Tag: air travel incidents

Biden to announce a Boeing and Air India deal worth at least $34 billion | CNN Business

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Air India will purchase more than 200 planes from Boeing, a White House official says President Joe Biden will announce Tuesday. It’s the third biggest sale of all time for the aircraft manufacturer.

The agreement will include 190 Boeing 737 MAXs, 20 Boeing 787s, and 10 Boeing 777Xs – a total of 220 firm orders valued at a list price of $34 billion, the official says. The purchase will also include customer options for an additional 50 Boeing 737 MAXs and 20 Boeing 787s, totaling 290 airplanes for a total of $45.9 billion at list price.

In a statement, Biden said the sale would “support over one million American jobs across 44 states, and many will not require a four-year college degree.”

“This announcement also reflects the strength of the U.S.-India economic partnership,” the president wrote. “Together with Prime Minister Modi, I look forward to deepening our partnership even further as we continue to confront shared global challenges — creating a more secure and prosperous future for all of our citizens.”

Production will support three separate U.S.-based manufacturing lines, will result in $70 billion in total economic impact across the United States and support an estimated 1.47 million direct and indirect jobs, a White House official said Tuesday.

India has been gaining some manufacturing business as Western tensions flare with China, including major companies that traditionally rely heavily on Chinese production. Apple is one such company, with Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal saying the tech giant was already making between 5% and 7% of its products in India.

India is set to overtake China this year to become the world’s most populous country. The country’s massive and cheap labor force, which includes workers with key technical skills, is a big draw for manufacturers. Asia’s third-largest economy also offers a growing domestic market. In 2023, as global recession fears persist, India is expected to remain the fastest growing major economy in the world.

If it can sustain that momentum, India could become only the third country with GDP worth $10 trillion by 2035, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

Boeing’s

(BA) 737 Max has been plagued with problems, but production and orders for the troubled aircraft has picked up, boosted by a massive order from United late last year. In June, Ethiopian Airlines took delivery of a 737 Max from Boeing for the first time since the March 2019 crash that killed all 157 people on board, and led to a 20-month grounding of the jet.

The company has plenty of other troubles in China, the world’s largest aviation market. It has been on the verge of being virtually shut out of the region as trade tensions between the United States and China have basically halted Boeing sales in the country for the last four years. The company has not announced any sales to a Chinese passenger airline since November 2017, and the country banned the Boeing 737 Max for much longer than most countries. A Boeing 737 Max finally took off in China in January for the first time since 2019.

Boeing has faced myriad problems in recent years, beyond the drop in demand for passenger planes that occurred during the pandemic. Delivery of the 787 Dreamliner widebody jets resumed last year after they were halted due to quality control issues.

[ad_2]

Source link

February 14, 2023
Southwest posts quarterly loss and warns more losses are ahead after service meltdown | CNN Business

[ad_1]

New York
CNN
—

Southwest Airlines reported a loss for the fourth quarter because of the company’s service meltdown over the holiday travel season, and it warned the costs from those problems will result in another loss in the first quarter.

The airline was forced to cancel more than 16,700 flights between December 21 and 29, roughly half its schedule during that period. Thursday, Southwest said the meltdown cost the airline about $800 million, resulting in an adjusted net loss in the quarter of $226 million. Still, it managed to report an adjusted annual profit of $723 million, a turnaround from $1.3 billion it lost in 2021.

It said it expects another loss in the first quarter due to the continued impact and costs associated with meltdown. The first quarter is typically the slowest and least profitable period for US air travel. However, Southwest said it is encouraged by strong bookings for March.

Southwest

(LUV)’s quarterly loss of 38 cents a share was far worse than Wall Street analysts’ forecast. Shares of Southwest

(LUV) lost 3% because of that miss and especially its sour outlook.

The airline said it expected a first quarter loss because of an increase in passengers canceling reservations and a lower level of bookings for January and February, which the airline said “are assumed to be associated with the operational disruptions in December.” Those lost bookings in the current quarter are expected to cost it between $300 million to $350 million.

To repair customer relations, Southwest has given affected passengers 25,000 bonus points in frequent flier accounts, as well as travel vouchers. And in addition to refunding fares for canceled flights, it is reimbursing those passengers who bought tickets on other airlines or incurred other unexpected travel costs.

Even with the meltdown, which cost Southwest $410 million in lost revenue when it had to refund tickets to passengers on canceled flights, it still reported record fourth quarter sales of $6.2 billion, up 7% from the same quarter of 2019, just before the pandemic.

Southwest brought in that record revenue even though the number of seats it was able to fly in the quarter was down 6% from the same period of 2019, before the pandemic, when adjusted for miles flown. But the strong demand meant that Southwest passengers paid 10.6% more for every mile they flew than they were paying in late 2019.

A massive winter storm started the service problems, but Southwest had a much tougher time recovering from the weather than other airlines because of an antiquated crew scheduling system that was quickly overwhelmed, leaving the airline unable to get the staffing it needed to locations to fly flights. Nearly half of its schedule was canceled during the December 20 to 29 period. Some days, as much as 75% of its scheduled flights were grounded.

The airline said that it is “conducting a third-party review of the December events and … reexamining the priority of technology and other investments planned in 2023.”

Southwest has traditionally been the most profitable US airline by a large margin. Many of its rivals were in and out of bankruptcy in recent decades due to losses brought on by recessions and events like the 9/11 attack, but Southwest had put together a string of 47 consecutive profitable years before the pandemic. In 2020, Southwest and all other airlines to reported a loss.

All other airlines lost money again in 2021, excluding special items such as financial support from the federal government, and most airlines reported another quarterly loss in the first three months of 2022 as the surge in Covid cases caused by the Omicron variant limited demand for travel.

But demand to fly had been very strong starting with the Spring Break travel season, and air fares soared as passengers paid top dollar to take long-delayed trips. Southwest and most other US airlines reported profits in the second and third quarters, and most have either reported profitable fourth quarters or are forecast to do so – as Southwest had been before the meltdown.

[ad_2]

Source link

January 26, 2023
Boeing ordered to appear in court next week on fraud conspiracy charge | CNN Business

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A federal judge has ordered Boeing to appear in federal court in Texas next week for an arraignment on a fraud charge involving the certification of the 737 MAX.

Boeing and the US government in 2021 entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in this case without the participation of family members of the 737 MAX crash victims, who then argued to the court that they should have been allowed to participate in the case under a federal crime victim law. In October, the judge sided with them.

In Thursday’s ruling, Judge Reed O’Connor said Boeing must appear for an arraignment and that the family members or their attorneys may speak at the proceeding.

This legal process is separate from the civil action the victims’ family members filed against Boeing.

The Clifford Law Office, representing the victims’ family members in the civil suit, said in a statement that it is “rare in US aviation law history that a corporation is arraigned on criminal charges regarding the deaths of plane crash victims.”

In September, Boeing and its former CEO Dennis Muilenburg agreed to pay hefty fines to settle charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission that they misled the public about the safety of the 737 Max following two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.

[ad_2]

Source link

January 19, 2023
What is NOTAM, the FAA computer system that halted all US flights? | CNN Business

[ad_1]

New York
CNN
—

A critical Federal Aviation Administration computer system that experienced an outage Wednesday and briefly halted all US flights provides airlines with a digital bulletin board of crucial safety updates.

The system is known as the Notice to Air Missions or NOTAM. It send alerts to pilots to let them know of conditions that could affect the safety of their flights. It is separate from the air traffic control system that keeps planes a safe distance from each other, but it’s another critical tool for air safety.

NOTAM messages could include information about lights being out on a certain runway, or a tower near an airport not having the required safety lights working, or an air show taking place in the air space nearby.

“It’s like telling a trucker that a road is closed up ahead. It’s critical information,” said Mike Boyd, aviation consultant at Boyd Group International.

Boyd and others said Wednesday’s problems are a sign that computer systems need to be upgraded.

“Today’s FAA catastrophic system failure is a clear sign that America’s transportation network desperately needs significant upgrades,” said Geoff Freeman, CEO of the US Travel Association, a trade group for the travel and tourism industries. “Americans deserve an end-to-end travel experience that is seamless and secure. And our nation’s economy depends on a best-in-class air travel system.”

Although many flights take place without needing to see one of those notices, it’s important that NOTAM messages reach the pilots, who are trained to check for them.

The FAA also operates the nation’s air traffic control system, with air traffic controllers using radar to track all planes in their air space and radio communications with their cockpits to guide them safely. The computer systems that are the backbone of ATC system have also been known to go down. But when that happens, it typically only affects one region of country, not the entire nation’s air space.

NOTAM is a national system, so its failure Wednesday meant that flights across the country were ordered not to take off for a couple of hours before they were cleared to fly again shortly before 9 am ET.

If no new problems crop up, flights should return to normal soon, though it may take time to get all the delayed flights in the air. Just before noon ET Wednesday, tracking service FlightAware shows about 7,000 delayed flights to, from and within the United States, with nearly 1,100 canceled flights altogether.

Aviation analytics firm Circium said 23,000 domestic and international flights to or from the United States were scheduled for Wednesday.

“By 6 pm this evening we won’t even know it happened, I think,” said Boyd.

But if the problem stretches too long, flight crews who are standing by to fly delayed flights will run out of time in their service day. In that case, a delayed flight could turn into a canceled one if another fresh crew can’t be found.

NOTAMS has been around for decades. But until December 2021, it was known by the name “Notice to Airmen,” although the acronym remains the same.

It was changed to remove the gendered term and because the notices were also then being sent to drone operators and not just pilots on board aircraft.

[ad_2]

Source link

January 13, 2023
FAA is years away from upgrading the system that grounded all US flights | CNN Business

[ad_1]

Washington
CNN
—

The Federal Aviation Administration software that failed Wednesday causing thousands of flight delays and cancellations is 30 years old and at least six years away from being updated, a government source familiar with the situation tells CNN.

The Notices to Air Missions (NOTAM) database failure triggered the FAA to implement the first nationwide stop of air traffic in more than 20 years.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has held multiple meetings with top FAA officials since Wednesday’s meltdown and “has made it very clear” he wants the NOTAM database updated much faster than the FAA’s planned timeline, the source tells CNN.

“The core operating system for the database has been around since the 1990s,” the source said. “Regardless of the improvements made to the system in recent years, it still has the heart of an 89-year-old man.”

In its budget estimate for 2023, the FAA requested $29.4 million for its Aeronautical Information Management Program, which includes the NOTAM system. Describing the system, the administration said it needs to “eliminate the failing vintage hardware that currently supports that function in the national airspace system.”

Meanwhile, the FAA is stuck addressing new technology, including drones and electric helicopters, with its outdated technology, the source said.

“We need to bring equipment online a lot faster than we are,” the source said, noting a big investment is required because it’s far more complicated than an over-the-air iOS update. “It’s gone on for years.”

CNN has reached out to the FAA for comment on updates to the NOTAM system to date and its modernization timeline.

Late Wednesday, the FAA continued to downplay the possibility of a cyberattack as the root cause of the system failure. Instead, It pointed to a damaged database file. The FAA says it is “working diligently to further pinpoint the causes” to avoid a repeat.

An investigation at the direction of Secretary Buttigieg has still not determined the origin of the corrupted file, the government source told CNN.

The failure is expected to be a main sticking point as the FAA enters its federal funding reauthorization process — especially with the GOP now in control of the House. The FAA is already taking criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Airlines, fielding their own share of government criticism for schedule collapses, have also sounded the alarm about a lack of funding, limited staffing, and outdated FAA technology.

During a September US Chamber of Commerce event, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told CNN’s Pete Muntean that the aviation industry should rally around the FAA following a summer marred by flight cancelations and delays.

“The FAA needs more funding,” Kirby said in an on-stage interview before aviation leaders. “They need more investment for technology.”

[ad_2]

Source link

January 12, 2023
Former US fighter pilot arrested in Australia over China training allegations ‘singled out,’ lawyer says | CNN

[ad_1]

The lawyer for former US Marine Corps pilot Daniel Duggan said he was “singled out” for extradition to the United States to face charges of training Chinese military fliers, even though other Australians provided military services to foreign states.

Australia’s attorney-general last month accepted an extradition request from Washington for Duggan, who was arrested in rural Australia in October. He remains in custody in Sydney, and his next court date is on Feb. 13.

Duggan is accused of training Chinese pilots to land on aircraft carriers, and faces charges of money laundering and breaking US arms control laws in the United States, according to a 2017 indictment unsealed in December.

He was arrested the same week that Britain announced a crackdown on former military pilots training Chinese fliers.

Duggan’s lawyer Dennis Miralis said outside a Sydney court on Tuesday that Duggan “contests and denies” the US allegations, and intended to contest the extradition request.

“He has clearly, in our view, been singled out in circumstances where the Department of Defense has admitted that it has known of many Australian citizens who have performed foreign services in other jurisdictions with foreign states of a military nature,” he told reporters.

The defense minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Australia launched a review into the obligations former Defence Force personnel have to protect state secrets, after reports Australians were among Western military pilots who had been approached to help train the Chinese military.

Duggan was arrested in rural Australia in October after returning from China, where he had lived since 2014.

He became an Australian citizen after serving in the Marines for 12 years, and later renounced his US citizenship.

The final decision to surrender Duggan would be made by the attorney-general after the court decides whether he is eligible to be extradited, Miralis said.

[ad_2]

Source link

January 9, 2023
Flight disruptions: Florida hit by air traffic control issue; Denver by freezing fog | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Two far-apart states are seeing fresh air travel problems on Monday.

Air traffic control issues triggered hours-long flight delays to Florida airports, the Federal Aviation Administration told CNN. And the main airport in Denver, Colorado, is seeing substantial cancellations and delays because of a fresh round of winter weather.

Late Monday afternoon, the FAA told CNN that the issue in Florida was resolved.

“The FAA is working toward safely returning to a normal traffic rate in the Florida airspace,” the agency said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the FAA told CNN that it had “slowed the volume of air traffic into Florida airspace due to an air traffic computer issue.”

A publicly available airspace status notice showed flight delays early Monday afternoon averaging nearly three hours with a maximum delay up to six hours.

The FAA said the issue was with the En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) system at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.

That center is responsible for controlling millions of cubic miles of airspace for commercial flights over Florida.

A spokesperson for Miami International Airport attributed delays there to a Florida-wide “FAA computer system issue.”

The FAA said earlier that Monday would be a busy post-Christmas travel day with 42,000 flights scheduled, “with possible heavier volume from south to north.”

Some of Florida’s key airports serving tourists have been affected by the air traffic computer problem, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.

They include Miami International Airport (MIA), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Orlando International Airport (MCO).

About 750 flights originating or destined for the Denver International Airport were either delayed or canceled Monday because of inclement weather, according to FlightAware.

As of 4:20 p.m. ET, about 285 flights set to depart Denver International were delayed, and almost 130 flights were canceled, FlightAware said. Almost 215 flights set to arrive, were delayed and just over 130 were canceled.

According to CNN Weather, Denver has been reporting freezing fog with temperatures in the 20s since 6 a.m. local time.

Visibility has been at or below a quarter of a mile all day. Light snow fell overnight, but the primary reason for the delays and cancellations is the freezing fog and low visibility.

The airport at Denver was particularly hard hit last week during Southwest’s service meltdown.

[ad_2]

Source link

January 2, 2023
Montgomery, Alabama, airport worker dies on ramp in incident involving American Airlines regional jet | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A worker at the Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama died Saturday in an incident on the ramp, the Federal Aviation Administration said Saturday.

The Montgomery Regional Airport said in a statement an American Airlines/Piedmont Airlines ground crew employee was “involved in a fatality” around 3 p.m.

“We are saddened to hear about the tragic loss of a team member of the AA/Piedmont Airlines,” said Wade A. Davis, the airport’s executive director. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.”

American Airlines said in a statement it was “devastated by the accident involving a team member,” adding, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and our local team members. We are focused on ensuring that all involved have the support they need during this difficult time.”

All inbound and outbound flights were grounded for more than four hours Saturday afternoon, but the airport said it returned to normal operations as of 8:30 p.m.

The victim was not named, and the circumstances of the death were not immediately released. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will both investigate.

The flight, operated by regional carrier Envoy Air, was scheduled to depart Montgomery for Dallas-Fort Worth Saturday afternoon, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.com.

CNN reached out to Envoy Air for further information Saturday.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 31, 2022
Are you stranded in an airport because of Southwest? Share your story. | CNN Business

[ad_1]

Are you stranded in an airport because of Southwest?

[ad_2]

Source link

December 29, 2022
How Southwest failed the holidays: Four charts explaining the cancellations | CNN Business

[ad_1]

CNN
—

A blast of severe winter weather last week caused thousands of Southwest Airlines flight cancellations and spiraled into a complete meltdown of its flight system. In the days since, the carrier’s scramble to recover has been slow and, some passengers argue, largely unsuccessful. But experts say Southwest’s mess is actually the culmination of issues that have been building over several years.

Since Dec. 22, the beleaguered airline has canceled more than half of its typical flight schedule, and by late Wednesday about 87% of all canceled flights in the US were from Southwest alone, according to industry trackers FlightRadar24 and FlightAware.

The dire situation, which has exasperated passengers and caught the eye of government regulators, has magnified this week as other major airlines recovered from the extreme cold, ice and snow that gripped much of the United States over the holiday weekend.

The company has apologized to its passengers and employees for the daily cancellations and reduced its capacity by roughly two thirds on Thursday, according to a CNN review of flight data.

This week’s meltdown is not the first time the company has found itself in this predicament. In October 2021, Southwest canceled more than 2,000 flights over a four-day period. While the airline blamed the crisis partly on bad weather in Florida, Southwest canceled flights for far longer than its competitors.

But much of Southwest’s mess may be the result of long-term problems unrelated to the weather.

Chief among them are outdated internal processes and information technology. Southwest’s scheduling system hasn’t changed much since the 1990s, according to Captain Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association.

Southwest has also acknowledged the company’s outdated infrastructure. “We’ve talked an awful lot about modernizing the operation, and the need to do that,” CEO Bob Jordan told employees in a memo obtained by CNN.

Over the years, the airline’s cancellation rate has crept up, tripling from 2013 to September 2022, the most recent data available from US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which tracks the airlines’ performance, and well before the recent crisis.

The bureau has only released data for 2022 through September. To ensure a fair comparison, CNN only analyzed the carrier’s data from January to September in previous years.

Cancellation rates among airlines fluctuate year-to-year, depending on weather and other factors, such as Covid-19, which resulted in a major industry-wide disruption in the early months of the pandemic in 2020.

But Southwest has consistently failed to perform as well as its competitors when it comes to cancellations, according to bureau data.

In several years over the last decade, the airline had higher cancellation rates compared to other major airlines, the data shows.

It’s not just cancellations. Southwest has also seen its on-time percentage slide in recent years to the lowest point in a decade. Through September of 2022, well before the carrier’s current struggles, only about 7 in 10 of its flights have arrived on time.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 29, 2022
Thursday flight cancellations top 2,300 nationwide, disrupting holiday travel | CNN Business

[ad_1]

CNN
—

Snow, rain, ice, wind and frigid temperatures are disrupting air travel plans across the United States as well as bus and Amtrak passenger train service.

Airlines canceled more than 2,390 US flights by 8:30 ET p.m. Thursday and proactively canceled more than 2,200 flights for Friday, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. Even for Saturday, more than 125 flights were already canceled.

Delays were even more extensive on Thursday: More than 9,000 as of 8:30 p.m. ET.

The impacts are being felt hardest in Chicago and Denver, where around a quarter of arrivals and departures – hundreds of flights at each airport – were canceled on Thursday, FlightAware data show.

At one point Thursday at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, delays averaging 159 minutes – almost three hours – were being caused by snow and ice, according to a notice from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Temperatures at the O’Hare dropped to 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 Celsius) around 6:45 p.m. local time. Light snow and fog/mist were reported by the National Weather Service.

The FAA said departing aircraft at Dallas Love, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver and Minneapolis airports require a spraying of de-icing fluid for safe travel.

In the busy New York City metro area, the FAA warned that Newark flights should expect delays because of visibility issues.

The region’s three large airports are all warning travelers that the incoming winter weather front may disrupt their travels.

“Flight activity at #LaGuardiaAirport may be disrupted by heavy rain and strong winds later today and Friday. Travelers, please confirm flight status with your airline before heading to the airport,” LaGuardia Airport posted on Twitter. John F. Kennedy and Newark Airport also posted similar notices.

Many airlines have issued weather waivers allowing travelers to change their itineraries without penalty during a short window.

For those whose flights are still scheduled to fly, the Transportation Security Administration is recommending that passengers arrive at the airport earlier than usual.

John Busch, Reagan National Airport’s TSA federal security director, told reporters that all airports “expect to be busier this holiday season than we’ve been in several years coming out of the pandemic. We’ve already seen some of our busiest days, yesterday and today and we expect maybe Friday 30th ahead of the New Year’s holiday can be also a very busy day.”

But Busch added that TSA is “very well prepared to handle additional volume and throughput for our security checkpoints.”

Maria Ihekwaba, who was traveling from Chicago to Clear Lake, Iowa, with her granddaughter on Thursday morning, told CNN she was trying to depart as soon as possible.

“Especially when you’re traveling from Chicago, you never know what could happen in Chicago because it’s the Windy City,” Ihekwaba said.

Traveler Kari Lucas, from San Diego, told CNN she was visiting her sister and brother-in-law, but cut the trip short as she didn’t want to get caught in the impending weather.

“I was worried because San Diego, we don’t get these snowstorms,” she said. “So I don’t like it to be trapped in the airport for long periods of time.”

“It seemed like the best choice to make right now,” she said.

It’s not just flights that are being affected by the bomb cyclone.

Greyhound issued a service alert on Thursday warning customers that those traveling in the Midwest over the next two days may have their trips delayed or canceled altogether.

Greyhound, the largest provider of intercity bus service, listed more than a dozen cities from West Virginia to Minnesota that are among those impacted. They include:

• Charleston, West Virginia
• Chicago
• Cleveland
• Dallas
• Danville, Illinois
• Davenport, Iowa
• Denver
• Detroit
• Indianapolis
• Kansas City
• Minneapolis
• St. Louis
• Wichita, Kansas

Greyhound said riders can call 1-833-233-8507 to reschedule.

Amtrak has also been forced to delay or cancel passenger service for some lines in the Midwest and Northeast.

Click here for disruptions the rail service posted as of 5 p.m. Thursday.

In its notice, Amtrak said that “customers with reservations on trains that are being modified will typically be accommodated on trains with similar departure times or another day.

“Amtrak will waive additional charges for customers looking to change their reservation during the modified schedule by calling our reservation center at 1-800-USA-RAIL.”

FedEx says it is watching the winter weather and has “contingency plans in place to help keep our team members safe and lessen any impact” on Christmas deliveries.

“In anticipation of severe weather, we have been repositioning assets so we can provide service where and when it is safe to do so,” FedEx told CNN in a statement.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 22, 2022
At least 36 people injured, some seriously, after ‘severe turbulence’ on Hawaiian Airlines flight | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

At least 36 people on a Hawaiian Airlines flight were injured, with 20 taken to emergency rooms, after their plane encountered “severe turbulence” on a flight from Phoenix to Honolulu on Sunday, authorities said.

Eleven patients were in serious condition, Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said in a statement. Among those transported to the hospital was a 14-month-old child.

The patients’ injuries included a serious head injury, lacerations, bruising and loss of consciousness, Honolulu EMS said.

Hawaiian Airlines is “supporting all affected passengers & employees” and monitoring the situation, the company said.

“Medical care was provided to several guests & crewmembers at the airport for minor injuries while some were swiftly transported to local hospitals for further care,” Hawaiian Airlines tweeted.

The turbulence occurred 30 minutes before the plane landed in Honolulu.

The EMS and the American Medical Response responded to a “mass casualty emergency” at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport just after 11 a.m. Sunday, according to the statement.

Hawaiian Airlines Flight 35, an Airbus 330, reported the turbulence around 10:35 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA said it is investigating the incident.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 18, 2022
United places order for 200 Boeing planes, giving two troubled jets a vote of confidence | CNN Business

[ad_1]

New York
CNN
—

United Airlines placed a massive order for at least 200 Boeing planes on Tuesday, split between two models dogged by recent problems: the 737 Max and the 787 Dreamliner.

It’s a crucial vote of confidence for Boeing, which took tens of billions of dollars in financial losses due to the problems with the two planes. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the 737 Max for 20 months starting in March 2019, halting deliveries of the jets, after two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. The 787 was not grounded but the FAA halted deliveries for roughly a year due to quality control issues.

Even beyond those problems, Boeing has been losing the competition with European rival Airbus on new orders, especially for single-aisle jets like the 737 Max. It has done better in competition for widebody plane orders, but has faced problems there as well, with delays for a new model of the 777, the 777X, and the halt in 787 deliveries.

Later Tuesday Boeing reported that it had received orders for a total of 571 commercial planes through November of this year, net cancellations. So United’s order for 200 jets by itself represented 35% of the orders the aircraft maker had already reported for the year. But even adding those 200 jets doesn’t bring Boeing’s total near to the 825 plane orders that Airbus has booked, net its own cancellations.

While neither United

(UAL) nor Boeing

(BA) would reveal pricing details, the list price of the jets total more than $37 billion. Even with the deep discounts typical of such purchases, the order will likely amount to tens of billions of dollars in sales Boeing

(BA) desperately needs.

United said the firm orders for 100 twin-aisle 787 Dreamliners, along with an option to buy 100 more, will represent the largest widebody jet order on record by any US carrier.

“The Boeing team is honored by United’s trust in our family of airplanes to connect people and transport cargo around the world for decades to come,” said Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing’s commercial aircraft division.

Shares of Boeing rose 3% in premarket trading, following the announcement.

The 787 is a plane used primarily on long-range overseas routes. The model’s purchase represents United’s belief that there is pent-up demand for international travel, which has not bounced back as quickly as US domestic passenger demand over the last year. Some countries — notably China — still have strict restrictions on flying into the country, and some passengers are concerned about foreign travel.

But United will take delivery of the planes over the course of the next 10 years, during which time any restrictions and concerns may become distant memories. And the first 100 Dreamliners it receives will replace retiring older 757, 767 and 777 jets already in United’s fleet. Some of those older planes date back at least 30 years.

United’s options for 100 additional Dreamliners represents the company’s plans to expand its fleet and its reach into international markets.

The significant order makes United the “flag carrier of the United States and the leading airline of around the globe,” United CEO Scott Kirby said Tuesday in an interview with CNN’s Poppy Harlow on CNN This Morning.

“This is just the next step in that path to replace some of our older 767s that are at the end of their life, but also to create growth opportunities for years to come in the international network for years to come,” Kirby said.

He also didn’t express any hesitation about ordering two Boeing planes that had trouble in the past, saying a “few tough years made [Boeing] stronger” and noting that United has always had a “great partnership” with the aerospace company.

The order, while an important lift for Boeing, isn’t a total surprise.

Airlines have a financial interest in sticking with the same model plane once they commit to it. The companies are able to save on pilot training and spare parts costs by populating their fleets with the same models.

Unlike a driver who can seamlessly move between car makers, commercial pilots are limited to flying only the model on which they are certified. While United has some orders with Airbus

(EADSF), nearly 80% of its existing fleet is composed of Boeing jets.

“We have a large installed base of 787s,” said Kirby when asked on a press call about potentially increasing purchases of a competing Airbus model. “The economics of bringing in another fleet type doesn’t make sense.”

Boeing started taking orders for the Dreamliner in 2004, and United was one of its earliest US customers. It is made of a lighter-weight composite material than the aluminum used to build most commercial jets, giving it much better fuel economy and thus operational savings compared to the older planes it will replace in the United fleet. United has yet to decide how many of each of the three different models of the Dreamliner it will take.

The 100 737 Max jets United is buying includes 44 planes for which it already had an option to purchase, and 56 new orders. In June 2021, it announced the purchase of 200 of the 737 Max jets, along with 70 competing planes from Airbus, in the largest aircraft order that United has ever placed.

–CNN’s Jordan Valinsky contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 13, 2022
China Eastern takes delivery of the world’s first made-in-China C919 jet | CNN Business

[ad_1]

The world’s first C919, a Chinese-made narrowbody jet, was delivered to launch customer China Eastern Airlines

(CEA) in Shanghai on Friday and took off for a 15-minute flight to mark the historic moment.

The plane, a rival to the Airbus

(EADSY) A320neo and Boeing

(BA) 737 MAX single-aisle jet families, is expected to make its maiden commercial flight next spring, according to state-owned Xinhua News Agency.

It was certified for safe operations in September and mass production in November.

The plane, delivered to China Eastern, has 164 seats and was painted with “the world’s first C919” on its side in Chinese and English. Its maiden route will be between Shanghai and the capital Beijing, industry sources have said.

China Eastern said Friday it plans to receive the remaining four of its first batch of C919 orders over the next two years, according to Shanghai’s The Paper, a state-owned newspaper. That compares with earlier plans to get all four next year.

The airline did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

China’s narrowbody jet ambitions intensified over the last few years amid conflicts with the United States from trade to technology that made China increasingly concerned about being overly dependent on Airbus and Boeing.

Commercial Aviation Corp of China (COMAC) is expected to produce around 25 C919s per year by 2030, far lower than the current monthly rates of narrowbody production at its rivals, according to Jefferies analysts.

COMAC did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The C919 currently relies heavily on Western components, including engines and flight control systems, from companies such as GE

(GE), Safran

(SAFRF), and Honeywell International

(HON).

China is trying to raise the proportion of domestic parts in the C919 and an alternative engine called the CJ-1000A is under development.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 8, 2022
Western New York slammed with more than 5 feet of snow, triggering road closures and flight cancellations the weekend before Thanksgiving | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

New Yorkers in the western part of the state are still being slammed with a massive snowstorm that has shut down roads, triggered driving bans and canceled flights the weekend before the Thanksgiving holiday.

By Friday evening, 5.5 feet of snow had covered streets in the town of Orchard Park, New York, near Buffalo in hard-hit Erie County, according to the National Weather Service. As the snowfall intensified, two county residents died from cardiac complications related to shoveling and attempting to clear the grounds, said County Executive Mark Poloncarz.

“We send our deepest sympathies and remind all that this snow is very heavy and dangerous,” Poloncarz said.

Forecasters and officials have been sounding the alarm on the life-threatening nature of this snowstorm, which has the potential to be historic even for the Buffalo region where heavy snow is the norm during winter months. And the forceful snowfall is expected to continue through the weekend with little periods of relief.

“Historic snowfall exceeding 4 feet will be possible south of Buffalo, New York. Very cold air will accompany this event with temperatures 20 degrees below normal forecast by the weekend,” the National Weather Service wrote Friday.

See snow building as New York faces historic snowstorm

Areas northeast of Lake Ontario – from central Jefferson County to northern Lewis County – were being inundated with heavy snow late Friday, when the snowfall rate was up to 3 inches per hour, according to the weather service in Buffalo. Places between Watertown and Harrisville were also seeing treacherous conditions.

“Travel will be extremely difficult, if not nearly impossible. … Visibility will be near zero at times with deep snow cover on roads,” the local weather service warned.

Dozens of flights arriving and departing from Buffalo Niagara International Airport were canceled as storm conditions worsened, according to the airport’s website.

A new daily snowfall record of 13.9 inches Saturday was set at the airport, nearly doubling the 7.6 inches seen on the same date in 2014, according to the local weather service. This month is also Buffalo’s third snowiest November, with 29.3 inches recorded for the entire month, the weather service added.

Heavy snow is expected to continue smashing the Buffalo region early Saturday, with some respite Saturday afternoon as the storm moves farther north. A final bout is expected through Saturday evening and into the overnight hours before snow tapers off early Sunday.

The colossal storm has been pounding the region for days, prompting local and state officials to issue states of emergencies to bolster response. But with a storm that big, it only takes one or two vehicles to slow down clearing operations, Poloncarz noted.

“A reminder to all employers: if your business is located in a driving ban area or your employees are currently in a driving ban area, it is illegal to make them come into work,” Poloncarz said online.

The snowstorm, which came with a forecast for the Buffalo region not seen in more than 20 years, has been making travel miserable for many drivers, despite authorities’ emphasis on staying off the roads.

“I can say that our deputies have been just absolutely inundated with calls for service as it pertains to disabled motor vehicles and stranded motorists,” Erie County Undersheriff William J. Cooley said during a news conference Friday night. “We implore the residents to just, please, obey the travel ban, you become part of the problem very quickly when you’re out there on the streets.”

Erie County issued a combination of travel bans and travel advisories that remain in effect as of 9 p.m. Friday, including a travel ban for the southern portion of Buffalo.

“This is an event that has hit the south towns with a vengeance, very hard and all these communities are in a state of emergency at this point,” Poloncarz said.

More than 300 citations were issued to drivers who violated the travel ban, Poloncarz said late Friday.

“Please, do not be the reason that an ambulance cannot get to the hospital,” he said. “There are many vehicles that are not only getting stuck but are just being abandoned by the owners.”

Poloncarz underscored the danger the storm is unleashing in communities, pointing out the impacts of heavy snow that are exacerbated by sheets of ice underneath it.

“There are vehicles stuck on roads who should not be driving. There are even some snow plows getting stuck in the worst parts of the storm. Do not drive if there is a travel ban,” said Poloncarz, adding that most residents have adhered to the ban.

Snow has been falling for an extended period of time at rapid pace, making it difficult for crews to respond.

“In some cases, we are going to far surpass five feet of snow and that’s in a 21-hour period of time,” said Bill Geary, the county’s public works commissioner. “It’s a remarkable amount of time.”

Blasdell, about eight miles from Buffalo, recorded 65 inches as of 8:30 p.m Friday, according to the National Weather Service. Several locations in the region were hit with at least 3 to 4 feet of snow, including Hamburg (51 inches), Elma (48 inches), East Aurora (43.7 inches) and West Seneca (36 inches).

[ad_2]

Source link

November 19, 2022