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we talk again with Frederick Thome, Sales Director for Central America and the Andean region of United, who told us how the Boeing 737 MAX in Quito and airline plans.
a few months ago, for the anniversary 30 of United's operations in Quito, We spoke exclusively to Frederick Thome about the airline's plans, we talk about sustainability, growth and plans for Ecuador, which included at that time the announcement of the arrival of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 a Quito instead of version –700of.
Since then, This announcement was completed and now it is time to find out how this aircraft has been received by the Ecuadorian market and what we can expect in 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 I spoke with Frederick again and I asked him some questions and the answers are as follows:
How is the 737 MAX in Quito?
We are very proud and very satisfied. It is a good commitment to the country. We were already able to put the newest plane we have except the Dreamliners, So we are going in that sense growing for Ecuador.
What does United gain in its operation to Ecuador with the MAX as opposed to the 737-700NG which is the one they operated with??
One, we have a latest model plane, modern, modern technology, has a greater reach, have 40 more seats. We rise from 126 a 146 seating. almost like him 757, Let's say. The 757 has like some 10 more seats and has a longer range. The plane inside is new, is that this is the best. Starting with the seats, entertainment with screens in all seats, You can even connect to Bluetooth to use your headphones.
Then, In general, it is a better product and speaking with our Network area, They told me that they are very satisfied with the performance of the MAX. Why?? Because we are already flying in Bogotá, which was what we talked about last time and we implemented them first in Bogota to Newark, Bogota to Houston with good performance. Then we implemented them in February in San José, Costa Rica because they are complicated airports, I mean, Bogota is height, San José is height with mountains 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 mountain, but we have had very good performance.
We are very satisfied with the plane. So what we want now is to launch it to the rest of our destinations in Central America., where we operate the 737-700. The 700 It has been a phenomenal plane because it is very reliable, it does not fail, but the seats are not that comfortable, It is a smaller plane and it already has its years, so we are very happy with the new plane and in general we have received very good feedback from the passengers, that's the main thing.
Why put screens in every seat versus the trend of even eliminating 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 is part of the vision that our president has. So we are willing to invest a little more but to give a better service to the passenger. In the end I feel that we are doing well, but each company has its philosophy. we see you around here, American goes the other way Delta is a lot like us. They also have a very high bar. And Legacy stays on Legacy.
Southwest does what it does very well, because it is in its low cost niche, certain things are offered, Spirit, etc. So everyone is in their lane, and we went down this lane, And it is what we are doing. Then, what are we doing? old planes, the 737-700, los Airbus 319 and 320, that they are old, In two years we are going to finish a total retrofit on board to have new seats and screens in each back..
Is the service going to 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 their years, but we have renewed them well and they will follow a few 5 More years. Do you remember that we talked about the order for airplanes that we placed in the 21 from 270 planes? Okay, many of those are MAX, but they are also Airbus. The idea is to start replacing the Airbus. And another thing that came after our talk in September was the announcement that we made in December of the planes, of the Dreamliners. We placed an order for 100 Dreamliners aircraft, which is the greatest in history, plus 100 options of 100 plus, and we also did 100 maxes more.
Then, at the end of the day they are 700 planes on orders from here to 2032. The idea is to replace and have a new fleet in the coming years to look good in the coming years. 30 years.
How is the occupation in Ecuador?
I was very pleasantly surprised to see the occupation of the flight. I was at 100%. We have done very well in Ecuador. It caught my attention, positively. And it seems incredible to me how Ecuador is moving. I don't know if it is due to the reduction of the competition's frequency flights or the reduction of seats, while we have increased.
One, We have seen, We talked about this a bit in September, that we see pretty strong demand. People want to go out after the pandemic, is still wanting out, wanting an additional experience. and second, We have seen that in Ecuador we also have very good demand, there is a lot of tourism coming to Ecuador, the Ecuadorian is also traveling a lot, so it's a good combination in the end and we've done quite well.
And is there a possibility of 737 MAX 9 sometime?
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 there we can add more seats to the same performance, that would be magnificent. because the Boeing 757 It is a slightly older plane and the operating cost is very high, then you have to charge very high fees to break even and it no longer works. And also the use of fuel… so the good thing about the MAX is also that they have fuel savings of like a 20%.
Since we spoke in September, we talk about possible new routes, Is there anything new or is it still under analysis?
We continue in analysis, we keep talking about it, It's a theme, we love, what we were talking about the other time, we have a bogota newark, we have a Lima Newark, The most logical thing is to have a Quito to Newark, and also the largest market after Miami, from Ecuador, it's new york. Then, has all the logic in the world. The issue is that a Quito-Newark, the MAX is like at the performance limit, worse with height. What does it mean? Being squeezed away by height, we would have to operate with weight restriction, 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, So our network area is there and it still doesn't give us the business case. Let's see when the MAX comes 9 in one of those that has a little more range.
Then, I think that's where it goes, but we keep talking about that topic. The same the Guayaquil-New York, there is volume, but the rates are very low so it costs and since the distance is also far, but being at sea level could be the solution.
And any chance of the nine frequencies returning??
we compensate, we raised the second frequency until May last year and when we compare it to the MAX it is a 8% more capacity than we have right now, so it's sort of compensated, but the cool thing is that now this ability of the 34% more is all year, 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. Tomorrow when we have more MAX 9, that one has more seats and has better performance, That would be great for already an example Quito – Newark.
We talk about sustainability, how is the path progressing?
we are already using, in english we say blend, a blend of jet benzine fuel with SAF in Los Angeles, because we already have a company that produces, so we can already feed the planes there with sustainable fuel. We have one also in Amsterdam. Last week we started in San Francisco and at the end of the year we started in London. So little by little we are proposing this path to reduce the carbon footprint, carbon footprint in spanish.
so that's nice. We also set up and announced in February a fund, un United Airlines Venture Fund, to give funds to small companies that are investing in how to produce more SAF. So we give them 10 millions, 15 millions, 50 millions, everyone believes that SAF is one of the best opportunities to lower the carbon footprint because the aviation industry pollutes the environment a lot, together, and it is not planting a tree.
And in Latin America, with the amount of agricultural resources we have, they are in another, in Latin America there are other problems perhaps of the approach, but in truth it is an opportunity if you focus on your economy that generates a number of jobs and it is a gigantic opportunity.
Because they are already seeing that the subject of being 100% in oil it does not work in the long term. For the issue of lithium and electric charge. It's going to run out. And then regulations are going to come and they are going to start to extinguish this energetic change, like Europe, which is already putting a lot of pressure on the interest of aviation to seek alternatives to lower carbon footprints, and the United States is also on that path..
Now, we are recently announcing taxi planes already from Chicago to O'Hare and from New York, de Downtown, by where is the New York Stock Exchange to Newark. Son 15 a 10 minutes to, instead of taking a taxi, they go on these engines, there are four electric motors. like helicopters, but electrical. with four, four blades, but if you compare it to a helicopter, the price is much lower. It's much smaller because it's electric.
How is the demand in general??
We are increasing flights, international growth is double domestic growth. The international demand of the North American is in the clouds and we are positive a 8% in June in ASK to Latin America 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 the largest airline to Australia. We are the biggest airline also to Europe. We are also operating in the Pacific. We are well positioned. We are making progress.
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