Alliance Airlines announces purchase of Embraer E190s

A Fokker 70 of Alliance Airlines at Auckland Airport. Photo by Ernest Leung | AeroNewsX

Alliance Airlines, the largest charter airline in Australia and the fourth-largest airline in Australia by total fleet size, announced that, while other airlines around the world are struggling to survive, it has purchased fourteen Embraer E190 aircraft from Panama flag carrier Copa Airlines to help fuel the airline's continuing growth in the future, particularly in the charter sector, which Alliance Airlines considers its "bread and butter" work.

Alliance Airlines was founded in 2002 out of the assets of defunct Australian regional airline Flight West Airlines with just two Fokker 100 aircraft, and, over the past eighteen years, has ridden the growth of the mining and resources charter sector and now boasts an all-Fokker fleet of 41 aircraft consisting of Fokker 50, Fokker 70 (shown above), and Fokker 100 aircraft. In 2019, the airline reached another milestone after Australian flag carrier Qantas purchased a 15.5% stake in the successful carrier. Despite the coronavirus crisis in Australia crushing most of the country's airline industry, Alliance Airlines has continued its impressive growth beginning scheduled services from Brisbane to Proserpine (Whitsunday Coast) and Moranbah, as well as Sunshine Coast to Cairns flights under a Queensland Government subsidy.

Further good news for the airline and the Australian aviation industry as a whole came when Alliance Airlines made an official statement to its shareholders on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that it had successfully raised capital of $91.9 million and that the airline had entered into an AUD 111.6 million deal with US-based aircraft leasing company Azorra Aviation to purchase 14 ex Copa Airlines Embraer E-190s, with the option open to purchase another five more E190s in the future should their operations require them. This announcement provided a healthy boost to Alliance Airlines shares, which were up 7 percent due to improved confidence in the airline's performance.

The deal with Azorra Aviation not only includes fourteen Embraer E190 aircraft but an assortment of related inventory related to the aircraft, which is not currently widely operated in Australia. The newly announced deal also includes six spare General Electric CF34 engines, which power the E190, as well as the option to acquire a full flight simulator for the aircraft in the future and other related training equipment, presumably for cabin crew and engineer training. According to Alliance Airlines CEO Scott McMillan, "this acquisition is more than opportunistic, it underpins our expected growth and the large demand for 100-seat aircraft in the Australian market."

But those fans of Alliance Airlines famous Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 aircraft should not fret because CEO Scott McMillan also made it clear that the vulnerable Fokker aircraft would remain the backbone of the airline's fleet and would continue to serve the airline for many years to come due to high amount of spare parts and inventory Alliance Airlines has access to service the Fokker's. McMillan also added that the Embraer aircraft were simply for growth as Alliance had already exhausted the opportunities for purchasing more Fokker aircraft from other operators.

The first of the Embraer E190 aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to Alliance Airlines in September 2020, and, according to the airline's spokesperson, the aircraft will be prepared and repainted before they arrive in Australia.