L.A.-based ILFC Lines Up Order for Airbus’ A350 Jet

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International Lease Finance Corp., one of the world’s largest aircraft buyers, has placed a big order for the latest plane from European manufacturer Airbus.


ILFC, based in Los Angeles, announced it will buy 20 A350 jets for a total value of about $4 billion. The company originally planned to buy 16 of the wide-body planes.


“Timing of the revised agreement is the result of more than a year’s worth of discussions,” said John Plueger, chief operating officer of ILFC, in a statement.


The announcement is significant for Airbus, which is positioning the plane as the primary competitor to Boeing Co.’s new 787 Dreamliner once the A350 enters service in 2013. The 787 is set to come online late next year.


The A350 is a long range, mid-size commercial aircraft. ILFC plans to purchase both the 270-passenger A350-800 and 314-passenger A350-900 models, along with an option for the A350-1000, which can hold 350 people.


The order comes after efforts by Airbus to meet industry critics led by ILFC founder and Chief Executive Steven Udvar-Hazy that the original design for the plane was little more than a modification of existing models. They called on Airbus to go back to the drawing board and design a whole new aircraft that could truly compete with Boeing’s Dreamliner.


Airbus has redesigned the plane over the past year and a half.


The new order increases Airbus’ total sales of the aircraft to 196 from nine customers. ILFC is also Boeing’s largest customer, and it has agreed to purchase 74 of its 787 jets.


ILFC has an inventory of more than 900 planes valued at nearly $50 billion. It is one of the two largest aircraft leasing companies in the world, along with GE Commercial Aviation Services. Founded in 1973, ILFC is a wholly owned subsidiary of insurance giant American International Group Inc.



Cargo Lagging

Cargo container traffic at the nation’s seaports in September was down from last year, and experts are predicting container levels to remain flat or below last year for the rest of the peak shipping season.


Total cargo movement at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, which together account for more than 40 percent of the nation’s container volume, was essentially flat in September. The Long Beach port saw container flow rise 6.4 percent from last year, but volume at its Los Angeles neighbor fell 6.2 percent.


The number of 20-foot cargo containers handled by U.S. ports fell 1.9 percent to 1.46 million units in September, the most recent month for which cargo numbers are available.


It is the second consecutive month that cargo volume failed to reach the previous year’s mark, which experts attribute to a weak U.S. economy and cautious expectations among retailers as the holiday shopping season approaches.


Global Insight Inc., a Waltham, Mass.-based firm that tracks port activity, expects a decline of about 0.2 percent in container volume in October, which is typically the biggest month of the year for the nation’s ports.



Nike Steps Up

Amid controversy over a port plan to replace most of the 16,000 short haul diesel trucks that serve the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Nike Inc. has taken its own action.


The Beaverton, Ore-based athletic shoe and apparel maker has teamed with Southern Counties Express Inc., a Rancho Dominguez-based motor carrier, to replace more than 70 of the diesel trucks that carry its goods from the ports. The replacement trucks, some of which will hit the roads next month, will be powered with liquefied natural gas.


Many of Nike’s products are imported from Asia through the local ports and are trucked to distribution centers in Torrance and the Inland Empire. The company said it hopes to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2020.


Part of the funding for the new trucks came from the ports, as well as the Air Quality Management District.



Wider Wi-Fi

Boingo Wireless Inc., which provides wireless Internet access, recently inked a deal with Sprint Nextel Corp. to purchase its Wi-Fi networks in seven airports across the country.


The deal increases the number of airport Internet networks operated by Santa Monica-based Boingo to 23. Under the deal, Sprint customers will retain access to the seven networks and gain access to Boingo’s other 16 networks.


The company now operates Wi-Fi hot spots at airports across the United States, and in Canada and Puerto Rico.



Staff reporter Richard Clough can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 251, or at [email protected].

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