Boeing delays 787 deliveries and first flight

787premiere.jpgBoeing today announced a six-month delay in its planned initial deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner due to continued challenges completing assembly of the first airplanes.
Deliveries of the Dreamliner are now slated to begin in late November or December 2008, versus an original target of May 2008. First flight is now anticipated around the end of first quarter 2008.
The company said the financial impact of the delay would not be material to earnings and that its earnings guidance for 2007 and 2008 remained unchanged.
“We are disappointed over the schedule changes that we are announcing today,” said Boeing Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney. “Notwithstanding the challenges that we are experiencing in bringing forward this game-changing product, we remain confident in the design of the 787, and in the fundamental innovation and technologies that underpin it.”
Early last month, Boeing announced a delay in the planned first flight of the 787 citing ongoing challenges with out-of-sequence production work, including parts shortages, and remaining software and systems integration activities. The company also acknowledged increasing risk to the delivery schedule, indicating that the margin to accommodate unexpected issues had been eliminated. The newly revised schedule for first flight and first delivery addresses the production challenges and restores margin for the program to deal with issues that may be uncovered in final ground or flight testing. Boeing also said today that flight control software and systems integration activities are not pacing items in the revised schedule for first flight.
“While we have made some progress over the past several weeks completing work on our early production airplanes and improving parts availability across the production system, the pace of that progress has not been sufficient to support our previous plans for first delivery or first flight,” said Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We deeply regret the impact these delays will have on our customers, and we are committed to working with them to minimize any disruption to their plans.
“The most important commitment we’ve made to our customers is to deliver an airplane that performs to their expectations over the long life of the program. These changes to our schedule will help ensure we do just that,” Carson said.

Boeing delivers first 777-300ER to Air India

Air India 777-300ERBoeing and Mumbai-based Air India today celebrated the delivery of the airline’s first 777-300ER (Extended Range) airplane. This is the first 777-300ER from Air India’s order of 68 Boeing jetliners placed in December 2005. Air India’s 777-300ER has a three-class configuration, including four first-class, 35 executive class and 303 economy seats. In July 2007, Boeing and Air India celebrated the delivery of the airline’s first 777, a 777-200LR (Longer Range) Worldliner airplane. To date, Air India has received 14 airplanes from its December 2005 order, including three 777-200LRs (Longer Range) and one 777-300ER, and 10 737-800s for Air India Express.

Wizz Air orders additional 50 Airbus A320

Wizz Air Airbus A320Wizz Air, the Central and Eastern Europe based low cost airline, has signed a firm contract with Airbus for an additional 50 A320s, taking the total orders of the airline up to 82 A320 aircraft.

The contract represents the largest ever order in the region for a single Airbus type, and will enable Wizz Air to become one of the biggest airlines in Central and Eastern Europe within the next decade. Wizz Air have already ordered 32 new A320s from Airbus, and operate several additional A320s on lease.

The aircraft will be configured with 180 seats in a single class layout. The new aircraft will allow Wizz Air to increase frequencies on existing services, as well as to introducing new routes for the region.

“Wizz Air has demonstrated its ability for sustainable growth, where cost efficiency is the key to generate market and win competition. Our choice of aircraft plays a big part in this cost efficiency. The A320 continues to deliver low operating costs, high operational reliability and customer satisfaction whilst enabling us to remain environmentally conscious. The new aircraft order will make Wizz Air the largest fleet operator in the region.” said József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air.

“We are very proud to take part in the tremendous growth of Wizz Air in the Central and Eastern Europe region,” said Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers, John Leahy. “The new order strongly underpins Wizz Air’s aspirations to expand. The A320 Family is clearly the leading aircraft in its category, and this milestone order really endorses the superiority of our product,” he added.

Tiger Airways confirms order for 30 more A320

Tiger Airways, Asia Pacific’s fast growing low-fare carrier, has signed a contract for an additional 30 Airbus A320s and 20 options. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the Paris Airshow in June 2007.Tiger Airways currently operates a fleet of nine A320s, with 11 more to be delivered by 2010. With the latest order and option package, Tiger Airways’ fleet has the ability to grow to 70 A320s.

The A320s will be deployed on the airline’s Asia Pacific and Australian networks that currently extends to 20 services in seven countries, as well as the new Australian domestic operation scheduled to be launched out of Melbourne on 23rd November 2007 (pending regulatory approval). Tiger Airways’ A320s will be configured in a 180-seat, all-economy configuration. No engine choice has been made.

“Tiger Airways is expected to enjoy impressive growth from our Singapore international and Australian domestic networks, and we are expanding our aircraft fleet to meet continued strong demand for affordable air travel across the Asia Pacific region. The new order will take our total fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft to 70, making Tiger Airways one of the region’s largest A320 operators,” said Tony Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Tiger Airways.

“In just over three years, Tiger Airways has developed into a formidable success story, and we are delighted they did it with our aircraft and are continuing to expand with Airbus jetliners. The A320 is undoubtedly the world’s favourite single-aisle aircraft, offering superb economics and high passenger appeal,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers.

Total orders for the A320 stand at 3145 aircraft. (Results at end of September 2007.)

Wreck Of Skydiving Plane Found

(AP) Ground searchers following the smell of fuel Monday night found the wreckage of a plane that is believed to have been carrying nine skydivers and a pilot. Authorities say one body was recovered at the crash site, near Mount Rainier in Washington State, and as of late Monday night, it appears that there may be no survivors.

A spokesman of Emergency Management, says it appears that the airplane crashed at a fairly high speed.

Seven of the 10 on board “have been found deceased,” the County Sheriff said in a statement, which also said recovery efforts had been suspended for the night but would resume Tuesday.

The Cessna 208 Grand Caravan left Star, Idaho, near Boise, Sunday evening en route to Shelton, Wash., northwest of Olympia, but did not arrive as scheduled.

The plane was returning from a skydiving meet in Idaho when it disappeared.

The single-engine plane is registered to Kapowsin Air Sports of Shelton. Ten people from Skydive Snohomish were scheduled to be on the plane, said Geoff Farrington, Kapowsin’s co-owner.

Source: cbsnews

US Airways firms up order for 92 Airbus aircraft including 22 A350 XWBs

Following an agreement announced in June 2007, US Airways has now signed the contract for the purchase of 92 Airbus aircraft, including: 18 A350-800s, 4 A350-900s, 10 A330-200s, and 60 A320 Family aircraft. The airline is slated to receive its first A350 in 2014 with deliveries running through 2017. Delivery dates for the newly ordered A330s run from 2009 through 2010. The A320 Family order is comprised of 10 A321s, 40 A320s and 10 A319s with extensive conversion rights within the A320 Family. With this new A320 Family order adding to US Airway’s existing backlog of 37 orders for Airbus single-aisle aircraft, the A320 Family delivery stream to US Airways extends through 2012.

“Both the A320 Family and A330 have served us very well, and we look forward to capitalizing on the advantages the A350 XWB will add to our fleet,” said Doug Parker, Chairman and CEO of US Airways. “The combination of range, comfort and economics all these aircraft feature will offer our passengers the ideal service they have come to expect from US Airways.” Both America West and US Airways took delivery of their first A320 Family aircraft in 1998. Since that time, and since the airlines have joined forces under the US Airways brand, the airline has become the largest airline customer for Airbus in terms of aircraft ordered and aircraft operated.

“This order is a clear endorsement of every member of our twin-engine product line,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers. “These aircraft work hard for the airline, and have the right balance of characteristics to please our customer and their customers. With the A350 being a major part of this contract, we’re very happy US Airways has decided to expand its fleet types in parallel with the evolution of the Airbus product line.

US Airways A350 XWB

GoAir takes delivery of first A320 from Airbus

GoAir, ‘The Fly Smart Airline’, based in Mumbai, has taken delivery of its first A320 aircraft purchased directly from Airbus. The aircraft powered by CFM International engines was handed over to GoAir in a ceremony in Toulouse.

GoAir A320

The delivery is the first from an agreement for a total of 10 Airbus A320 family ordered at the Farnborough air show in 2006. All the aircraft from this order will seat 180 passengers in an all-economy layout.

“Today is a remarkable day in the growth of our airline and in its future success. Bringing these aircraft into service will allow GoAir to expand services to major business and leisure destinations across India and to offer new routes not previously served by air. We are excited about being able to offer the “Fly Smart” experience to more cities and passengers throughout India”, said Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir.

“We are delighted that Airbus has been a part of the GoAir success story and are proud our aircraft, the world’s most modern and most advanced single aisle airliner has been instrumental in this. All of us at Airbus wish GoAir a very bright future”, said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers.

GoAir launched services with two leased A320’s in November 2005, with a further five leased A320’s joining the fleet in 2006. GoAir currently operates a fleet of Airbus A320s with 24 flights covering 13 cities including Jammu & Srinagar.