Aviation

Airbus’ superjumbo finds new life on Malaysia Air pilgrim trips

Bloomberg Malaysia Airlines Bhd.’s Airbus SE A380s are flying full on trial services taking Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, prompting the carrier to say it will establish the operation as a new division as early as the end of this year. The Asian company has been using two of its six A380s to transport people headed to Mecca for the ...

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United’s growth plan sparks new faceoff with Wall Street

Bloomberg United Continental Holdings Inc.’s plan to grow its way to better profits led to another rocky encounter with Wall Street. At a presentation in New York, President Scott Kirby said an accelerated expansion would pay off in the long term by boosting market share at United’s major hubs in Chicago, Houston and Denver. He and Chief Executive Officer Oscar ...

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After hefty gains, Chinese airline shares may rise more

Bloomberg China’s top three airlines saw their Hong Kong-listed shares surge last year, but there is still potential for more gains. China Southern Airlines Co., Air China Ltd. and China Eastern Airlines Corp. are trading at a discount to peers in the region and their valuations, by some metrics, are still off their peaks in the past five years. Analysts ...

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AirAsia to buy more jets to meet demand

BLoomberg AirAsia Bhd., the budget airline that has grown to become one of the biggest customers of Airbus SE planes, could consider buying more aircraft as economic expansion across India, China and the Southeast Asian nations propel travel demand across the continent. “Right now, we are short of aircraft,” Tony Fernandes, AirAsia group chief executive officer, said in an interview ...

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Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner wins federal approval

Bloomberg Boeing Co.’s newest and largest 787 Dreamliner got the federal approval it needs to fly commercially, winning authorisation before the recent US government shutdown. The certification concludes a flight-test programme that began last March for the first of the 787-10 carbon-fibre jets to be assembled solely at Boeing’s South Carolina factory, the Chicago-based planemaker said. That clears one of two ...

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Airbus gets pre-delivery payments from Hainan Air

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 ...

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GE engine venture may oust Rolls from Emirates A380 deal

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 ...

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Norwegian sets record for fastest transatlantic flight

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 ...

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Airbus in talks with British Airways to sell more A380s

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. ...

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United Airlines debuts upgraded economy class

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 ...

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