Aviation

Bloomberg The biggest losers in Airbus SE’s decision to wind down production of its A380 superjumbo may be taxpayers in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, where governments made a big bet on the plane by lending more than 3.3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) to build it. Airbus agreed to reimburse the loans, together with interest, but payments were tied ...

Emirates Business The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets showing that demand, measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs), decreased 1.8% in January 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. This was the worst performance in the last three years. Freight capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometers (AFTKs), rose by 4.0% year-on-year in ...

Bloomberg A four-month-old Ethiopian Airlines Boeing plane en route to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, crashed on Sunday, killing all 149 passengers and eight crew, the airline said in a statement. The crash is the second in five months involving a Max 8 after a Lion Air plane that had been delivered only 2 1/2 months earlier nose-dived into the Java Sea ...

Bloomberg Just as a tide of cancelled orders has prompted Airbus SE to halt production of the A380 superjumbo, Japan’s biggest airline is betting it can succeed where others have failed — by filling the luxurious double-deckers with tourists flying to Hawaii. Starting May 24, ANA Holdings Inc. has scheduled three flights a week from Tokyo to Honolulu on the ...

Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary waded into the row over the UK’s Brexit logjam, saying controversy over the so-called Irish backstop has been exaggerated. The backstop, which keeps the UK in a customs union with the European Union unless a future trade deal makes border checks unnecessary, won’t be a problem so long as Britain moves ...

Bloomberg Aviation regulators warned Southwest Airlines Co. and its mechanics’ union that their contentious contract talks and legal fight are putting the carrier’s safety at risk. The Federal Aviation Administration sent the letter to Southwest and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, urging the two parties to work cooperatively on safety issues. Southwest flies the most passengers on domestic flights of ...

Bloomberg As seats shrink and fees multiply, it’s hard to find value from an airline these days. Except when redeeming frequent-flyer points. The six largest US carriers grew more generous from 2013 to 2018 as they sought to encourage mileage redemption. The average price, in loyalty miles or points, for a domestic rewards ticket declined 13.5 percent over that time, ...

Bloomberg General Electric Co.’s jet-leasing business, often called the “crown jewel” of its financial arm, drew some fresh criticism from one of the top analysts covering the stock. J.P. Morgan analyst Stephen Tusa said the unit has been selling off aircraft and buying new ones in a manner that is leaving it with lesser quality assets, as it tries to ...

Bloomberg Recorded conversations by pilots on a cargo jet carrying packages for Amazon.com Inc. that crashed last month near Houston reveal they began losing control of the aircraft about 18 seconds before it slammed into a shallow bay, investigators said. The communications captured on the cockpit sound recorder were “consistent with a loss of control of the aircraft,” according to ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co. plans to challenge Hawaiian Airlines for control of Hawaii’s island-hopping market shortly after beginning flights to the state from the mainland. The short, high-demand, inter-island flights are squarely within Southwest’s wheelhouse, Southwest revenue chief Andrew Watterson said in an interview. “We see that big market with higher price points and it’s short haul, which is what ...