Aviation

Bloomberg November 2015 was a big month for Chinese aviation. That was when the state plane manufacturer known as Comac delivered its first passenger aircraft, a 90-seat jet called the ARJ21. May 2017 may prove bigger still, after Comac completed its first test flight of a larger plane, the C919. The new jet aims to take on Boeing Co. and ...

Bloomberg Germany’s Lufthansa is considering stretching out deliveries of Boeing’s new 777X aircraft, concerned about the cost and size of the big jet as the aviation industry shifts to smaller, more nimble planes. A decision on the new timeline is “urgent” and could be reached by September, according to an internal video presentation by Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr. ...

Bloomberg Boeing Co. is delaying the delivery of Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA’s first 737 Max jet — again. The upgraded single-aisle plane will now arrive at the end of June, the discount carrier said in an emailed statement. The delay is the second in about a month for Norwegian, which initially planned to receive its first 737 Max at the ...

Bloomberg British Airways flight attendants are threatening a strike, just days after a computer failure disrupted travel for more than 75,000 passengers and put the carrier’s cost cuts under scrutiny. Members of the Unite union plan to walk out from June 16 through June 19 after the airline suspended travel benefits for flight attendants who participated in 26 days of ...

Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings Plc plans to accelerate its European expansion to take advantage of financial woes at regional competitors and reduce its reliance on an uncertain UK market. Europe’s biggest discount carrier is in talks with Boeing Co. to add two or three more 737 jets to its existing delivery schedule while extending leases on 10 other planes through 2019, ...

Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is actively considering a proposal to privatize state-run Air India Ltd., possibly asking the buyer to absorb loans of about 200 billion rupees ($3.1 billion) linked to aircraft purchases, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. The deliberations follow recommendations by a government panel for the sale of the money-losing carrier that ...

Emirates Business SriLankan Airlines, the National Carrier of Sri Lanka and a member of the prestigious oneworld alliance, will be establishing its presence in Australia with daily non-stop services to Melbourne commencing October 29 this year. Australia is home to one of the largest Sri Lankan expatriate communities, many of whom reside in and around Melbourne, the capital of Australia’s ...

Bloomberg VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Co. is in talks to become the first company in Vietnam to list its shares on a stock exchange overseas as the carrier, which controls more than 40 percent of the domestic airline market, seeks more funds after plans for billions of dollars in aircraft purchases. “We’ve been approached by some foreign stock exchanges including ...

Bloomberg Thailand is seeking to take on Singapore’s dominance in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul with a $5.7 billion upgrade of a Vietnam War-era airport. Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Sikorsky Aircraft is the latest company to study a possible increase in MRO spend in Thailand in the wake of the planned revamp of U-Tapao International Airport, said Ajarin Pattanapanchai, deputy secretary ...

Bloomberg Turkish Airlines is considering options to fund its planned move to Istanbul’s new airport, due to open at the end of next year, reports said. Options under consideration include having the new airport’s consortium of builders, known as IGA, construct and own the facilities and lease them to the airline, three people said, asking not to be identified because ...