Is Hainan Airlines Acquiring Airbus A330-900neos?

It would appear that China’s Hainan Airlines may be acquiring quite a few Airbus A330neos, though the way we’re find out is quite unusual…

Hainan Airlines orders A330-900neo galley equipment

As flagged by ch-aviation, Hainan Airlines’ parent made an interesting regulatory filing on March 29, 2024, disclosing a transaction with Safran, for the purposes of purchasing aircraft galley equipment:

“The company plans to purchase 20 sets of aircraft cabin kitchen equipment from Safran to assemble the company’s A330-900 aircraft. The transaction amount shall not exceed USD23.592 million.”

A filing like this isn’t unusual, except for the fact that Hainan Airlines doesn’t operate Airbus A330-900neos. I think it’s not too much of a leap of faith to assume that perhaps the airline is in the process of acquiring these jets.

Now, one would also assume that if the airline has to disclose a ~$24 million purchase for galley equipment, the airline would also have to disclose spending billions of dollars on new jets. So, what could be going on there?

It’s possible I’m reading too much into this, but in June 2023, aircraft leasing firm Avolon signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to order 20 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft. The end customer for those planes wasn’t disclosed, but keep in mind that Avolon is majority owned by an indirect subsidiary of Bohai Leasing, and HNA Group (also the parent company of Hainan Airlines) owns a large stake in Bohai Leasing.

While it’s possible that I’m way off here, it seems possible to me (and even likely) that these planes might be intended for Hainan Airlines. Of course it’s anyone’s guess if this is accurate, and with what timeline these planes would be delivered.

How the A330-900neo would fit into Hainan Airlines’ fleet

Hainan Airlines has had major financial issues in recent years, largely due to problems with parent company HNA Group. However, the situation seems to be stabilizing a bit.

For context, Hainan Airlines has a fleet of roughly 200 aircraft, comprised of Airbus A330s, Boeing 737s, and Boeing 787s. For some time, the airline flew Airbus A350s, but most of those have been dumped, and are now flying for other airlines (including Fiji Airways and ITA Airways).

Hainan Airlines is currently flying 24 Airbus A330s, comprised of four A330-200s and 20 A330-300s (there are some additional A330s that are parked). The planes are an average of around 10 years old, so they’re not particularly old, though some airlines do like to refresh their fleets every so often.

Hainan uses its A330s for just about all kinds of routes — the planes fly everything from short haul services within China, to long haul services. The A330-900neo of course offers improved economics over previous generation A330s, with lower fuel burn and more range, plus slightly higher capacity.

Bottom line

Hainan Airlines has disclosed an order for Airbus A330-900neo galley equipment, which is a bit odd, since the airline doesn’t fly these jets. That seems to suggest that an A330-900neo order is imminent, or has already somehow been arranged in the background, since airlines don’t typically order galley equipment for planes they don’t have.

The best theory as of now is that aircraft leasing company Avolon (which has similar owners to Hainan Airlines) placed an order for up to 20 A330-900neos last year, so maybe those planes are heading to the airline? I guess we’ll find out soon enough…

What do you make of the prospect of Hainan Airlines flying Airbus A330-900neos?