Archive for January 2016
Boeing 737 MAX maiden flight roars off the runway
“It flew beautifully. We worked through checks but there were no issues.” That was the proclamation delivered today by Captain Ed Wilson upon the successful completion of the maiden flight of Boeing’s 737 MAX in Seattle, taking the program a step closer to its Entry Into Service (EIS). The fourth generation of this family of…
Read MoreAbundance of optimism for Boeing’s Dreamliner program in 2016
Low fuel prices and an unstable global economy haven’t shaken Boeing’s confidence in its 787 Dreamliner program. Company executives said Wednesday that this year’s production increase is still on target, plans are underway to expand the North Charleston campus and deliveries are expected to match record levels set in 2015. “We’re bullish about our prospects,…
Read MoreBoeing reveals plan to keep the 747 alive
CEO Dennis Muilenburg laid out the Boeing strategy for the struggling 747 jet on Wednesday. Boeing announced last week that the company is reducing 747-8 production to a new low as it copes with the fact that it has just 20 of the four-engine jets on order. Of those, only seven are freighters. On Wednesday…
Read MoreEmirates to receive 21 new Airbus A380s and 16 Boeing 777s
Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, plans to add 37 new planes to its fleet in the fiscal year beginning April as it expands operations in Asia with new destinations. The airline will receive 21 Airbus A380 superjumbos and 16 Boeing 777s in the year ending March 2017, chief commercial officer Thierry Antinori said on…
Read MoreBoeing Keeps A Low Profile In Iranian Aircraft Bonanza
This week’s CAPA Iran Aviation Summit was the first international conference held in Tehran since the lifting of nuclear sanctions on January 16th. As noteworthy as the long list of western attendees, however, was the one all-important delegation that failed to turn up. Boeing, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer and potentially one of the prime…
Read MoreHorizon Air switching from propellers to jets for comfort, competition
Perhaps to the relief of regional air passengers who don’t like narrow planes powered by noisy propellers, Horizon Air is shifting back to jets. The company, a sister airline to larger Alaska Airlines, plans to order 30 regional jets in the first quarter of 2016, according to executives speaking during the fourth-quarter conference call Jan.…
Read MoreBoeing expected to announce 777 cut Wednesday
Boeing is likely to announce Wednesday morning another production rate cut, this time for the 777 program, according to a senior executive with a 777 customer whom Boeing consulted as it prepared its plan. Just last week Boeing announced that due to slow sales it would cut the rate on the 747 jumbo jet program,…
Read MoreCzech Airline to Buy 16 Boeing 737 Max Jets
Czech airline Travel Service says it has signed deals to buy 16 new Boeing 737 MAX jets. Spokeswoman Vladimira Dufkova said Tuesday the contracts were signed earlier in January and the jets will be delivered in 2018-2021. Financial details were not given. Including recently signed deals, Travel Service, which operates both regular flights under the…
Read MoreCanada to lift Tehran sanctions, allow Bombardier to export to Iran
Canada confirmed for the first time on Tuesday that it plans to lift its sanctions on Tehran and said that if Airbus is allowed to sell to Iran, then its aircraft maker Bombardier Inc should be allowed to export there as well. “If Airbus is able to do it, why (will) Bombardier not be able…
Read MoreIran eyes Boeing plane purchases as sanctions end
Iran is considering buying planes from US manufacturer Boeing as it moves to upgrade its fleet following the removal of UN sanctions. Iran’s deputy transport minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan told Reuters that Iran is interested in buying 100 aircraft. UN sanctions were lifted a week ago, allowing Airbus to negotiate a deal to sell 114…
Read MoreBoeing sets first flight of 737 MAX for Friday
Boeing Co said it had tentatively scheduled the first flight of its newest airplane, the 737 MAX, for Friday, a sign that it is on schedule for another key milestone for its top-selling plane. Boeing had said it planned to make the flight in the first quarter of 2016. Like all first flights, the 737…
Read MorePlane economics: If oil is dirt cheap, do fuel-efficient aircraft still matter?
Airbus this week delivered the first of its long-anticipated narrowbody A320neo, its most advanced product to date that is at least 15 per cent more fuel-efficient than current generation of planes, just as oil prices sunk to a nearly 13-year low. Cathay Pacific Airways will receive its first A350 in the next few months, Airbus’…
Read MoreSaudi Arabia’s Flynas in talks with Boeing, Airbus for 100 jets
Saudi Arabia’s low-cost carrier Flynas is talking to Airbus Group SE, Boeing Co. and Bombardier Inc. about a potential order for 100 new aircraft, after the carrier posted a profit in 2015 for the first time in its history. The airline is considering 60 new planes in the next five years with an option for…
Read MoreCheap Oil Impacts Aircraft Orders
Summary Oil prices are down over 33% in six months. Airbus and Boeing are sitting on seven year backlogs. The premium prices on new generation aircraft are no longer viable. Airbus and Boeing reacting to the Bombardier C Series, decided to re-engine their workhorse models. It was a predictable and excellent move. At the time,…
Read MoreCSeries boost for Bombardier as US airline eyes the jet
A Bombardier spokesman said “a number of airlines are expressing serious interest and confidence in the aircraft’s abilities”. He added that “momentum” was increasing on sales. Sales to Delta would be a major boost for the Canadian-owned maker’s long-delayed flagship passenger jet. “We actually think at the right price it’s quite a competitive airplane, particularly…
Read MoreBoeing’s Big Plane Sale: Not Now, but Soon
Boeing made its second update on new orders received in January on Thursday. The news was…underwhelming. After booking a six-plane order to Air China last week, all the Seattle planemaker could muster up as news in this third week of January was the sale of one single, solitary Boeing 787 to aircraft lessor Air Lease…
Read MoreUnited chooses Boeing 737s in $3 billion snub of Bombardier
United Continental Holdings said it would buy 40 of Boeing’s smallest jetliner, snubbing Bombardier’s C Series in favor of a model that already accounts for the bulk of the airline’s fleet. The new Boeing 737-700 aircraft will enter service in mid-2017 as United cuts its use of cramped regional jets, the carrier said in a…
Read MoreBoeing cuts 747 jet production program
U.S. aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing Thursday said it would cut the production rate on the company’s 747-8 jet program amid weaker demand in the air cargo market. Starting in Sept. 2016, production on the wide body planes will drop from one aircraft per month to one every two months, Chicago-based Boeing said in an announcement…
Read MoreAirbus Delivers Its New Plane. Almost No One Notices
New airplanes, among the sexiest beasts in the sky, generally make their debut with the type of glitzy ceremony befitting a Hollywood blockbuster. Not this time. Airbus delivered its new version of the world’s bestselling airplane to Lufthansa, quietly dropping off the fuel-efficient A320neo jet in Hamburg. There was a press release, several photos of…
Read MoreBoeing Starts Off New Year With an Old Plane
Boeing says its new 777X widebody jetliner, expected to begin production in 2018 and enter service in 2020, “will be the largest and most efficient twin-engine jet in the world, unmatched in every aspect of performance.” A competitor to Airbus’ A350, 777X could help Boeing to reverse a three-year trend of second-place finishes to its…
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