Aviation

Bloomberg Airbus SE has received “hundreds of millions of dollars” in pre-delivery payments from carriers under the Hainan Airlines Holding Co. umbrella and is sufficiently protected from any financial risks involving the customer, John Leahy, the European planemaker’s chief of sales, said. “We build airplanes so you’d have an industrial risk if they were to get into some serious financial ...

Bloomberg General Electric Co.’s A380 engine venture with Pratt & Whitney may be poised to muscle back in on the double-decker jet following Airbus SE’s deal to sell 36 superjumbos to Gulf carrier Emirates. While Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc is supplying Trent 900 turbines for the last 50 A380s ordered by Emirates, the Dubai airline is leaning towards a rival powerplant ...

Bloomberg To the envy of plane-weary travellers everywhere, passengers aboard a Norwegian Airlines flight from New York to London were treated to a pleasant surprise: They arrived 53 minutes ahead of schedule, making theirs the fastest transatlantic flight ever recorded on a subsonic commercial aircraft. The final flight time: five hours and 13 minutes. The good time came thanks to ...

Bloomberg Airbus SE is in talks to sell new A380 superjumbo planes to British Airways this year after securing a programme-saving deal from Persian Gulf operator Emirates, according to people familiar with the matter. The UK carrier, which currently has 12 A380s in its fleet, had said in the past that it was looking for six to seven second-hand A380s. ...

Bloomberg United Continental Holdings Inc. is set to debut an upgraded economy section with bigger seats on some international flights, following similar moves by US rivals. United will introduce what it’s calling Premium Plus later this year, spokeswoman Maggie Schmerin said, without giving further details. A memo sent to United employees said the new section will have additional perks including ...

Bloomberg The day of the service duck and emotional support chicken on airlines may be drawing to a close. Delta Air Lines Inc. said it will more thoroughly vet passengers’ efforts to fly with all manner of unusual animals, which often board US airlines under the guise of psychological or medical support. “Customers have attempted to fly with comfort turkeys, ...

Bloomberg The European Union may attempt to strip British airlines of some flying rights after Brexit, with officials in Brussels warning that UK-based carriers could see their ability to compete across the bloc impeded. A meeting of the European Commission and diplomats from the remaining 27 EU countries has taken the first steps in sketching out the EU’s negotiating position ...

Bloomberg The US government has opened an investigation into snow removal at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport following a storm earlier this month that snarled scores of flights. The Federal Aviation Administration is probing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s actions during the storm on January 4-5, the agency said. The investigation will determine “if ...

Bloomberg Asian airport operators’ earnings, and their share prices, may be ready to take off. Rising wealth, improving connectivity and social media penetration will spur spending on international air travel, Morgan Stanley analysts including Daniel Lau wrote in a research report. Operating profit growth for airports under the firm’s coverage will pick up to a 9.5 percent compounded annual growth ...

Bloomberg A tourist boom has caused traffic at Iceland’s Keflavik airport to grow more than five-fold over the past nine years, with a predicted 10 million passengers this year. Now Iceland’s main entry point to the world is preparing to accommodate twice as many. The airport expects to invest about $1 billion over the next 7 to 8 years to ...