Look to Zest Air of the Philippines these next few days as it looks set to announce an investment partner. Zest Asia has been in talks with investors, including Hainan, AirAsia and Cebu Pacific and has been trying to sell a 40% stake for some time now without any takers. The airline desperately needs to finance new aircraft deliveries. Any deal would continue the solid growth of the Philippines aviation market.
Meanwhile the 787 lithium battery saga continues. So it might totally fail and catch fire but at least if it does it can be contained by adding a heavy-duty titanium or steel containment box around the battery cells, and high-pressure evacuation tubes that, in the event of a battery fire, would vent any gases directly to the outside of the aircraft. That is the best bet right now for Boeing and 787 operators as the best brains in the industry remain stumped by the lithium-ion battery failures.
This announcement has an air of desperation about it. Boeing is willing to contain the danger but is unable to delete the same. It is unlikely that the FAA will take the risk of allowing this containment to take to the skies on commercial flights. The political ramifications in the event of a disaster would be significant.
This saga will drag on for some time as even in the event of FAA agreement Boeing will have to test, certify and retrofit all 787s in service which would be at best a three-month program.
The thing is this: Can Boeing really tolerate eight to nine months of aircraft standing at the end of production lines? Boeing Commercial Aircraft is in a deep situation and it may have to look at slowing production to a crawl over this issue. No deliveries after all means no money – Boeing Commercial Aircraft are headed for a very bad 2013 at this rate and although this will create a bargain for investors it begs the question – Why does Boeing not switch to nickel-cadmium batteries at once? The answer may lie in the expectations of airlines and the possible damages they will request.
It is a shame that this story looks like it will have a significant effect on 2013 growth figures for some airlines unless a solution is found.
New investor for Zest Air?
