Heena Sharma Blog

  Boeing continues to grapple with an electrical problem affecting some 737 Max airliners , and the setback is hurting the aircraft maker's ability to deliver new planes. The company said Tuesday that it delivered 17 planes in April, including just four Max jets. CEO David Calhoun had warned analysts that April deliveries would be light because of the Max problem. The slow pace of deliveries hurts Boeing's cash generation because airlines and other customers typically pay a large chunk of a plane's purchase price upon delivery. The Max, Boeing's best-selling plane, was grounded for 20 months after two crashes that killed 346 people. Deliveries of the jet resumed in November after Boeing updated a flight-control system, but now about 100 Max jets are idled because of an issue with electrical grounding of some parts. It has taken Boeing far longer than expected to come up with a fix. Ed Pierson, a former Boeing production manager who has told Congress about probl...

Vistara took the delivery of its first wide-body Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner plane on Friday, making it the first Indian airline to fly this aircraft. The plane, which has the registration number VT-TSD, will depart from the Boeing facility here at 2 pm (local time) on Friday and land in Delhi at 2 pm (local time) on Saturday, Vistara officials said here. The new aircraft is the first of the six that Vistara has purchased from Boeing. The second Dreamliner aircraft is currently on the production line and will be delivered soon. Vistara's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft comes with 299 seats in a three-class cabin configuration, giving customers a choice of business, premium economy and economy cabins. The aircraft features lie-flat business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration that gives a direct aisle access to each business class passenger and a separate premium economy cabin that offers seats in a 2-3-2 configuration. Read More

Boeing Co said on Tuesday it does not expect to win approval for the return of the 737 MAX to service until mid-year due to further potential developments in the certification process and regulatory scrutiny on its flight control system. Boeing said it has informed airlines and suppliers of the new estimate, which is longer than previous forecasts and also takes into account new anticipated pilot training requirements. Reuters reported last week that regulators had been pushing back the time needed to approve the plane, which was most recently expected to happen in February or March, a year after the jetliner was grounded worldwide. Based on regulatory approval in the first quarter, the three US airlines that operate the 737 MAX - American Airlines Group Inc , United Airlines Holdings Inc and Southwest Airlines Co - were scheduling MAX flights in early June. They will now likely have to extend the timeline again. They have said it could take at least 30 days to resume fligh...

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects it could take until August before the Boeing Co 737 MAX returns to service, the airline group's head said on Wednesday, adding that the final say on the timing rested with regulators. The 737 MAX was grounded globally in March after a crash in Ethiopia killed all 157 people on board, the model's second deadly crash in five months. "We do not expect something before 10 to 12 weeks in re-entry into service," IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac told reporters in Seoul. "But it is not our hands. That is in the hands of regulators." IATA plans to organise a summit with airlines, regulators and Boeing in 5 to 7 weeks to discuss what is needed for the 737 MAX to return to service, he said. The airline industry has had a tough six months with fuel, labour and infrastructure costs increasing and trade tensions rising in addition to the 737 MAX grounding, de Juniac said. IATA's Decemb...

REUTERS - Fitch Ratings said on Friday the impact on the airline industry in Asia from the grounding of Boeing 737 Max jets has been muted so far but may worsen in the second quarter of 2019. Boeing's top-selling aircraft has been grounded worldwide since the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines disaster, which killed 157 people, and came just five months after a Lion Air crash in Indonesia that killed 189. The grounding of the model has had a limited impact on the fares and performances of airlines in most markets due to seasonally low demand in the first quarter, Fitch said in its report. It added that there is limited flexibility for airlines to switch to alternatives from Airbus or Boeing. The Indian aviation market, however, has seen a sharp rise in air fares in the recent months due to tight supply, partly worsened by the suspension of the 737 MAX, Fitch said. A preliminary report in the Ethiopian crash on Thursday showed that the doomed 737 MAX jet hit excessive speed...

More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX jets have been grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes in the past five months in Ethiopia and Indonesia killed nearly 350 people. Investigators looking to uncover the causes must answer one of the biggest questions: Was the plane's software to blame? What we know? - Boeing has stopped delivery of all new MAX jets. Its shares have fallen 12 percent since the Ethiopian Airlines crash, wiping $28 billion from its market value. - Boeing maintains its new, fuel-efficient jets are safe, but supported the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decision to ground them. - Europe and Canada said they would independently certify the safety of the jets, further complicating plans to get the aircraft flying. - Boeing will mandate on MAX jets a previously optional cockpit warning light, which might have warned of problems that possibly played a role in the recent crashes of Ethiopian and Indonesian planes, sources said. - Indonesia's f...

All Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft would be grounded in India by 4 pm on Wednesday, said a senior official of Indian aviation watchdog DGCA. The decision came days after a 737 MAX 8 aircraft operated by the Ethiopian Airlines crashed near Addis Ababa killing 157 people, including four Indians. On Tuesday night, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced its decision to ground the aircraft that are currently being used by airline companies in India. "We will ground all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, which are currently in use by Indian airlines, by 4 pm today," the DGCA official told PTI on Wednesday morning. SpiceJet has around 12 such aircraft in its fleet. Jet Airways has five, which have been grounded already. In a statement Wednesday, SpiceJet said," SpiceJet has suspended Boeing 737 Max operations following DGCA's decision to ground the aircraft." Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

Airlines in Brazil, Singapore, China and Indonesia have grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft after an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed, killing 157 passengers and crew members on board Sunday. This happened months after a Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in Indonesia killing 189. Indian carriers Jet Airways and Spicejet own 5 and 13 models of the aircraft respectively, according to an earlier Business Standard report. The former has ordered another 225 and the latter 155. According to a New York Times report, at least 18 airlines around the world have grounded their 737 MAX 8 planes. "But at least 18 carriers, including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, which are heavy users of the MAX 8, continued to fly them on Monday." The Boeing website shows a list of not less than 60 airlines that use the model. Ryanair, Air Europa, Air Canada, Qatar Airways are some of the big names among them. Jet Airways said Tuesday morning that it is not currently operat...

The tender for 110 combat aircraft mandates building at least 85% of the order locally Current Affairs News : It could be another two years before India picks the winner of the world’s biggest combat aircraft order, according to a senior Boeing Co. executive. Boeing is well placed in the race to supply the Indian Air Force with 110 fighter jets, Gene Cunningham, Boeing vice president of global defense sales, told Bloomberg News on Sunday on the sidelines of a security forum in Singapore. The company is a finalist in a separate competition to supply the Indian navy with 57 fighter jets. “We have gotten to know Indian industry, understand the Indian process,” Cunningham said. The tender for 110 combat aircraft mandates building at least 85 per cent of the order locally. The deal is likely to be at least $15 billion. Boeing said in April that it would partner with state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and Mahindra Defense Systems Ltd. to manufacture the F/A-18 ...