This mould is the second A330 Phoenix has used, and was introduced in 2010, but still competes well with newer A330 moulds from Aeroclassics and Panda, whilst easily beating the JC Wings/Gemini effort. That is not to say I am not a fan of the type or the Phoenix mould. In fact, it hasn’t been since October last year that I looked at an A330 at all. I own 18 Phoenix A330s yet looking back, somehow, I have never reviewed one here at the Diecast Flier, which comes as something of a surprise. The format for my reviews is to split them into three key areas:Įach can get a maximum score of 10 for a section giving a maximum combined total score of 30. Given their positions at Kunming that would seem an odd move to allow but then again things work a bit different in the people’s republic. It had been reported in the Financial Times that in order to assist in servicing its $78 billion debt it was selling its 60% stake in Lucky to China Eastern.
Just last week the HNA Group was forced to deny reports that it planned to sell both Lucky Air and Beijing Capital Airlines. The existing Lucky Air fleet includes 51 aircraft however the immediate future of the airline is in some doubt given the HNA Group’s continuing issues. B-5971 has since re-joined the main Hainan fleet. This aircraft remained with the fleet until Maby which time the first of Lucky’s own new A330s was in service. The aircraft was configured with 292 seats in two classes: 32 business and 260 economy. Initially the route was twice weekly, later increasing to three times weekly, and utilised a lone A330, B-5971, acquired from Hainan Airlines on lease on March 7. International destinations now include Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam but the trio of A330s currently operated are used mostly on the Kunming-Moscow route, which began on June 12, 2017. On a more LCC note it was one of the founding members of the U-FLY Alliance, but the resilience of business class and the acquisition of widebodies does suggest Lucky Air is more of a hybrid airline than true LCC. In fact, the MAXes even have business class.
Right from the start Lucky Air had a mixed fleet of Airbuses and Boeings, and oddly for an LCC it still shows no signs of conforming, having taken on both A320neos and 737 MAX 8s. Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia, via Wikimedia Commons
#Lucky strike phoenix free
The Chinese government belatedly came around to Low cost carriers at about this time and Lucky Air began its transition by removing free meal service and moving to one class configurations. As with many of the HNA related airlines it also sported a livery that tied it in to its larger parent. Even so it’s 12% share was way behind its nearest rival China Eastern’s Yunnan division’s 42% and close to China Southern’s 10.5%.įor its existence up to 2015 Lucky was just another of the many middle of the market Chinese airlines offering a full-service light on frills. The Kunming based airline began service in February 2006 and by 2015 had grown to be the 2 nd largest airline at the important airport. Lucky Air is yet another element of the byzantine HNA Group, but seemingly one of the more independent components as it is a joint venture between them and the Yunnan government.
For diversity’s sake I’ll take a look at one this week. One of their moulds that I do still rate is the A330, although it isn’t the best still. It is only the 747-8 and A380 that are still top of the range for Phoenix. JC Wings have better 777s and 787s, Panda and Aeroclassics have better A320s, HYJLwings have better A321s, Panda and JC Wings have better 737s. In fact, even if they were releasing interesting models (and largely they are not) there are few of their moulds I would choose to buy over others. So far this year there have been only 2 from 98. Last year of the 147 models I purchased, released in that year, 12 were from Phoenix.
This has been a disappointing year for Phoenix in my opinion.
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