Paris air show opens with Airbus advantage over Boeing

June 18, 2019
Paris (France): The International Paris Air Show, the largest event of its kind in the world, opened at Le Bourget, north of the French capital, on Monday with an advantage for European aircraft manufacturer Airbus over US rival Boeing, which is going through a difficult stretch amid the crisis surrounding its premier jet, the 737 MAX.

That fact was evident from the attitude taken by Boeing’s top executives in their first public appearance since the 737 MAX scandal broke, refusing to undertake an offensive strategy and focusing on apologising for the two recent crashes of planes of that type that killed hundreds of passengers, the Efe news reported.

President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Kevin McAllister said that the firm was aware that it must work to regain the confidence of the public and the industry, adding that more than 280 test flights had been made following modifications to the MCAS 12.1 software flight control program, the program thought to be at fault in the crashes.

That software, although definitive conclusions are still pending, seems to be responsible for the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian 302 on March 10, which together killed 346 passengers and crew.

McAllister said he did not want to speculate, because it is not up to Boeing but rather safety authorities, about when the airlines owning 737 MAX jets – 387 of which are in air fleets worldwide – will be able to return them to service.

More than 4,600 more of the jets have been purchased but have not yet been delivered to the buyers.

Boeing recently signed with GECAS (Capital Aviation Services) a deal to sell 10 737 cargo jets.

Meanwhile, Airbus kicked off its participation at the Paris Air Show with much more enthusiasm, announcing the launching of a new one-aisle jet – the A321XLR – which will be able to make nonstop flights of up to 8,700 kilometers (about 5,400 miles), 15 per cent longer than the firm’s similar models.

At the same time, Airbus signed a contract to sell four units of that jet to Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines, which will be the first to use it starting next year.

But Airbus did not stop there. It also presented two other big deals, the first a letter of intent with the US firm Air Lease Corporation for 100 of its jets – 50 of the A321neo model and 50 A220-300’s – valued at more than $11 billion.

The second deal was a firm sale to Virgin Atlantic of eight A330-900’s, with an option to purchase six more, a contract which – if fully realized – would mean $4.2 billion in sales.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s Embraer signed a deal with United Airlines to sell 20 of its short-distance E175 jets (seating 70 people) and an option for 19 more, a deal valued at $1.9 billion.

The Le Bourget air show – currently in its 53rd year – is expected to draw 3,30,000 visitors through Sunday. There are 2,453 exhibitors participating in the event this time around in a venue 3,24,000 square meters (3.5 million square feet) in size at what was the French capital’s first airport.

There are 26 national pavilions at the event and 150 aircraft are on display, including a scale model of a future combat aircraft being designed by France, Germany and Spain, the latter of which recently joined the project.

Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles was at Le Bourget to make Madrid’s incorporation into the project official at an event attended by French President Emmanuel Macron. The aircraft, being designed by Airbus and Dassault, should enter into service about 2040, replacing the Eurofighter and the Rafale jets made by those two manufacturers.

IANS

US court orders Byju’s to freeze $533 million owed to lenders

New York: The steering committee representing term-loan lenders of Byju's $1.2 billion loan on Friday said that a US judge has ordered to prohibit further movement or use of $533...

Strong demographic trend a structural positive for India: Morgan Stanley

New Delhi: India’s demographic trend of a younger workforce positions it positively as most large economies face shrinking working-age populations and tight labour markets, global brokerage, Morgan Stanley said. Per...

EAM Jaishankar calls FTA with four European nations ‘a bold achievement’

New Delhi: Calling the signing of the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) a "bold achievement", External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Sunday that the move reflects a...

India has 8,000 startups led by women with $23 bn in funding: Report

New Delhi: India is now home to more than 8,000 startups that have women founders with a cumulative funding of nearly $23 billion till now, a report showed on Thursday....

RBI’s punitive actions will keep NBFCs on the edge

New Delhi: In continuation with its system clean-up mission, the RBI imposed an embargo on IIFL’s gold loan business on March 4 and on JM Financial Products’ (subsidiary of JM...

India aims 5-fold increase in global space economy share: Union Minister

New Delhi: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the decision to “unlock” the space sector from the “veil of secrecy”, the country is now targeting a five-fold increase in its...

Interoperable payment system for Net banking to be launched this year: RBI chief

Mumbai: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday said that the interoperable payment system for internet banking is expected to be launched this year to facilitate quicker settlement of funds for...

Moody’s ups India’s growth forecast, expects policy continuity after LS polls

Mumbai: Moody's Investor Service on Monday raised India’s GDP growth forecast and expects the country to remain the fastest growing economy among the G-20 nations in 2024. "India's economy has...

India okays rice exports to Africa in outreach to Global South

New Delhi: The government has, as part of India's outreach to the Global South, allowed the exports of 1,10,000 tonnes of rice to three African countries to help them meet...

Reinstate Bharatmatrimony, Info Edge, Shaadi.com, TrulyMadly: IAMAI tells Google

New Delhi: The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Saturday slammed removal of Indian companies' apps and asked Google to reinstate those delisted apps on its Play Store....

Delhi’s per capita income increases: Economic Survey report

New Delhi: Delhi’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at current prices during the fiscal year 2023-24 is projected to soar to Rs 11,07,746 crore, marking a notable growth of 9.17...

Sensex jumps more than 1,000 points on impressive GDP numbers

New Delhi: BSE Sensex jumped more than 1,000 points on Friday reacting to India’s impressive GDP numbers. Sensex was trading up by 1045.99 points up by 1.44 per cent at...

Read Previous

Egypt’s ousted President dies during trial

Read Next

Indians catching up with best paddlers in the world: Sharath Kamal

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com