Bloomberg A pilot shortage for one. A cash crunch for another. And now the Boeing Max crisis. As Indian airlines ground plane after plane, passengers can expect to pay a lot more. Airfares for domestic travel may rise by 20 percent heading into the annual school break, a prime time for families to travel, according to an online booking firm. ...
Read More »Aviation
IATA sets priorities to meet growing air cargo demand
Emirates business The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on governments and the air cargo industry to focus on three priorities to accommodate the expanding demand for air cargo and ensure the economic and social benefits of aviation can be maximised. The three priorities are: Accelerating the speed of process modernisation; Implementing and enforcing global standards; and keeping borders open ...
Read More »Lion Air mulls pivot to Airbus after Boeing orders halted
Bloomberg Indonesia’s Lion Air, one of the biggest customers of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max plane, is considering switching to Airbus SE amid plans to suspend existing orders it has with the US plane maker, according to a person familiar with the matter. The carrier is suspending delivery of four 737 Max jets it had on order for this year from ...
Read More »Mahathir weighs shutdown or sale of Malaysia Airlines
Bloomberg Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he’s studying options for flag carrier Malaysia Airlines Bhd., including whether to invest more funds, sell it off or even shut the company down. “It is a very serious matter to shut down the national airline,†he told reporters at parliament. “We will nevertheless be studying and investigating as to whether we should shut ...
Read More »United Continental tries a little leniency for passengers running late for the flight
Bloomberg It’s the airport equivalent of road rage: You race to your gate on a tight connection to see the door shut and your plane inching backwards. One reason gate agents are so strict about that closed door is an airline metric called “D-0†(D-zero), which designates a flight that departs at exactly the scheduled time. The industry—and government regulators—rigorously ...
Read More »Boeing in crisis as second 737 crash in months grounds flights
Bloomberg Boeing Co. Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg faces his biggest crisis yet following the second deadly crash of a 737 Max jetliner, prompting some airlines to ground the best-selling plane and sending the shares on track for their biggest loss since just after the 9/11 attacks. China ordered its carriers to ground all 96 of Boeing’s newest 737 model, ...
Read More »Thai Airways to buy 38 new planes to modernise fleet
Bloomberg Thai Airways International Pcl, the nation’s flagship carrier, plans to buy as many as 38 new aircraft to help reduce maintenance costs after losses widened more than fivefold last year amid fierce competition and unpredictable fuel prices. The new aircraft, which are more fuel-efficient, would help trim operating costs and attract customers, President Sumeth Damrongchaitham told reporters in Bangkok. ...
Read More »Airbus sees 4 orders, 103 cancellations in 2019
Bloomberg Two months into 2019, Airbus SE has logged cancellations for 103 jetliners and garnered a grand total of four new sales — and those orders were for the A220 plane manufactured in Canada by Bomb- ardier Inc. The deal for the A220s — formerly the Bombardier C Series — with Pacific Ocean carrier Air Vanuatu represented Airbus’s only new ...
Read More »Airplane pollution soars with no viable plan to rein them in
Bloomberg Environmental activists recoil for a reason when the super-rich fly private jets to forums that preach carbon neutrality. Airplane pollution levels really are going through the stratosphere and nobody seems to have a viable plan to rein them in. While energy generation and agriculture currently dwarf aviation’s 1.3 percent share of all human-caused greenhouse gases, emissions from air travel ...
Read More »Europe’s taxpayers may pay the price for Airbus A380’s demise
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 ...
Read More »