we talk again with Frederick Thome, Sales Director for Centroamérich and royalón Andean of United, Whoén nos contó cómo goes Boeing 737 MAX in Quito And the airline plansínea.
A few months ago ATRás, for the anniversary 30 of United's operations in Quito, We speak exclusively with Frederick Thome about the airline's plansínea, we talk about sustainability, growth and plans for Ecuador, which includesíAn at that time the announcement of the arrival of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 a Quito Instead of the versión –700of.
Since then, he concretized himselfó This ad and now is time to meet Cómo has been received this avión for the Ecuadorian market and whaté We can wait for the future.
the boeing 737 MAX in Quito and what's to come
During an entertaining interview conducted during the IPW in San Antonio, Texas hablé Again with Frederick and asked some questions and the answers are the following:
¿Cómo goes 737 MAX in Quito?
We are very proud and very satisfied. It is a good commitment MáS with the país. We could already put the avión máS new that we have except the Dreamliners, So we are going in that sense growing for Ecuador.
¿Whaté gana united en su operationón a Ecuador with the Max unlike 737-700ng that is with the one they operated?
One, We have an avión úlatest model, modern, technologyíthe modern, has a greater reach, have 40 seats sás. We rise from 126 a 146 seating. almost like him 757, Let's say. The 757 has like some 10 seats sás and has a greater reach. the grandfatherón inside is new, is that this is the best. Starting with the seats, entertainment with screens in all seats, You can include Bluetooth to use your audienceíheadphones.
Then, In general it is a better product and talking with our ábad, They told me that thisán very satisfied with the Max Performance ¿Becauseé? Because we are already flying in Bogotá, That we are talking about last time and implement them first in Bogotá a Newark, Bogotaá Houston with good performance. Then we implement them in February in San José, Costa Rica because they are complicated airports, I mean, Bogotaá It is height, San José is height with mountñAs and has its height. We implemented it in Guatemala, which is an airport in the very center of the city, surrounded by buildings, surrounded by mountña, but we have had very good performance.
We are very satisfied with the avión. So what we want now is to launch it to the rest of our destinations in Centralamérica, where we operate the 737-700. The 700 it has been an avión phenomenal because it is very reliable does not fail, But the seats are not so Cómodes, he is a grandfatherón más boy and that already has itsños, Then we are very happy with the new avióN and in general we have received very good feedback from passengers, that's the main thing.
¿Becauseé put screens in each seat versus the tendency to even eliminate them?
This is a topic we talked about a lot in September, we want to distinguish ourselves with our customer service, el customer service, el on-board product, the product on board, differentiate ourselves, try to offer a better travel experience and that part of the visionón that our president has. Then we are willing to invest a bit más but to give a better service to the passenger. In the end I feel that we are doing well, But every companyñíhas its philosophía. We see you for thatí, American goes the other way Delta is a lot like us. They tooén have a very high bar. And Legacy stays on Legacy.
Southwest does what it does very well, Porque isá In your Low Cost niche, certain things are offered, Spirit, etc. Then each isá In his lane, and we went down this lane, And it is what we are doing. Then, ¿thaté We are doing? old planes, the 737-700, los Airbus 319 and 320, what is thereán old, in two añWe are going to finish a total retrofit on board to have new seats and screens on each back.
¿The service will be unified?
unify shall we say. So let's unify, when you get on a 319 It's going to be like getting on a MAX or when you get on a 737-700 and i find that quite interesting. A320s are like workhorses, reliable, But they already have theirños, But we have renewed them well and continueán some 5 añm axisás. ¿Do you remember that we talked about the order for airplanes that we made in the 21 from 270 planes? Okay, many of those are MAX, but alsoén son Airbus. The idea is to start replacing the Airbus. And another thing that came afterés of our talk in September was the announcement we made in December of the aircraft, of the Dreamliners. We placed an order for 100 Dreamliners aircraft, What is más great in history, y Adamás 100 options of 100 más, y AdamáWe did 100 Maxes más.
Then, at the end of día son 700 AIRCLES IN ORDERS OF THATí al 2032. The idea is to replace and have a new fleet in the PRówe go toñyou to look good in the PRówe moan 30 años.
¿Cómo isá the occupationón in Ecuador?
A me surprising meó very pleasantly see the occupationóflight number. I was at 100%. We have done very well in Ecuador. Called meó a lot of attentionón, positively. And it seems to me to increaseíble how to beá Moving Ecuador. No sé If it is due to the reductionón of frequency flights of competition or reductionónumber of seats, while we have increased.
One, We have seen, We talked about this a bit in September, that we see a pretty s demandólida. People want to go afterés of the pandemic, todavía isá Wanting to leave, wanting an additional experience. and second, We have seen that alsoén In Ecuador we have very good demand, there is a lot of tourism coming to Ecuador, Ecuadorian alsoén isá Traveling a lot, So it's a good combinationón at the end and it has done quite well.
¿And there is a possibility of 737 MAX 9 an algaeún moment?
At this time the MAX 8 are the ones we have at the moment, the 9 Let's see in the future when they start to arrive, Because ahí We can add más seats at the same performance, what to beía magnífico. because the Boeing 757 he is a grandfatherón a little older and the cost of operationón is very high, So you have to collect some alt ratesíSimas to get Break Even and no longer works. Y Adamás The use of fuel… So the good of the Max alsoén is that they have a fuel savings of how 20%.
Since we spoke in September, we talk about possible new routes, ¿There is something new or stillía en análysis?
We continue in Análysis, we keep talking about it, It's a theme, we love, We speakáWe are the other time, We have a Bogotá Newark, we have a Lima Newark, lo más lóGico is having a Quito to Newark, y Adamás the M marketáS big afterés from Miami, from Ecuador, it's new york. Then, has all lóGica of the world. The issue is that a Quito-Newark, El Max isá as in the límild of performance, worse with height. ¿Whaté means? Being squeezed away by height, tenderímasters to operate with restriccióN pesos, penalized, then you have to have 20 unsold seats with which the business case is a bit complicated because you have fewer passengers or you have to raise the fare a bit to compensate for the fewer passengers exactly, then ours áNetwork area in that isá and stillíWe don't give us the Business Case. Let's see when the MAX comes 9 In one of those that has a little máRange s.
Then, I think thatí va, but we keep talking about that topic. The same the Guayaquil-New York, there is volume, But the rates están very low then costs and as the distance alsoén is far, But being at sea level couldíto be the solutionón.
¿And any chance of the nine frequencies coming back?
we compensate, We upload the second frequency until Mayñor past and when we compare it to Max it is a 8% más of capacity that we have then as isá plywood, But chéVere is that now this capacity of 34% más is all theñO, It's not just for the season anymore. So for now we stay with this.
In the end, if we do well with the lawsuit in one of those, we can put the additional flights. The díhas myñAna when we have más MAX 9, That has más seats and has a better performance, that will beíto phenomenal for already one for example Quito – Newark.
We talk about sustainability, ¿cóMo progresses the road?
we are already using, an Engés se dice blend, A Avi benzine fuel mixtureón with SAF in the Ádrooling, Because we already have a companyñíwhat produces, So we can feed the airplanes ahí With sustainable fuel. We also have oneéN and Amsterdam. Last week we started in San Francisco and in order toñor we start in London. So little by little we are proposing this path to reduce the carbon footprint, The carbon footprint in Spainñol.
so that's nice. Spaghettién we put and announced in February a background, un United Airlines Venture Fund, To give compa fundsñíthe little onesñas isán investing in CóMo produce más SAF. So we give them 10 millions, 15 millions, 50 millions, Everyone believes that SAF is one of the best opportunities to be able to lower the carbon footprint because the aviation industryón We contaminate the environment a lot, together, And it is not sowing a átree.
And in Latinamérich with the amount of resources we have of agriculture están in another, and AméRich Latin there are other problems maybe the approach, But in truth it is an opportunity if you will focus on your economyíTo that generates a number of jobs and it is a giant opportunity.
Porque ya isán Seeing that the issue of being 100% In PetróLeo does not give long term already. For the issue of lithium and positionéelectric. It's going to run out. And afterés are going to come regulations and they will begin to extinguish this energy changeético, Like Europe that is alreadyá putting a lot of presión al interés of aviationón of looking for alternatives to lower carbon and United States footprints alsoén goes on that path.
Now, we are recently announcing taxi planes already from Chicago to O'Hare and from New York, de Downtown, Where is youá el New York Stock Exchange a Newark. Son 15 a 10 minutes to, instead of taking a taxi, they go on these engines, There are four engines theéelectric. Como helicópteros, butéelectric. with four, four blades, But if you compare it with a helicóptero, the price is much lower. Is much less because it is theéelectric.
¿Cómo isá The demand in general?
We are increasing flights, International growth is twice the Doméstic. The international demand of the American está In the clouds and we are positive a 8% In June in Ask A Américh Latina and 88% to Europe we are growing in June compared to the 2019. So it gives us a lot of optimism because now in March we are announcing strong growth in Australia and New Zealand.. We are línever aérea más grande a Australia. We are línever aérea máS alsoén a Europa. We are also operatingén al Pacífico. We are well positioned. We are making progress.
