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There is no easy way out of “flight shame.”
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg’s warnings against air travel seem to be having an effect, particularly in Europe. In a recent survey by Swiss bank UBS, 21% of respondents in the U.S., the U.K., Germany and France said they had cut back on flying this year. Perhaps more importantly, lawmakers are listening: Starting next year, France will impose a tax on outbound flight tickets.
Airlines are looking for ways to clean themselves up. Last week, U.K. budget carrier EasyJet said it would become the first major airline to operate with net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by buying carbon offsets. British Airways -owner IAG recently said it was on its own path toward carbon neutrality in 2050.
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United Airlines Holdings Inc. struck a deal to buy 50 long-range Airbus SE EADSY 0.01% jets to replace its aging fleet of Boeing Co. BA -0.97% 757s, which are due to be retired in the coming years.
The airline will use the single-aisle A321XLR jets beginning in 2024 to fly from its hubs near New York and Washington, D.C., to European destinations, United Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella said Tuesday. He said the aircraft will likely open up new routes with its longer flying capability.
Mr. Nocella said United hasn’t ruled out buying Boeing’s proposed midsize aircraft, known as the NMA. Boeing has yet to decide whether to build the jet as it focuses on returning the 737 MAX to service after two recent fatal crashes. It had hoped to have the new midsize plane in service by around 2025.
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LONDON— Ryanair Holdings RYAAY -0.37% PLC said it would cut jobs and close two bases as it warned traffic growth would slow next year because of new delays in deliveries of its first Boeing Co. BA -0.97% 737 MAX aircraft.
The European budget carrier is one of Boeing’s biggest customers for the embattled jet and had expected to receive its first MAX planes this spring. However, the plane has been grounded since March after two fatal crashes and it still isn’t clear when it will resume flying.
Citing that uncertainty, Ryanair said Wednesday it had again revised its summer schedule for next year based on receiving just 10 MAX aircraft in time for the busy travel season, rather than the 20 it previously planned.
As a result, the company now expects to carry 156 million passengers in the year ending March 31, 2021, compared with the latest revised guidance for 157 million.
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Agency contends plane maker knowingly certified some 130 Boeing 737 jets despite installing suspect parts.
The proposed penalty doesn’t apply to any 737 MAX models, the latest version of Boeing’s best-selling workhorse jets that has been grounded for months. PHOTO: GARY HE/REUTERS
Boeing Co. was hit with a proposed $3.9 million penalty by U.S. air-safety officials who said the company installed defective parts inside the wings of around 130 737 NG aircraft and then knowingly vouched they met all federal safety requirements.
As part of Friday’s action by the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency indicated that the parts—designed to guide movable panels called slats on the front of wings—were used despite being identified as potentially substandard by a Boeing subcontractor in the fall of 2018. Over the next eight months, according to the FAA, the Chicago plane maker certified the affected jets as meeting all airworthiness requirements.
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Partnered up with Airbus, an innovative London design firm is fine-tuning app-controlled seats you can adjust on your smartphone
Four years ago, the London-based industrial designer Benjamin Hubert quietly closed down his namesake practice. “I kept getting approached to come up with yet another chair,” says Hubert, 35. “And I very much wanted to move beyond that.” He soon re-emerged as the founder and creative director of the strategic agency Layer Design.
The pivot paid off. Today, Layer is a firm of around 30 international creatives with expertise across industrial, experiential and digital design. The studio’s clients range from Vitra and Braun to Nike and Google.
Hubert explains that Layer’s work, which is both material focused and tech confident, sits at the intersection of two ends of the design spectrum: “On one end you have highly crafted, lifestyle-driven product and accessories, while on the other you have super-strategic industrial design or branding work. We bring together the softness of the former and the rigor of the latter.”
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Muilenburg won’t receive bonus compensation this year or stock grants until 737 MAX is flying again
Boeing Co. ’s newly installed chairman backed embattled Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg on Tuesday, while acknowledging a series of engineering missteps that led to two deadly crashes of the 737 MAX.
Boeing Chairman Dave Calhoun said Mr. Muilenburg wouldn’t receive bonus pay this year and wouldn’t receive stock grants until the grounded jet fully returns to service, a process that may unfold globally through all of next year. Mr. Calhoun said it was the CEO’s idea to reduce his compensation.
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European plane maker’s move comes as U.S. rival grapples with trade tensions, MAX grounding
Airbus SE EADSY 0.60% plans to boost jetliner production in China, bolstering its position in what is set to be the world’s biggest aviation market and piling further pressure on Boeing Co. as the U.S. company contends with trade tensions and the grounding of its 737 MAX plane.
The France-based plane maker is gaining market share while Boeing grapples with the global grounding of the MAX after two fatal crashes and a dearth of orders for larger aircraft. The U.S. aerospace giant’s efforts in China are also being hindered by the continuing trade dispute between the two countries.
Airbus said Wednesday that it would expand its A330 wide-body completion center in Tianjin to be able to handle its bigger A350 model. The company is also lifting local production of its A320neo, its 737 MAX competitor.
The agreement with the Chinese government was outlined during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing.
The move comes weeks after Boeing was forced to cut back production rates for its 787 Dreamliner, citing U.S. trade tensions with China and a lack of demand from Chinese carriers. Boeing’s last China order was in November 2017.
Airbus has meanwhile been leveraging the fallout by boosting its production in China and winning orders for its own models. Its last order from China was as recent as March.
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Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (RR.LN) on Thursday warned of a further earnings and cash-flow hit on the back of issues in its troubled Trent 1000 engines, as the company expects to book a charge of 1.4 billion pounds ($1.80 billion).
The British aircraft-engine maker said it now expects full-year operating profit and free cash-flow to be toward the lower end of its guidance ranges as a result of higher costs in fixing Trent 1000 engines used on Boeing Co. ’s (BA) 787 Dreamliner planes.
The company estimates in-service cash costs over the Trent 1000 issues will amount to GBP2.4 billion across the 2017-23 period. This includes GBP1.6 billion previously expected, a fresh GBP400 million hit and a further GBP400 million in costs previously included within the company’s normal program contingency, Rolls-Royce said.
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