTAL 79 5 17 27 777-8 10
777-8F 34
NORWEGIAN
777-9 30
737 MAX 8 6 1 4 60
787-8 29 1
737-800 68
787-9 11 19
787-8 3
TOTAL 209 6 26 199
787-9 4
TOTAL 74 1 4 3 64 REPUBLIC AIRWAYS
E170 48 2 8
PEGASUS AIRLINES
E175 157 1 3 5 62
A320-200 8
TOTAL 205 1 5 13 62
A320-200neo 45 1
A321-200neo 28 46 ROSSIYA AIRLINES
737-800 14 1 1 A319-100 13 1 2
TOTAL 95 1 1 1 46 A320-200 7 1
737-800 8 4
QANTAS
747-400 9
A220-300 20
777-300 1 1 1 2
A321-200neo 45
777-300ER 4 1
A330-200 15 2 1
An-148-100 5
A330-300 9 1
SSJ100 33 11 14 1
A350-1000 12
Tu-204-300 2
A380-800 7 2
Tu-214 3
737-800 70 1 4
TOTAL 71 12 21 20
747-8F 1
767-300F/ER 1 RYANAIR
787-9 11 3 737 MAX 8-200 67 110
Dash 8-300 15 1 737-700 1
Dash 8-400 30 1 737-800 273 3 9
TOTAL 159 1 10 2 80 TOTAL 340 4 9 110

QATAR AIRWAYS S7 AIRLINES


A320-200 28 1 A319-100 4
A321-200 1 A320-200 12 4
A321-200neo 50 A320-200neo 27 1 2 1 13
A330-200 5 1 A321-200 7 1
A330-300 7 2 A321-200neo 6 2
A350-900 13 20 737 MAX 8 3 7
A350-1000 19 28 737-800 8 2 6
A380-800 7 1 2 737-800F 1 1
737 MAX 8 1 1 1 E170 8 5 3 1
737 MAX 10 25 TOTAL 65 6 18 16 20

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 31


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

SAUDIA SHANGHAI AIRLINES


A320-200 35 1 3 4 A330-300 3
A321-200 13 2 737 MAX 8 2 9 10
A321-200neo 1 34 737-700 9
A330-200 1 1 737-800 63 2 2 1
A330-300 27 1 3 1 787-9 7 4
747-400 1 1 ARJ21 5
747-400F 3 TOTAL 84 2 2 10 19
777-200ER 7
SHENZHEN AIRLINES
777-200F/LR 4
A319-100 4 1 3
777-300ER 28 1 4
A320-200 73 3
787-9 11 2 25
A320-200neo 26 1 23
787-10 5 17
A321-200neo 2 18
TOTAL 129 5 14 12 76
A330-300 6
SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES 737 MAX 8 1 4 24
A319-100 2 1 1 737-800 74 1
A320-200 14 1 737-900 2
A320-200neo 59 20 TOTAL 186 1 5 9 65
A321-200 4
SICHUAN AIRLINES
A321-200neo 3
A319-100 23
A330-300 7
A319-100neo 2
A350-900 4 2
A320-200 50 1 1 2
737-700 4 1 1
A320-200neo 24 3
737-800 3
A321-200 42 1
TOTAL 97 3 2 3 23
A321-200neo 22 1 1 8
SF AIRLINES A330-200 3 1
737-300F 11 3 A330-200F 3
737-400F 2 1 A330-300 6 1
747-400ERF 2 A350-900 5 8
747-400F 1 C919 20
757-200F 39 3 TOTAL 178 2 4 3 41
767-300F/ER 16 4
SINGAPORE AIRLINES
TOTAL 71 11
A320-200 14 2 7
SHANDONG AIRLINES A320-200neo 6 12
737 MAX 8 3 1 3 27 A321-200neo 9 6
737-700 3 A350-900 58 3 1 3
737-800 116 4 A350-950F 7
737-800F 1 A380-800 11 1 1
ARJ21 10 737 MAX 8 14 1 1 13
TOTAL 123 1 4 3 37 737-800 7 2

32 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

SINGAPORE AIRLINES continued SWISS


747-400F 6 1 A220-100 6 1 1 1
777-200ER 5 A220-300 15 1 3 2
777-200F/LR 2 3 A320-200 8 1 3
777-300ER 18 1 1 6 A320-200neo 6 11
777-9 31 A321-100 2 1
787-8 9 1 3 A321-200 3
787-9 10 1 A321-200neo 2 6
787-10 15 1 10 A330-300 11 1 2
TOTAL 179 10 3 22 89 A340-300 5
A350-900 5
SKYWEST AIRLINES
777-300ER 12
CRJ200 88 3 18 55
TOTAL 70 2 7 8 22
CRJ700 88 2 11 31
CRJ900 33 2 4 5 TAP AIR PORTUGAL
E175 204 3 4 5 A319-100 4 1
TOTAL 413 10 37 91 5 A320-200 15 1
A320-200neo 11 14
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
A321-200 4
737 MAX 7 230
A321-200neo 22 12
737 MAX 8 167 2 1 173
A330-200 2
737-700 390 6 20 10
A330-900 16 2 1 2
737-800 200 7 1
E190 11 1
TOTAL 757 8 28 414
E195 7
SPIRIT AIRLINES TOTAL 92 2 4 28
A319-100 25 1
THAI AIRWAYS
A319-100neo 31
A320-200 19 1
A320-200 61 1 2
A330-300 3 5
A320-200neo 70 1 3 3 63
A350-900 10 2
A321-200 29 1
A380-800 6
A321-200neo 41
777-200ER 3 1 1
TOTAL 185 3 6 3 135
777-300 1
SPRING AIRLINES 777-300ER 16 1
A320-200 77 2 787-8 5 1
A320-200neo 29 1 1 1 17 787-9 2
A321-200neo 10 5 TOTAL 58 6 13
TOTAL 116 1 3 1 22

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 33


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

TIANJIN AIRLINES TURKISH AIRLINES continued


A320-200 24 4 737-800 51 1 2 4
A320-200neo 10 1 1 737-900ER 14 1
A321-200 2 747-400ERF 1
A330-200 4 747-400F 2
A330-300 2 777-200F/LR 8
737-400F 1 1 777-300ER 31 1
737-700C 1 787-9 15 1 9
737-800F 4 TOTAL 319 6 13 13 69
ERJ145 8
UNITED AIRLINES
E190 19 1 1 11
A319-100 71 2 7 3
E195 18 1 1
A320-200 90 1 8
TOTAL 85 3 2 25
A321-200neo 120
TRANSAVIA A350-900 45
737-700 3 1 737 MAX 8 46 87
737-800 88 4 11 1 737 MAX 9 55 1 28
TOTAL 91 4 12 1 737 MAX 10 294
737-700 37 2 1
TUI AIRWAYS
737-800 131 1 9
A320-200 2
737-900 12
737 MAX 8 32 1 1
737-900ER 125 1 10
737-700 4
757-200 31 2 6 1
737-800 43 9
757-300 17 1 3
767-300ER 2 1 1
767-300ER 31 3 3
787-8 12 1
767-400ER 10 6
787-9 5 1
777-200 16 1 2
E190 1 1 2
777-200ER 49 3 3
E195-E2 3
777-300ER 18 4
TOTAL 101 3 13 1 4
787-8 12
TURKISH AIRLINES 787-9 35 3 100
A319-100 6 787-10 20 1 7
A320-200 11 CRJ700 7
A321-200 60 4 2 TOTAL 806 19 65 11 681
A321-200neo 31 2 2 4 46
UPS
A330-200 10 1 2
A300-600F 49 3
A330-200F 8 1 1
747-400F 11 2
A330-300 34 1 1 1
747-8F 28
A350-900 12 14
757-200F 68 6
737 MAX 8 20
767-300ER 2
737 MAX 9 5
767-300F/ER 79 1 27
MD-11F 6
TOTAL 241 12 2 27

34 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


2023 World Airline Report
STORAGE/ STORAGE/
IN PARKED/ ON IN PARKED/ ON
AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON AIRLINE PARKED NOT ON
SERVICE RESERVE ORDER SERVICE RESERVE ORDER
ORDER ORDER

VIETJET AIR VUELING AIRLINES


A320-200 28 2 A319-100 4 1 1
A321-200 40 2 1 A320-200 65 1 5
A321-200neo 15 2 1 114 A320-200neo 20 2 3 8
A330-300 4 1 A321-200 18
737 MAX 8 100 A321-200neo 2 7
737 MAX 8-200 100 737 MAX 8-200 25
TOTAL 87 3 5 1 314 737 MAX 10 25
TOTAL 109 4 5 4 65
VIETNAM AIRLINES
A321-200 40 1 4 3 WESTJET
A321-200neo 12 5 3 737 MAX 8 22 1 12
A350-900 12 1 1 737 MAX 10 48
ATR72-500 1 1 737-700 39 2
787-9 10 1 737-800 36 1
787-10 4 5 737-800F 1 1 1
TOTAL 79 1 11 8 5 787-9 7 2
Dash 8-400 42 2 3
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA
TOTAL 147 3 7 1 62
A320-200 7
737 MAX 8 1 WIZZ AIR
737 MAX 10 25 A320-200 39 1 5 4
737-700 7 1 A320-200neo 5 1 13
737-800 72 2 1 A321-200 40 1
Fokker 100 8 A321-200neo 83 1 274
TOTAL 94 2 1 1 26 A330-200F 1
TOTAL 168 3 6 4 288
VIVA AEROBUS
A320-200 21 XIAMEN AIRLINES
A320-200neo 17 1 2 A320-200neo 25
A321-200 9 A321-200neo 2 15
A321-200neo 19 27 737 MAX 8 1 1 8 52
TOTAL 66 1 2 27 737 MAX 10 10
737-700 8 1
VOLARIS
737-800 124 7
A319-100 3 2
787-8 5 1
A320-200 40
787-9 6
A320-200neo 44 6 27
TOTAL 146 1 9 8 102
A321-200 10
A321-200neo 17 92
TOTAL 114 6 2 119

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 35


PERSPECTIVE

Don’t Look Back


Objects in the rear-view mirror are now closer than they appeared.

O
ver the past three years, half of the year surpassed the 60 The world’s biggest aviation
the aviation industry has million weekly seats level for the markets are clearly awakening
been constantly looking first time since the onset of the from their COVID-19 slumber; Chi-
back to life before the COVID-19 pandemic. na’s borders have re-opened, and
pandemic hit the world. And why The 62 million total for the week India is in the spotlight following
wouldn’t it? The 2000s can be fair- to July 3 was 98.2% of the equiv- large aircraft orders from Air India
ly described as a strong decade alent week in 2019. In the space and LCC IndiGo at the Paris Air
for global aviation, with an addi- of one month (from the start of Show in June (See pg. 46).
tional 1.8 billion annual passen- June), airlines added 3.8 million India is one of the world’s fast-
gers taking to the air by the end international seats to their sched- est-growing large air transport
of the decade. Annual traffic had ules, with capacity growth positive markets. Before the pandemic,
risen from 2.67 billion in 2010 to across all regions. the size of India’s air travel market
4.46 billion in 2019, and the stable It was a similar story for global tripled in just over a decade. Ac-
operating environment provided scheduled domestic seat capac- cording to data from the Airports
a platform for airlines to deliver a ity, which recovered much faster Authority of India, passengers
stronger collective financial perfor- than international travel because passing through Indian airports
mance (though many remained in of the continuation of restrictive ballooned from 111.8 million in
the red). cross-border travel policies in 2008 to 349.3 million in 2019.
After constantly comparing the many parts of the world. Airlines The Indian market has also re-
weaker performance of 2020, 2021 are still introducing domestic ca- covered from COVID-19. As of
and 2022 with pre-pandemic data pacity, with the Asia-Pacific region, February, scheduled seat capacity
and highlighting the gradual recov- particularly North Asia, responsible in India has been running above
ery of air transportation, now is the for the majority of new capacity. 2019 levels.
time to stop looking back and start China remains the driver of Like China, India has a popula-
looking forward and not lose sight the recent upturn. Scheduled air- tion of over 1 billion, with expand-
of the challenges that lie ahead. line seat capacity in China rose ing middle classes and rapid eco-
As the data in this magazine’s by nearly 2 million weekly seats nomic growth, plus a large and
World Airline Report illustrate (see between the start of June and as yet not fully satisfied domestic
pg. 14), the aviation industry has early July. International capaci- market and citizens with an ap-
made tremendous progress: Do- ty passed 2 million seats in early petite to fly—data show they are
mestic markets are now reporting July for the first time since Feb- increasingly taking advantage of
growth on pre-pandemic levels, ruary 2020, with most of the seat air travel where and when it be-
and heading into the busy northern capacity being added to short- comes available.
summer travel season, internation- haul leisure markets in southeast For now, the US remains the
al demand is back above 90% of Asia. At the same time, domestic world’s largest aviation econo-
pre-COVID levels (based on latest seats in China reached 16.9 mil- my and Airlines for America (A4A)
traffic data from IATA). lion seats, the highest capacity for forecasts US airlines will handle a
CAPA analysis of OAG flight two years. Based on published for- record 256.8 million passengers
schedules shows that global inter- ward schedules, domestic capacity between June 1 and Aug. 31. Pas-
national scheduled seat capacity could peak around early Septem- senger traffic is projected at +0.9%
on offer heading into the second ber at above 17.7 million seats. on 2019 levels, despite airlines op-

36 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


centreforaviation.com

Regional Recovery of System Seats Compared to 2019


120%

100

80

60

40

20

0
2020 2021 2022 2023
Jan-Dec Jan-Dec Jan-Dec Jan-May

Africa Middle East Latin America North America Asia Pacific Europe Global Average

Source: CAPA - Center for Aviation and OAG

erating around 10% fewer flights. ative retrenchment” of full-service the outlook is mixed. While glob-
Traffic is expected to be up 9.5% carriers away from regional air- al capacity is expected to end the
year-on-year, while scheduled ports and around their major hubs. year at (or even above) 2019 lev-
seats are forecast at 9.6% higher. According to ACI Europe, els, there are signs that pent-up
full-service carriers and LCCs are demand and consumer insensitiv-
WILL THE TRAVEL SURGE END? increasingly moving capacity and ity to airfares from the pandemic
However, behind this strong per- routes “at a record pace,” con- era are starting to unwind.
formance and declarations of centrating on the most profitable For now, consumer confidence
numerous airlines that demand markets. These issues will impact remains high and the willingness
remains quite strong, one glaring “the viability and future prospects to spend on services is elevated.
question remains: When will this of regional airports,” it said. But wider than this, the macro-
thirst for travel born from the pan- Elsewhere, work-from-home economic outlook will be giving
demic be quenched? No defini- trends continue to evolve, given airlines some cause for concern.
tive answer is emerging as airline that more businesses are mandat- Even if the large, developed
executives try to determine the ing more time in the office for em- economies manage to escape a
shape demand will take in 2023 ployees. But consensus is building recession, the outlook for growth
and beyond. that some shifts in work patterns remains well below long-term av-
ACI Europe has warned in a for- are permanent. Outside forces erages. This will have knock-on ef-
mal submission to the European creating constraints in the airline fects in terms of air passenger and
Commission that recovery patterns industry—supply chain bottlenecks air cargo growth.
from COVID-19 are “structurally and infrastructure challenges— The only certainty that exists is
reshaping the European aviation show no signs of improving in the that the narrative could change as
market,” with “relentless” expan- near future. time passes, and as more clear-cut
sion of LCCs and ULCCs and “rel- Looking beyond this summer, patterns materialize.

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 37


Commentary

Who’s Special Now?


Loyalty programs helped save airlines through the pandemic,
but they’ve also watered down the perks.
BY DAVID DAGUE

AS THE GLOBAL TRAVEL MARKET specific, the four majors each averaged $2.4 billion
shut down in the middle of March in loyalty revenue in 2022. JetBlue, by contrast, had
2020, so did consumer spending $391 million in loyalty revenue.
on air travel, while spending on oth- The pandemic years swelled the ranks of airline
er items was resilient, with many of loyalty plans and saw many people gaining status
those purchases made on airline without even stepping onto an aircraft. A number of
co-branded credit cards. airlines reduced their program qualification require-
Banks that sponsor airline credit cards buy points ments and extended members’ status. When pas-
from the airlines, which are then given to their cus- sengers returned to the skies and the industry began
tomers. As passenger revenue plummeted to histor- the recovery process, frequent flyers realized things
ic lows for the airlines, the lone bright spot was the had changed. Getting that free upgrade to first class
loyalty revenue. was not easy. The reality is the laws of supply and
In the initial stages of the COVID crisis, finding demand are impacting the ability to secure a free
sources of liquidity became critical. Passenger levels upgrade. Surging passenger demand, coupled with
declined 90%; financial losses were unprecedent- the constrained supply of seats, has resulted in ex-
ed. The airlines were on the verge of total collapse ceedingly high load factors. There is also a new class
and needed to restructure debt. Historically, aircraft, of passengers, dubbed “premium leisure,” willing to
gates, and other assets have been used as collat- pay for premium seats, further reducing the number
eral for debt structures. But in 2020, for the first of seats available for free upgrades.
time in history, US carriers collateralized the future If large numbers of high-status loyalty members
cash flows of their loyalty programs to raise billions continue to be unable to secure upgrades, there
in loans. Loyalty revenue played an integral part in may be unintentional consequences that should
stabilizing the industry during the peak of the crisis. be monitored. Nancy Harhut, author of the book,
For the four largest US carriers—American Airlines, “Using Behavioral Science in Marketing,” talks
Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Air- about the power of a gift such as an upgrade. Har-
lines—loyalty revenue accounted for 22% of their total hut says that “the occasional gift or perk can help
revenue in the 2020 second quarter. The impressive cement a relationship and motivate the kind of loy-
growth of loyalty revenue can also be seen in the alty marketers seek.” In other words, an upgrade
longer trends. Between 2019 and 2022, loyalty rev- is a powerful tool to secure loyalty and when that
enue grew 28%, compared with other airline revenue reward is minimized, future passenger buying be-
which grew a total of 5%. Today, loyalty revenue has haviors may change.
returned to its previous level of 6% of total revenue. Loyalty programs are a big business and will con-
In today’s environment, airline loyalty revenue has tinue to evolve. Not every passenger will be happy.
become a significant competitive advantage. Airlines are flush with data and can determine the
value of each customer so they can recognize the
OFFSETTING HIGHER COSTS most loyal. They will also need to carefully balance
To maintain proper staffing levels, especially in the pi- how they attract new customers to their loyalty pro-
lot ranks, airlines are negotiating new labor contracts grams while maintaining the quality of rewards to
that will increase costs dramatically. The loyalty rev- long-time frequent flyers.
enue for the majors will soften the impact of the ad-
ditional costs, much more so than for the ultra-LCCs David Dague is a principal and member of the
and hybrid airlines that do not have that luxury. To be Travel & Transportation practice at Arthur D. Little.

38 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


39
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Sustainability Report

Airlines push for more government


action on SAF production

NESTE

BY LINDA BLACHLY

W
ith some government tax incentives and al- package of tightening reforms, Neste plans to expand
lowances on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) including the phased removal its Rotterdam refinery
to produce 1.2 million
development and production set to expire of free carbon allowances for tonnes of SAF annually.
in a few years, airlines are calling for more aviation in 2026 under the UK’s
action to extend or improve on those incentives. Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS). Airlines are call-
For the first time, SAF has been certified under ing for the extra funds generated to be invested in
the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for decarbonization measures, including increasing the
International Aviation (CORSIA), using two ICAO- availability of SAF.
approved sustainability certification schemes devel- The UK government explained the move in a
oped for this purpose. statement: “This decision is taken in light of evidence
Nine batches of SAF, totaling 1,542 tonnes, have of minimal risk of carbon leakage, meaning ETS avia-
been certified by the International Sustainability & tion emissions are unlikely to be displaced as a re-
Carbon Certification Association and the Roundtable sult of the UK ETS. Instead, aviation businesses need
on Sustainable Biomaterial. They were produced in to buy allowances for every tonne of carbon emitted
China by ECOCHEM, in the Netherlands by Neste under the scheme. To help aircraft operators prepare
and in the US by World Energy. The fuels were pro- for this transition, free allocation entitlement will con-
duced from waste and typically have 75% to 84% tinue as planned in 2024 and 2025 until 2026.”
lower carbon dioxide emissions compared to con- UK airlines are pushing back. Tim Alderslade, CEO
ventional aviation fuels. at UK-registered airlines industry body Airlines UK,
ICAO Council president Salvatore Sciacchitano said, “That money should be invested—as the ETS
said the milestone “shows that CORSIA’s global scheme was originally designed for—into measures
framework for sustainability assessment is robust to support our decarbonization, as is happening
and ready to support the achievement of ICAO’s across the EU.”
goals on climate change.” Alderslade warned that without such measures, UK
But planned rollbacks of some government in- airlines could be put at a competitive disadvantage
centives are concerning airlines in those countries. against airlines in countries that can purchase SAF
The UK government, for example, has announced a more cheaply because of their government incentives.

40 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


“Without matching these incentives, the UK will because SAF production will help boost US energy
be one of the most expensive places in the devel- independence.
oped world to use SAF, increasing our reliance on Other countries and companies have announced
imported SAF and leaving us even further behind our new SAF initiatives.
global competitors in the race to lead aviation’s jet- France announced a program that includes plans
zero transition, with all the jobs and growth potential for a new SAF plant and would allocate €300 million
that will accompany it,” he said. ($326 million) per year from 2024-2030 to R&D ef-
In the US, the Biden administration was lauded by forts focusing on new aircraft and engines. The invest-
US airlines when it signed the Inflation Reduction Act ment triples what the country allotted pre-pandemic
into law in August 2022. The bill includes major tax and includes the creation of a French SAF produc-
incentives for SAF production and is being held up tion and distribution supply chain. The government
by the industry as a good example that other govern- plans to devote €200 million to setting up the BioTJet
ments could follow. SAF plant in the Pyrenées Atlantiques department in
However, that incentive, often referred to as the southwestern France, which will be able to produce
blender’s tax credit, is short term. US airlines want to 75,000 tonnes of SAF from forestry residues.
see it extended by several years, especially as SAF Korean Air plans to conduct a series of test flights
will be a critical enabler toward meeting the air trans- using SAF to help the South Korean government es-
port industry’s goal of being carbon net-zero by 2050. tablish SAF standards and usage guidelines. The air-
Speaking on a panel on the sidelines of the Paris line signed an MOU with South Korean fuel provider
Air Show in July, American Airlines’ head of regula- GS Caltex to partner on the program. The test flights
tory and international affairs Molly Wilkinson called are planned to be operated for six months and will
for a 10- to 15-year extension because of the long take place in the second half of 2023.
investment timelines needed for SAF production. Airbus and Chicago-based sustainable fuels tech-
Wilkinson pointed out that the blender’s tax credit nology company LanzaJet agreed to accelerate SAF
was passed when both the US House and Senate production and adoption to help make progress with
had Democrat majorities; achieving an extension via the construction of its first production facilities.
the House, which now has a Republican majority, These will use LanzaJet’s alcohol-to-jet process,
might be more difficult. which relies on low-carbon ethanol, to create SAF.
Wilkinson said she believes, however, that Repub- The agreement is also targeted at accelerating the
licans could be encouraged to support the extension certification and adoption of 100% drop-in SAF.

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42 ATW | July/August 2023 | AviationWeek.com/ATW


News Briefs Airlines
For daily news stories and full news coverage, go to AviationWeek.com/air-transport

plans to have five ATR 42-500s from Dublin-based CDB Aviation


JOE PRIES

and two -600s, as well as 13 ATR from January-November 2024.


72-500/600s.

London-based Global Airlines


agreed to buy three more Airbus MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
A380s, taking its total fleet up
to four of the type, as the UK Iraqi Airways took delivery of
long-haul startup moves ahead the first of 10 Boeing 787s.
with plans for a spring 2024
operational launch of transatlan- Togolese carrier ASKY, which is
tic flights. managed by Ethiopian Airlines,
leased two used Boeing 737
NORTH AMERICA ment last year for up to 200 of MAX 8s from AerCap.
Eve’s electric-vertical-takeoff-
New York-based JetBlue Air- and-landing (eVTOL) vehicles, ASIA-PACIFIC
ways plans to end its two-year- alongside a $15 million strategic
old Northeast Alliance (NEA) investment from United. Virgin Australia received the LATIN AMERICA
with American Airlines after a first of 33 Boeing 737 MAX 8s,
US federal judge upheld a US Delta Air Lines and El Al Israel which will be deployed on flights Mexico City-based ULCC Viva
Department of Justice (DOJ) Airlines implemented a strategic to Tokyo. The airline plans to take Aerobus agreed to buy 90
decision that the NEA was anti- partnership that initially includes delivery of the rest of the type Airbus A321neos. Viva Aerobus
competitive. Dallas/Fort Worth- reciprocal codeshare and fre- over the next five years. phased out its last Boeing 737
based American intends to quent flyer benefits. in 2016 in favor of Airbus nar-
appeal the decision, but JetBlue Seoul-based LCC T’way Air will rowbodies. Viva Aerobus has an
will instead focus on winning ap- lease two new Boeing 737-8s existing order for 25 A321neos.
proval for its planned acquisition
of Florida-based ULCC Spirit EUROPE
Airlines. That merger is also
being challenged by the DOJ on Norwegian plans to
anti-competitive grounds. Jet- acquire regional carrier
Blue CEO Robin Hayes said that Widerøe for NOK1.125 INSPIRE THE FUTURE
winding down the NEA would billion ($105 million). CREATE CONNECTIONS
render DOJ’s concerns about The two airlines plan to EMPOWER AIRPORTS
Spirit “entirely moot.” The NEA is remain separate enti-
focused on routes to, from and ties with their own air
between Boston and New York operator’s certificates,
area airports. separate bases and
management teams.
Calgary-based WestJet Group is
integrating its ULCC subsidiary Icelandair firmed a
Swoop and Toronto-based purchase agreement
Sunwing Airlines into one prod- for 13 Airbus A321XLRs, 24th International
uct offering. While the integration and 12 options, to be Exhibition for Airport
of Swoop is anticipated to delivered from 2029. Equipment, Technology,
conclude by the end of October, The Iceland flag carrier Design & Services
Sunwing Airlines will not start also finalized long-term
integrating before 2024 and lease agreements with JOIN THE
remains business as usual at SMBC Aviation Capital
this time. Sunwing Vacations and for four new A321LRs, ONE-STOP-SHOP
WestJet Vacations will continue which will join its fleet
to operate independently under starting in Q4 2024.
UNITING THE
existing, respective brands. AIRPORT COMMUNITY
Loganair introduced
United Airlines and Eve Air its first ATR aircraft,
Mobility partnered to begin ur- an ATR 42-600, at
ban air mobility (UAM) services Glasgow International
10 – 13 OCTOBER 2023
in San Francisco. The planned Airport (GLA), as the Munich Trade Fair, Germany
services build on an existing Scottish regional carrier
partnership between the two prepares to phase out
companies, which signed a its Saab 340 fleet. By Learn more: www.interairporteurope.com
conditional purchase agree- year-end, Loganair

AviationWeek.com/ATW | July/August 2023 | ATW 43


Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
his place beside Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who still sat stoically with their
feet in the water.

She shook her head gravely, almost reprovingly. "Oh, no! The Pottles is
having their feet washed. They tan't tach told." Then, after a moment of
pondering: "Would you like to see the picture, Daddy Merle?"

Before he could answer she had jumped up and disappeared behind the
great beech tree. She had only been gone a moment when out of the
stillness came a small voice: "Tum and see my little house, Daddy Merle!"
It was the voice of An Petronia, but strangely muffled and far away.

Full of curiosity, Merle scrambled to his feet and peered round the tree.
An Petronia was nowhere to be seen. What had become of her? Another
step and the mystery was explained.

Between two of the buttresslike roots on the other side of the ancient
beech was a dark fissure extending from the ground upward for three or
four feet and just wide enough to form a doorway for little An Petronia. A
practical woodman viewing the hollow tree that An Petronia called her
"little house" would have had no thought beyond the loss of so many cubic
feet of good timber and whether the tree was worth chopping down. To the
gentle curate waiting in the green silence, here was a magic door through
which at any moment might issue a laughing faun or a wistful dryad. As for
Brother Beech, after all the only one vitally concerned, there was no tree
specialist to tell him (for a substantial consideration) that he had only a very
few years more to live and must avoid strong sunshine as much as possible
and give up rain in excess, and above all be careful not to expose himself
unnecessarily to the September blasts. And so the reckless little leaves in
their gold-green finery laughed and sang and danced and feasted summer
after summer just as if they were going to live forever and there were no
such things as September gales.

From the inside of the tree came small, whispery, squirrel-like noises,
and presently through the moss-rimmed opening stretched the hand of An
Petronia, holding out a faded green, oblong package, bulging with papers
and tied with white tape.
"Please, Daddy Merle, will you hold it for me?"

Relieved of their burden, the hands disappeared. Merle examined the


package with interest. It was the back of an old exercise book converted
into a portfolio and was full of papers. He turned it over curiously. On the
other side was a white label. The curate smiled as he read the inscription in
childish capitals, "The Misforchins of Reginal," by An Petronia Pottle.

An Petronia's novel! It so happened that this was the first time Merle
had beheld the little novelist's autograph. "What a funny way to spell
Anne!" he said half-aloud.

"That's the way I always spell it, Daddy Merle." He started at the sound
of An Petronia's voice. He had not heard her as she slipped out of the tree.
Now she was standing close beside him and in her hands was something
small wrapped in white tissue paper.

There was a timid challenge in the child's voice, the first hint of the
future conflict between artist and critic.

"'An' is the very first word in my spelling-book," she hurried on, "A N
—an. It's the same name, Daddy Merle, only in the speller it's An Apple
and I'm An Pottle."

There was no disputing such logic as this, accompanied as it was by a


rainy look that must be instantly kissed away from An Petronia's wide blue
eyes.

"My dear," he said, and if the truth must be told there was a hint of rain
in the curate's own eyes, "An is your very own name and the way you spell
it is the sweetest and dearest way in all the world, and you must never spell
it any other way," which was the first, last and only concession to the "Dire
Heresy of Spelling Reform" ever made by the Reverend Horatio Merle.

They were seated once more on the soft moss by the side of the four
evangelists, who greeted them with undiminished apostolic serenity. An
Petronia had undone the tape that bound her portfolio and was turning over
the contents, pieces of paper in various sizes, from half sheets of note to
torn scraps of wrapping paper, covered on both sides with the large,
irregular handwriting of the budding novelist. By her side sat the curate, his
gray head bent over the picture which An Petronia, after unfolding its tissue
paper wrappings, had with heroically suppressed misgivings intrusted to his
hands. It was her most precious possession, a photograph in a tarnished gilt
frame from a painting of Christ washing the feet of the apostles. Below the
picture was printed a text from the Gospel of Saint John, xiii., 15:

FOR I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN


EXAMPLE, THAT YE SHOULD
DO AS I HAVE DONE TO
YOU.

The curate stared at the familiar words. Once he had preached a sermon
from that very text. He smiled sadly as he recalled that sermon.

"What do these words mean?" he had asked. "Could it be possible they


were ever meant to be obeyed literally? Was it not rather a piece of oriental
symbolism, a parable without words teaching the lesson of humility............"
If only he had ended his discourse there. If some angel of discretion had
barred the way to that fateful peroration; "Not the mock humility of the
imperial blasphemer who once a year descends from his throne to wash the
feet of twelve disinfected beggars......." How should he, Horatio Merle,
have known that the crotchety old Rector of Deepmold not only had
decided views on the sanctity of kings, but was a relation by marriage of a
certain quasi-ecclesiastical person in high favor in the Austrian Emperor's
household?

"You would have said it just the same, Horatio!" Harriet had declared in
a burst of indignant tears as she crumpled up the rector's letter accepting
Horatio's resignation. Perhaps he would—who knows?

Merle sighed regretfully as he thought of that cosy little cottage at


Deepmold—the little terrace with the mossy steps—his rose garden, where
he used to smoke his pipe (smoking destroyed the pernicious aphidas) and
think about his sermon. There was an old sundial on the terrace and round
its stone dial Horatio had chiselled with his own hands a verse of Omar
Khayyam:

"The moving finger writes and, having writ,


Moves on; nor all your piety nor wit
Can lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it."

Somewhere deep down in Horatio Merle was a soul stratum of fatalism,


not the wine-instilled bravado of Omar; rather the inspired fatalism of one
who said: "Take no thought of the morrow."

And now, in the afternoon silence of the woods, the curate pondered on
the fate that had seemed to shape his ends so unprofitably. Was there ever
anyone in the world less fitted to be a clergyman than he?

Why has the silence of the summer woods been so often likened to the
silence of a cathedral? They have nothing in common. The silence of the
cathedral is the silence of great stones frozen together by Fear. The silence
of the woods is the stillness of innumerable sounds blended, as all the
colors of the rainbow are blended, into the white light which is invisible.

"Daddy Merle, how do you spell enjoyed?" An Petronia looked up from


her writing.

He spelled it for her slowly and she said it after him.

"Thank you, Daddy Merle."

Again he found himself staring at the picture of the apostles. It


fascinated him. It seemed to Merle as if the painter's self were speaking to
him across the centuries.

"Do they look as if they were acting a play, these holy men that I have
painted? Has the spirit of Christianity so changed that the sacred commands
of the Master must be explained away with strange words? Has the flock
strayed so far that the shepherd's crook has come to be only a symbol and
the shears of the shearer a metaphor and the sheepfold a figure of speech?
Have I painted my picture in vain?"

And now the printed words of the text before him seemed to speak
aloud, to call to him:

"For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to


you."

There was no mistake about the meaning. It was a command, a


command to be obeyed literally. If the church thought otherwise, then he
must part company with the church. He could not serve two masters. He
had made his choice, he would obey the call. The humbler the service he
found to do, the more gladly would he do it. Was not that what Hiram
Baxter himself had tried to tell them in his homely way? "It will make men
and women of you," that's what he had said. Hiram Baxter was right.

And then a great resolve formed itself in the heart of Horatio Merle. He
would take Hiram Baxter at his word, he would tell him he wanted to work.
He was willing to do anything so long as it was work, so long as it was
helpful. He had been blind, and in his blindness he had tried to lead others
as blind as himself.

"I have lost my way," he said aloud. He had risen to his feet and stood
with head bowed and hands extended in an attitude that would have been
theatrical if it had not been so utterly unconscious.

"You isn't losted, Daddy Merle." He felt the clasp of her little hand.
"Tum with me, I know the way."

Together they walked through the high ferns, in some places over An
Petronia's head, and through dim, winding woodland passages and secret
stairways of mossy rocks behind the tapestry of ivy and convolvulus known
only to An Petronia, until they came out on the Millbrook lane just in time
to see the last flicker of sunlight through the hawthorn hedge.
CHAPTER XVI

THE DESERT ISLAND

The night before the departure of the Baxters for Brighton the spectacle
of a huge pile of packed boxes and the report that the family were fleeing
from the doomed mansion, never to return, had caused a fresh outbreak of
hysterical panic among the remaining servants. And scarcely was the car
out of sight bearing the Baxter party to the station when a deputation from
the servants' hall, hatted, coated and handbagged and headed by Parker,
waited on Mrs. Merle, as the senior representative of the family, and told
her that they were very sorry, but nothing would induce them to spend
another hour in the house. Only out of consideration for poor Mrs. Baxter
had they remained until her departure.

For the first time in her life Harriet, confronted by an emergency, totally
lost the power of speech. When at length she recovered her breath and
words were ready to flow, she found herself alone; the deputation had left
the room, closing the door quietly behind itself.

Half an hour later the station-master at Ippingford telephoned to say that


two servants who had arrived on the early train from London, on learning,
at the station, the cause of the vacancy they were required to fill, had taken
the first train back to town.

As Harriet put up the receiver, she heard the diminishing hish of wheels
on the damp gravel outside. The sound died away and a sudden quiet came
upon Ipping House, a stillness that smote Harriet's nerves like the stillness
that awakens the passengers on an ocean liner when the engines stop
working in the night. To tell the truth, the situation was much the same, for
with the exception of Anton, the chauffeur, Hester, the new sewing girl, and
Mrs. Pottle at the lodge, there was not a single servant left at Ipping House.
"What will Horatio say?" thought Harriet.

To Harriet's utter amazement, Horatio, when told what had happened,


remained perfectly calm; he even smiled. She stared at him open-mouthed.

"Horatio! Have you heard a single word I've been telling you?"

"Yes, my dear."

"Is that all you have to say?" She spoke sharply.

Horatio was removing his galoshes, muddy from a long walk. This
operation had to be performed standing, as the only two chairs in the room
were occupied, one by the agitated Harriet, the other by the slumbering
Martin Luther.

As the curate looked up, clasping one foot in his two hands and hopping
absurdly on the other to keep his balance, he resembled some fantastic bird
of the crane family. At any other time Harriet might have smiled; now she
was too angry. Her white pompadour bristled and her eyes blinked rapidly
as if making ready to leap at him.

"It is incomprehensible," he said at length, after depositing the galoshes


neatly beneath Martin Luther's chair. "It is incomprehensible, my dear, in
this age of aeroplanes and cinematographs and popular education, that
anyone should still believe in supernatural phenomena."

Only by shutting her lips tightly and gripping the arms of her chair did
Harriet restrain herself from violent interruption. When she spoke it was an
explosion.

"Horatio! are you crazy? Don't you understand? There isn't a servant in
this house. There's no one to cook our luncheon, and, if there were, there is
no one to serve it, no one to do anything, and you stand there and talk about
aeroplanes!"

There was a quiet about Horatio that, exasperating as it was, somehow


disconcerted Harriet. She watched him silently, resentfully, as he picked up
the cushion on which Martin Luther was reposing and deposited it carefully
on the floor without waking the cat. Sleepily conscious of the proximity of
a sympathetic hand, Martin Luther stretched his paws and extended his
neck to be scratched, then curled up to sleep again without having once
opened his eyes.

Seating himself in the cushionless chair, Horatio leaned his head against
its tall straight back. "No one to serve, no one to do anything." He was
echoing Harriet's words; his eyes were resting on hers, yet his thoughts
were far away, fixed on something invisible to Harriet, a faded picture in a
tarnished gilt frame.

A dim, arched room, a group of uncouth, dark-haired men seated


sideways about a long table on which were strangely fashioned tankards
and curious goblets. At the feet of one of these men was One who kneeled
upon the stone floor. His eyes were sorrowful, His smooth hair fell heavily
about his bent shoulders and, above His bowed head, there wavered a thin
pale circle of blue-white light. And this One who kneeled upon the stone
floor was washing the feet of that other who was seated at the table.

There was a look in her husband's face that carried Harriet's thoughts far
away from the present, back to the first time she had seen that look and
believed that Horatio was different from any other man, believed that, with
her at his side, he was destined to do great things and to help make the
world a wonderful place. And what had he done? What had she done? Who
was to blame for the failure, for the poverty, for the pitiful dependence? She
wondered what was to become of them. How could they stay on here after
the way Cousin Hiram had talked? To be sure, Cousin Eleanor had been
kindness itself. She had kissed her quite tearfully that morning and hoped
she and Horatio would stay with them as long as they kept the house open.
She had even hinted at their visiting them in New York.

The sound of a motor below coming round the drive brought Harriet to
her feet. She ran to the window.

"It's Cousin Robert and Kate Clendennin," she exclaimed. "They ought
to have been back hours ago. Robert will make everything all right. I will
speak to him at once about getting servants."
She moved quickly and was already half out of the room when the
sound of Horatio's voice halted her like an electric shock.

"Harriet!"

There was a tone in Horatio's voice that drew Harriet back into the room
as if by physical force.

"What is it, Horatio? You frightened me." She pressed the palm of her
hand against her side.

He was standing before her; and the pinkness had gone out of his face.
He took her hand and led her gently back to the chair.

"Sit down, Harriet." He seated himself in the other chair. "I'm sorry I
frightened you, love, but you must not speak to Robert Baxter about the
servants."

"Why not, Horatio?"

"Because—because——" He looked at her dumbly, his underlip shook


and tears came into his eyes. Harriet began to be really frightened. What
had happened? Why didn't he speak?

"Harriet," he went on at last, "I implore you not to speak to Mr. Baxter. I
beseech you to do nothing in this matter."

"But Horatio!"

"I mean it, Harriet. What has happened in this house to-day is an answer
to my prayer."

"You're going mad, Horatio!" She tried to rise, but he drew her gently
back.

"If you do anything, Harriet, if you do not leave things as they are now
in this house, it will be as if Christ came to the door and you slammed the
door in His face."
He was terribly in earnest, his voice was steady and his blue eyes met
hers calmly; in them shone a light she had loved him for in the long gone
days—a light that rarely visited them now.

"Do you mean," she asked at length, "that you want us to do without
any servants?"

He put his answer in the form of a question.

"Harriet, do you remember the happiest year of our life, when we had
no servant at all except the charwoman who came once a week, when you
made the beds and the bread and washed the dishes and I dried them, when
you were the cook and four housemaids in one and I was the butler and the
footman and the man of all work? I opened the bottle of wine when we had
one; I made the fires, except when the coal bill was overdue and there
weren't any fires to make; I was the boots, too, and I cleaned the knives and
polished our two or three bits of silver. And, when I'd nothing else to do, I
wrote my sermons."

The color came into Harriet's face and her eyes shone at the
recollection.

"You generally composed your sermon on the way to church. How you
used to frighten me, Horatio! I thought every service would be your last!
Do you remember the first time I locked you up on a Saturday morning to
write your sermon?" she added, smiling.

"You can laugh about it now, but it was no laughing matter at the time,"
said Horatio. "I made up my mind I would open the Bible at random and
take the first text my eye fell upon—and what a text it was! 'Can'st thou
draw out leviathan with an hook?' Do you remember?"

"It was the best sermon you ever wrote," said Harriet, warming to the
remembrance, "though perhaps, dear, it was a mistake to dwell on the
impossibility of a whale's swallowing anything larger than a sardine."

"Well, it is true, isn't it?" argued Horatio.


"That's what you told the vicar when he took you to task for it after the
service," laughed Harriet, "and what was it he said?"

Horatio puckered his face into a frown. "He informed me, Harriet, that
it was the business of a curate to preach the Gospel and not to lecture on
natural history."

The curate rose and held out his hand. "Come on, Harriet." He drew her
to him and put his arm round her affectionately. "Let's play we're back in
the old stone cottage at Chale, and you go down into the larder and see if
there's anything for lunch and I'll go into the dining-room and lay the
cloth."

For answer Harriet, conscious of the moisture in her eyes, gave Horatio
a swift sidelong peck which was to a kiss what the shorthand symbol is to a
written word, and, together, they descended the echoing stairs of the
deserted house.

In the meantime Robert Baxter and Kate Clendennin, returning from the
railway station by what the Reverend Horatio Merle might have called a
short cut of about twenty miles, took no account of the flight of time. Now
they raced madly down a narrow lane whose hawthorn hedges interlaced
thickly overhead. Now, as the road passed between thrush-haunted woods,
they went very slowly, sometimes standing still for minutes at a time to
listen to the notes of the wood birds. Once when a spotted fawn trotted out
of the thicket and ambled in front of the motor, they went at half speed for
nearly a mile before the frightened creature decided to take to the woods
again.

In the last four or five days Kate had seen a good deal of Bob, since her
confession to Lionel on the Millbrook links, and she had not over-estimated
her powers. Each day he sought her company more eagerly, and while at
first she had, without appearing to do so, given him opportunities, now, as
far as could be, with a young man who had to give a part of his time to
business in London, his movements had come to be coincidental with her
own.
But Kate knew that the time had come when she must, to put it baldly,
either take him or leave him. She had told Lionel that she was going to
marry Robert Baxter. That, however, was several days ago. Then her
decision was not irrevocable. Now, as she sat beside Robert Baxter in the
motor, Kate realized that any day, any hour, any moment it might become
irrevocable.

She spoke suddenly. "We'd better be hurrying," she said. "It's getting
late. I'm getting hungry, aren't you?"

On the way home Kate kept him busy with the high speed lever,
declaring that if they weren't back inside of half an hour she would certainly
starve to death. In less than ten minutes Bob had passed the golf links, and
in three minutes more they were whizzing through the lodge gates.

Kate felt it the moment they entered the house.

"What is it?" she asked, looking round curiously.

"What's what?" said Bob, as he followed her into the hall.

"It's so beastly quiet—there's something wrong. I wonder where Lionel


is," she said.

They passed into the library. Kate pulled a bell, once, twice, and once
again. No one answered.

"Perhaps it didn't ring," suggested Bob.

They tried one in the conservatory, and getting no response, they


descended to the regions of the kitchen to see what was the matter. With the
exception of Martin Luther, fast asleep on a seat by the range, there was not
a living soul to be found anywhere.

Bob took out his cigarette case, and Kate seated herself on the dresser,
with her feet on a chair.

"We're marooned!" she said; the words came out of a violet smoke-
cloud.
"Looks like it," said Bob as he lighted his cigarette from hers.

"I say, can you cook?" asked the voice from the cloud.

"I can make a Welsh rarebit."

"Well, I'll thank you not to." Kate volplaned from her perch on the
dresser. "Let's see what there is. There's sure to be something cold, and, if
there are eggs enough, I'll make an omelette a mile wide."

There were cold meats of various kinds, also cold boiled potatoes.
These Kate cut up and placed in a frying pan, while Bob made a fire in the
range, and, under Kate's direction, put the plates and dishes for the omelette
and the potatoes in the oven to warm.

When everything was ready, Kate sent Bob upstairs to set the table and
ring the gong for luncheon. As he hurried through the servants' corridor he
met Mrs. Merle.

"Oh, Mr. Baxter!" she cried. "Did you ever see anything like it! I am
just going down to see if I can find anything for lunch."

Bob smiled sweetly as he held the door open and ushered Mrs. Merle
into the kitchen.

"Well, I never!" exclaimed Harriet when she had recovered from the
first shock of surprise at seeing Kate. "If I'd known sooner I might have
been some help. My husband is laying the cloth."

"Splendid!" answered Kate, as if it were the most natural thing in the


world. "Now, Bob, you can help us with the trays."

Bob led the way with a large tray on which were a cold ham and a
platter of sliced cold chicken. Kate carried the omelette and a "sweet" she
had made at the last minute of fried bread and strawberry jam. Mrs. Merle
brought up the rear with the dish of fried potatoes and a jar of potted
shrimps.
Horatio had just finished setting the table when the procession of three
entered the dining room. His back was turned. He was making a last round,
massaging with gentle finger tips the few remaining wrinkles in the white
cloth.

In an instantaneous conspiracy of silence they watched him as he slowly


circumnavigated the snow and crystal continent. Arrived at the antipodes,
Horatio looked up quietly and met the eyes in the doorway. As they looked
at him a change came over his face. He stood very straight, looking almost
tall. It was happening, the miracle he had prayed for!

"For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to


you."

Perhaps they didn't know it. Perhaps they thought it was all a joke. But
he knew better. It was part of the Great Design, just as the departure of the
frightened servants were part of the same Design.

Here they came, laughing, joking, but all lending a hand, all serving.
Some one was crying: "Hooray for the new butler! Speech! Speech!" It was
Lionel Fitz-Brown. Returning from a ramble on the moor at the last minute,
he had seen what was up, and, not wishing to be out of it, had dashed into
the kitchen garden and returned, the flushed and joyous bearer of an
egregious lettuce on a lordly dish.

All tongues were loosed now as they followed each other into the dining
room and deposited their viands on the table.

There was a sudden hush. All were seated but Harriet and Horatio.
Harriet went quickly to her accustomed place and sat down. Only the
Reverend Horatio Merle remained standing. The curate had always said
grace at Ipping House, sounding forth the stereotyped words with a certain
glib solemnity as if he was repeating a worn out social formula. Now on his
lowered face there was a deep reverence, and his clasped hands were joined
in real supplication.

"For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly
thankful." There was a tremor in his voice, but it held out to the end.
With still lowered head Horatio moved to the head of the table, and,
standing by the side of Mr. Robert Baxter, lifted the cover from Kate
Clendennin's omelette and placed it on the sideboard.

CHAPTER XVII

THE SERVANT IN THE HOUSE

Long established usage on desert islands has ordered that the first duty
of the shipwrecked, after locating the crystal spring and ascertaining that
the cocoanuts are ripe and the mango (or bread fruit tree) abounds, is to
signal for help. Accordingly, at this first meal after the desolation of Ipping
House the sole topic of conversation concerned ways and means of
obtaining new servants without delay. But the Merles took no part in the
discussion.

From the outset the Reverend Horatio's domestic ministrations had been
accepted, in the picnickian spirit of the occasion, as the whim of an
eccentric parson and quickly forgotten by all but Harriet in the absorbing
topic of the moment.

Harriet watched him now as he moved quietly to and fro, carrying the
large silver platter, bending gravely as he held it in turn for each of the
chatterers at the table. "Heathens" she reflected bitterly. "They are raging
about menials, heedless that they are being served by an angel!"

A rare partisan was Harriet Merle. With her on his side, Horatio might
well liken himself to a hero of old armed with an invincible spear. Harriet
gloried in opposition, and it was only when opposing forces were equal that
there was any doubt in her husband's mind which side she would take. At
such times something totally unexpected, weighing with the infinitesimal
preponderance of a hair, would sway the balance. So it had been this
morning when Horatio had spoken of long ago days and the look of long
ago had shone in Horatio's eyes.

An hour before, if the priestly Ezekiel himself had appeared to the


curate's wife and prophesied that she would soon be abetting her husband in
this, the maddest of his mad ideas, Harriet would in all probability have
shown the presentient son of Buzi to the door. (Hiram Baxter would have
told him he was talking through his halo.) Yet now that very thing was
actually happening, and the strangest part of it was that it did not seem
strange to her.

As Horatio stood, with his back to the room, occupied with things on
the sideboard, there was to Harriet something solemnly familiar about his
attitude, his quiet movements. Nor was the good churchwoman shocked
when she realized what it recalled to her mind. It was but an added proof, if
such were needed, that to Horatio this was indeed a ritual, and no common
service he was performing.

At last, it seemed an age to Harriet, every one had been served. The
Spanish omelette, a martyr to its own perfection was no more. Robert
Baxter, after paying the highest compliment possible for a mere man to pay
to a Spanish omelette, rose from the table and, deputing the countess to act
with Mrs. Merle in the matter of engaging servants, excused himself on the
plea of letters that must catch the afternoon post.

A moment later Horatio, steeling himself against Harriet's imploring


glance and the appeal of his untouched plate, left the room. As one on the
brink of a journey, the thought of food repelled him. Also he remembered
that Martin Luther had not breakfasted. He would come back later and help
Harriet clear away the things.

Kate had lighted a cigarette and was leaning back in her chair watching
the sinuous veil dance of the dissolving vapor. Lionel's whole being was
concentrated on the ordeal by fire of a perfecto bequeathed to him by the
departing Robert.

"By Jove! Where's Mr. Merle?" he asked.


The countess, immediately alert, gave a quick glance round the table.
"Go after him, Lionel. He's had nothing to eat!" she cried.

Lionel pushed back his chair and strode out of the room. Some minutes
passed before he returned, entering by the French window from the
conservatory. He looked flustered.

"I can't find him anywhere," he said quickly, in answer to exclamations


from Harriet and Kate. "I've looked all over the beastly house and I'm blest
if I know where he can have got to."

"He must have gone out," suggested the countess.

"That's the first thing I thought of. He hadn't two minutes' start of me,
and I ran all round the house."

"Did you go to the lodge?" queried Harriet.

"Yes, I went there twice. No one has been through the gate since this
morning. By the way," he added, "Mrs. Pottle says she'll come around and
see what she can do to help, she and that girl she has there, jolly looking
girl,—eyes like a—like a fox terrier——" He stopped abruptly. Kate and
Harriet had not waited for particulars about the Storm girl's eyes—the one
was speeding toward the kitchen, the other was already half way up stairs.

Search as they would, the Reverend Horatio was nowhere to be found


and his black wideawake hat was missing!

"Horatio never went out like that without speaking to me," lamented
Harriet.

The afternoon hours dragged by and when dinner time came Horatio
was still absent. The long oak dining table had been reduced to the
comparatively small circle of its primordial unit. The curtains had not been
drawn and, through the tall windows at the end of the room, the ghost of the
departed day stared solemnly at the candles that were usurping its place.
But the candles only shrugged their flames superciliously—their silver
candelabra had once belonged to Charles I. "Anyway," they reflected, "it's
better to be a live candle than a dead sun!" A remark which, to be strictly
truthful, was not original, having been handed down in the candle family
for generations.

The continued absence of the beloved curate cast a damper on the spirits
of the diners and made conversation a burden. Even the all important
servant question was for the time being forgotten.

"I don't see why we're worrying so," said Kate, after a longer pause than
usual. "He's probably lost his way in the woods and is trying to find his way
home by that ridiculous compass on his watch chain; he showed it to me
once." She smiled at the recollection. "It has no more sense of direction
than poor, dear Mr. Merle himself has. I give you my word the wretched
thing never pointed twice to the same place. The dear man likes nothing
better than to get lost in the woods. He told me so himself," she added, but
her voice belied the optimism of her words.

In the silence that followed Hester Storm entered bearing a chocolate


blanc-mange, a dark, marble-like edifice of mortuary design imbedded in a
snowdrift of whipped cream.

"By Jove, Kate!" cried Lionel, eager to change the subject, "is that the
thing you were making when you chucked me out of the kitchen this
afternoon?"

Kate was assaulting the quaking monument with a desperate spoon. "It's
Mr. Merle's favorite pudding," she said shortly.

Lionel subsided. What was the use? No matter what topic was started, it
invariably led to Merle.

The fate of the chocolate blanc-mange hung in the balance for a brief
moment. If to eat it would seem to be a slight to the curate, to leave it would
be a slight to the countess. The outcome was a compromise in which the
honors and the blanc-mange were evenly divided.

Hester was glad when the meal drew to a close. Waiting on the table had
been a nerve racking experience for her. Only the thought that she might
pick up some chance clue as to the golf bag's whereabouts had nerved her to
the undertaking.

Now it was over and nothing had come of it—not a single word about
golf or golf bags. All the talk had been about the old parson who was late
for dinner. Probably he had fallen into another mole trap or caught his
whiskers in a bramble bush!

Hester was startled from these irreverent reflections by the utterance of


the very word she had been listening for. The coffee cup she was in the act
of handing to the countess shook perilously on its tiny saucer.

"A golf bag is a funny thing for a secretary to be carting about," Robert
Baxter was saying, "but there it was, and the day Mother borrowed it——"

"By Jove!" interrupted Lionel, checking his half-raised arm. "That's


where the old boy went!"

He drained his cup quickly and put it down. It was coming out in
exasperating driblets like a magazine story and Hester, suddenly busy at the
sideboard, waited breathlessly for the next instalment.

"I heard Miss Thompson call out to him from the motor," went on
Lionel, "just as they were starting this morning, that if he cared to get her
golf bag he could use the clubs all he wanted."

There was another maddening pause. Hester had reached the limit of her
endurance; she couldn't go on rearranging the silver on the sideboard
forever. She had an insane impulse to shriek. Then, suddenly, the suspense
was over. Robert supplied the missing link.

"Cousin Horatio could hardly get lost on his way to the club house," he
reflected, pushing back his chair as Kate started to rise, "but I'll run round in
the car and inquire if he was there this afternoon. Why don't you have a
look round the lake?" he turned to Lionel.

They passed into the hall and out through the front door. It was almost
dark. Through the moist, warm air came the scent of pale night flowers
dimly white against the dark ivy.

"I must be off," said Bob, "or the golf club will be shut. Any one want
to go along?"

"I don't think Mrs. Merle should be left alone," said Kate. "I'll try to
make her eat something."

Bob started toward the garage as the other two re-entered the dark
house. None of the hall lamps had been lighted. In the dining room the
candles were burning low, their impish flames casting jerky shadows on the
disordered table. The empty chairs, pushed back, had the unquiet stillness
of arrested movement. Kate shivered.

"Get some candles," she said. "Quick before these go out!"

On the table was the depressing litter of stained coffee cups, together
with sundry plates and glasses overlooked by Hester. The countess began
gathering the plates and cups together and piling them on the sideboard.
Lionel watched her in silence. Now only the cloth remained.

"Take the other end," she commanded.

Lionel obeyed and together they folded it into its original creases.

"I say, Kate," he said presently. "What about servants—did you


telephone?"

The countess was leaving the room to "rout out Mrs. Merle," as she
expressed it. She stopped short and came back to Lionel. There was a look
on her face that startled him.

"No," she said at length, "I haven't telephoned. I haven't done a thing
about it, and what's more, Lionel, I don't believe I will."

"Kate! Do you mean that?"

It was her turn to be startled. She had expected consternation, at the


very least disapproval. Lionel's tone was one of joyous relief.

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