Aviation

  Bloomberg Airbus is closing in on a deal to supply Dutch airline KLM with single-aisle jets, unseating incumbent Boeing, according to people familiar with the matter. The planemakers are competing on an order for as many as 160 aircraft for KLM and low-cost carrier Transavia, as parent Air France-KLM refreshes the brands’ medium-haul fleets. The contest remains in flux, ...

  Bloomberg PT Garuda Indonesia is entering a court-supervised debt restructuring process after a Jakarta court accepted a debt petition filed against the airline in a test of how far Indonesia’s government will go to rescue a state-owned company. Garuda amassed $9.8 billion in debt and judges in the Central Jakarta Commercial Court accepted a petition to suspend debt payments ...

    Bloomberg Indian regulators are investigating a Boeing Co 737 Max incident, operated by SpiceJet Ltd, which caused the plane to turn back to Mumbai shortly after departing for Kolkata and its pilots to shut down an engine due to a technical issue. While the plane landed safely and nobody was injured, the incident is sensitive as it involved ...

    Bloomberg The union for American Airlines Group Inc pilots said the carrier will violate its contract by scheduling “graveyard shift” flight simulator training sessions as it works to ready 440 pilots being added this year. American detailed plans for the sessions, which would begin after midnight, in a message to pilots, saying the temporary measure starting in January ...

  Bloomberg Boeing Co has promoted supply-chain chief Elizabeth Lund to oversee production of its commercial jetliner programs, including efforts to bolster manufacturing quality and resolve production lapses that have halted 787 Dreamliner deliveries. She succeeds Mark Jenks as senior vice-president and general manager of airplane programs. The move is effective immediately, Stan Deal, chief executive officer of Boeing’s commercial ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co is frustrated by the slow pace of federal certification of Boeing Co’s smallest 737 Max jet, an issue that could delay the carrier’s commercial debut of the aircraft late into next year. The concern stems from changes by the US Federal Aviation Administration and lawmakers giving regulators a larger role in the certification, drawing out that ...

Bloomberg London’s Heathrow airport said passenger numbers are likely to recover to barely half of pre-Covid levels next year as the pandemic continues to ravage long-haul travel markets. The number of travellers in 2022 is likely to reach 45 million, Heathrow said in a statement. That compares with a record 81 million in 2019, when the hub ranked as Europe’s ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s cargo division said it’s seeking more freighter planes to keep pace with booming global demand and that purchases could include Airbus SE’s new A350F model. Lufthansa Cargo is making the case at group level for adding more single-aisle and wide-body planes, including additional Boeing Co 777F freighters to ply long-haul routes, unit chief Dorothea von Boxberg ...

Bloomberg Japan Airlines Co hasn’t seen any impact on domestic travel due to the omicron variant of the coronavirus, but an anticipated recovery for international flights may be delayed, Chief Executive Officer Yuji Akasaka said. The spread of the omicron strain, which is said to be more transmissible than delta, has been disrupting overseas air travel. Although infection rates in ...

Bloomberg Rapid and still-evolving border restrictions in response to the omicron variant have submerged air-travel demand yet again, throwing a long-awaited recovery into uncertainty. The emerging coronavirus wave has put airlines under even more pressure as they navigate rules that vary by country and are being revised daily as more information about the strain comes to light. Carriers slashed 151,000 ...