Boeing
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An employee enters a 737 Max aircraft at the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
April 4, 2019
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s aviation regulator has been invited to join the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) review panel on the Boeing 737 MAX, an official at the regulator said on Thursday.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China has not decided whether to accept the invitation, the official in the regulator’s media relations department told Reuters.
The FAA said on Wednesday it is forming an international team to review the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX grounded after two fatal crashes since October.
(Reporting by Stella Qiu and Brenda Goh; editing by Darren Schuettler)
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FILE PHOTO: Employees walk by the end of a 737 Max aircraft at the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo
April 4, 2019
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates has accepted an invitation to join the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) review panel on the Boeing 737 MAX, a senior official told Reuters on Thursday.
The invitation has been received and the UAE has agreed to join, said Ismael al Blooshi, assistant director, safety affairs at the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by Keith Weir)
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FILE PHOTO: People walk past a part of the wreckage at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 10, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo
April 4, 2019
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A preliminary report on the crash of an Ethiopian airliner to be released on Thursday will say that the Boeing 737 MAX crew followed all procedures, a person familiar with the report said.
The report will not explicitly mention Boeing’s anti-stall MCAS software which has been at the centre of attention in the wake of last month’s accident and an earlier deadly crash in Indonesia, but will discuss how the plane dived into the ground, the person and another source briefed on the matter said.
A third source said the report could spark a debate with manufacturer Boeing about how crew responded to problems triggered by faulty data from an airflow sensor.
Boeing has warned against speculating ahead of the report. Ethiopian investigators were due to hold a press briefing in Addis Ababa shortly.
(Reporting by Maggie Fick, Editing by Tim Hepher)
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A Turkish Airlines (THY) Boeing 737-800 aircraft prepares to take off at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
April 4, 2019
By Ceyda Caglayan and Dominic Evans
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – After three false starts and a labor protest over harsh working conditions, Turkey will fully open a new airport in Istanbul this week that will give its fast-growing flagship airline a platform to challenge Gulf rivals for regional dominance.
Authorities plan to shift flights from the city’s Ataturk Airport, on the edge of the Sea of Marmara, to the new airport 30 km (20 miles) north on the Black Sea shores, in a mammoth 45-hour transfer operation starting on Friday.
The $8 billion airport is one of several infrastructure mega-projects championed by President Tayyip Erdogan and will initially be able to handle 90 million passengers a year, a number which Turkey hopes to more than double by 2027.
That would make it the biggest in the world, measured against current airport operations globally.
“Istanbul Airport will rise to second place in terms of passenger numbers it serves in around five years,” Transport Minister Cahit Turhan told reporters in the gleaming departure hall. “When all phases are complete, Istanbul Airport will sit in the leader’s chair.”
The airport is supposed to be fully operational on Sunday after authorities transport 10,000 pieces of equipment, from massive aircraft-towing vehicles to sensitive security sensors, across the city in a complex two-day operation, after which Ataturk Airport will close for passenger flights.
The move should support Turkey’s ambition to make Istanbul a global aviation hub and will offer Turkish Airlines a chance to grow beyond the restrictions of Ataturk airport’s limited size.
After 15 years of rapid growth, the airline flies to more countries than any competitor, helped by its Istanbul base which is close to European, African and Middle Eastern destinations.
That location means many cities are within a 4-5 hour flight radius which can be flown by fuel-efficient, narrow-bodied planes. The relatively low costs helped deliver profit last year of 4.05 billion lira ($716 million).
With more slots available, the airline plans to increase its total fleet from 338 aircraft to 476 over the next four years, and analysts say it will challenge the three big regional competitors: Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad.
“It puts them on a level playing field with the Gulf carriers,” aviation expert John Strickland said.
However there are potential risks ahead. The airport is opening just as years of strong economic growth are grinding to a halt in Turkey, and any weakness in the domestic market could prove a drag on Turkish Airlines’ business.
‘HUGE THREAT’
Istanbul’s opening comes a decade ahead of the expansion of Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport to handle 130 million passengers a year, which has been pushed back to 2030.
Dubai-based Emirates will one day shift to the airport, which ultimately aims to be able to handle 260 million passengers a year. For now, Dubai plans to focus on Emirates’ current hub Dubai International, which handled nearly 90 million passengers in 2018.
The Gulf airlines already face testing times. Qatar Airways said last month it would report a second consecutive annual loss this year, after losing access to 18 Middle East destinations over a dispute with Gulf neighbors.
Emirates warned in November of tough times after first-half profit fell to its lowest in a decade, and Abu Dhabi has abandoned its goal of becoming a major air travel hub akin to Dubai.
Turkey’s aviation sector has become a “huge threat” to Gulf airlines, a senior executive at one Middle Eastern airport said, and also to rivals in Asia and Europe.
That includes Frankfurt Airport, one analyst said. It is the hub of Lufthansa, one of Europe’s largest airlines, and handled 69.5 million passengers last year. It is a roughly three-hour flight from Istanbul, slightly closer than the Gulf.
Turkish Airlines is not the only emerging rival.
Ethiopia overtook Dubai last year as a conduit for long-haul passengers to Africa, highlighting the success of the state airline’s drive to win back market share on routes to and from Africa which had been dominated by Turkish Airlines and Emirates.
Turkish Airlines has targeted fast-growing Asian economies, signing a code share agreement with India’s largest domestic carrier Indigo on December, and setting up a joint venture with China’s ZTO to extend its cargo operations.
“The upside of the new airport … is its potential to tap Chinese, Indian and other emerging Asian markets,” said Erdem Kayli, senior analyst at TEB Investment/BNP Paribas.
POLITICAL RISKS
The project has been plagued by delays and a protest last year over conditions for workers, after the government said 27 workers had died since construction started in 2015.
Full operations at the new airport have already been held up three times. Formally opened by Erdogan in October, it has handled fewer than 20 daily flights as the full opening was pushed back first to January, then March and now April.
The opening comes at a time when Turkey’s ties with the United States and Europe have frequently been strained. This presents another potential risk for Turkish Airlines – as Qatar’s dispute with other Arab states has shown, politics can damage a country’s carrier.
“There is uncertainty about Turkey’s relationships with other parts of the world, not least the United States,” Strickland said. “That gives uncertainty.”
The airport is one of the showcase projects of a 16-year construction boom under Erdogan, who has overseen the building of bridges, ports and railways that have transformed the country.
Some of the biggest schemes, including a planned 40-km shipping canal parallel to the Bosphorus, have been criticized as ill-conceived and wasteful.
Some analysts question whether the airport’s ultimate target of 200 million passengers a year is feasible, given the presence of a second international airport, Sabiha Gokcen, on Istanbul’s Asian side.
“It seems unrealistic to expect to reach such passenger numbers, because of airspace constraints,” said an aviation analyst at an international brokerage company who asked not to be named. “The city has another airport, and there’s a question mark whether total passenger numbers of the two airports can exceed 150 million.”
(Additional reporting by Alexander Cornwell in Dubai; Editing by Pravin Char)
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FILE PHOTO: A wing of the Boeing 737 MAX is pictured during a media tour of the Boeing 737 MAX at the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington December 7, 2015. REUTERS/Matt Mills McKnight
April 3, 2019
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration said late on Wednesday it is launching a new review of the safety of the now-grounded Boeing 737 MAX that will be headed by a formal top U.S. safety official.
The FAA said it is establishing a Joint Authorities Technical Review “to ensure the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX” to be chaired by former National Transportation Safety Board chairman Christopher Hart “and comprised of a team of experts from the FAA, NASA, and international aviation authorities.”
More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX jets have been grounded worldwide after two crashes – in Indonesia in October and in Ethiopia last month – killed nearly 350 people.
The FAA said the group “will conduct a comprehensive review of the certification of the automated flight control system on the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft” and “evaluate aspects of the 737 MAX automated flight control system, including its design and pilots’ interaction with the system, to determine its compliance with all applicable regulations and to identify future enhancements that might be needed.”
An FAA official said the review was not related to when the agency would decide to allow the 737 MAX back into service. Boeing did not immediately comment.
The review comes two days after the FAA and Boeing signaled the planes may be grounded for longer than previously thought.
Boeing said last week that it was reprogramming software on its 737 MAX passenger jet to prevent erroneous data from triggering an anti-stall system that is under mounting scrutiny following the two deadly nose-down crashes.
The world’s largest planemaker said the anti-stall system, which is believed to have repeatedly forced the nose lower in the Indonesia accident, would only do so one time after sensing a problem, giving pilots more control.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee said it was investigating claims by a number of whistleblowers that aviation safety inspectors, including some who worked to evaluate the now-grounded Boeing 737 MAX, were not properly trained or certified.
Federal prosecutors aided by the FBI, the Transportation Department inspector general’s office and a blue ribbon panel to be named by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao are also reviewing the plane’s certification.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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FILE PHOTO: Dennis Muilenburg, CEO, Boeing speaks during a roundtable discussion on defense issues with U.S. President Donald Trump at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, U.S., October 19, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
April 3, 2019
(Reuters) – Boeing Co said on Wednesday its chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, had joined a test flight on a 737 MAX 7 jetliner for a demonstration of updated MCAS anti-stall software.
The software is at the center of investigations in the crash of Ethiopian Flight 302 last month and a Lion Air accident in Indonesia five months earlier. Both involved the slightly larger 737 MAX 8 model, which features the same cockpit.
During Wednesday’s test flight, the flight crew performed different scenarios to test failure conditions, Boeing said.
“The software update worked as designed, and the pilots landed safely at Boeing Field (near Seattle),” it said in a statement.
“Boeing will conduct additional test and demo flights as we continue to work to demonstrate that we have identified and appropriately addressed all certification requirements. We will submit the update for FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) review once that work has been completed in the coming weeks.”
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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FILE PHOTO: Bjorn Kjos, CEO of Norwegian Group, speaks during the presentation of Norwegian Air first low cost transatlantic flight service from Argentina at Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci/File Photo
April 3, 2019
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air has sold two of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft as part of its shift in emphasis from rapid growth toward profitability, the budget carrier said on Wednesday.
Norwegian last month said it would postpone sales of six other aircraft of the same model, however, to help offset the impact of the worldwide grounding of Boeing 737 MAX jets.
Under its fleet renewal program, loss-making Norwegian aims to sell older aircraft, often replacing them with new, more fuel-efficient models.
The carrier, which recently raised 3 billion Norwegian crowns ($351 million) in cash from shareholders, said on Wednesday the sale of the two planes would boost its liquidity by a further $21 million after debts are repaid.
“The sale is in line with the company’s strategy of capitalizing on the scale built up over the last few years and the changed focus from growth to profitability,” Norwegian said in a statement.
The company had 164 aircraft in its fleet at the end of 2018.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Mark Potter)
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FILE PHOTO: A self-driving GM Bolt EV is seen during a media event where Cruise, GM’s autonomous car unit, showed off its self-driving cars in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 28, 2017. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage/File Photo
April 3, 2019
By David Shepardson
(Reuters) – Three major automakers said on Wednesday they were forming a consortium to help draw up safety standards for self-driving cars that could eventually help create regulations in the United States.
General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp said in a statement they were joining forces with automotive engineering group SAE International to establish autonomous vehicle “safety guiding principles to help inform standards development.”
The group will also “work to safely advance testing, pre-competitive development and deployment,” they added.
Regulators in the United States have been grappling with how to regulate self-driving cars, with other countries watching closely to see how implementation of the emerging technology pans out.
Last year, U.S. lawmakers, unable to agree on a way forward, abandoned a bid to pass sweeping legislation to speed the introduction of vehicles without steering wheels and human controls onto roads, but may resurrect the effort later this year.
The new group, dubbed the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium, will begin by deciding priorities, with a focus on data sharing, vehicle interaction with other road users and safe testing guidelines.
Randy Visintainer, chief technology officer at Ford’s Autonomous Vehicles unit, said the goal was to work with companies and government “to expedite development of standards that can lead to rule making.”
Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked the public if robotic cars should be allowed on streets without steering wheels or brake pedals as they try to set the first legal boundaries for their design. NHTSA’s existing rules prohibit vehicles without human controls.
The regulator will for the first time compare a vehicle in which all driving decisions are made by a computer versus a human driver.
Concerns are mounting about automated piloting systems.
A fatal 2018 accident involving a self-driving vehicle operated by Uber Technologies Inc and two deadly plane crashes involving highly automated Boeing 737 MAX airliners have put a spotlight on the ability of regulators to assess the safety of advanced systems that substitute machine intelligence for human judgment.
The new consortium cited as a successful model a standards group that helped create a collection of some 4,500 aerospace standards covering airframe, engine and other aircraft parts.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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FILE PHOTO: Airplane engine parts are seen at the scene of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 plane crash, near the town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri/File Photo
April 3, 2019
SEATTLE/PARIS (Reuters) – Boeing anti-stall software on a doomed Ethiopian Airlines jet re-engaged as many as four times after the crew initially turned it off due to suspect data from an airflow sensor, two people familiar with the matter said.
It was not immediately clear whether the crew had chosen to re-deploy the system, which pushes the nose of the Boeing 737 MAX downwards, but one person with knowledge of the matter said investigators were studying the possibility that the software had kicked in again without human intervention.
A Boeing spokeswoman declined to comment. Ethiopian investigators were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson, Tim Hepher, Jamie Freed, Editing by Laurence Frost)
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Two workers walk under the wing of a 737 Max aircraft at the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
April 3, 2019
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates will make its own checks on any fixes for the Boeing 737 MAX before permitting the grounded jet to resume flying in its airspace, a senior aviation regulatory official said on Wednesday.
The MAX has been grounded globally since last month following two fatal crashes in five months involving the same aircraft type, killing 346 people.
Boeing has said a software update to prevent erroneous data from triggering an anti-stall system, which is under scrutiny after the deadly nose-down crashes, would be submitted in the coming weeks.
“Based on their corrective action plan we will validate that plan independently and maybe cooperate with other entities in Europe and based on that if we feel comfortable we will decide [if we lift the grounding],” General Civil Aviation Authority Director General Saif Mohammed al-Suwaidi told Reuters at an industry conference in Abu Dhabi.
UAE carrier flydubai is a MAX operator.
(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho, writing by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Keith Weir)
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