Tag: jets (Page 11 of 13)

L.J. Aviation Grows Fleet with Addition of Two Bombardier Challenger 350 Business Jets

August 25, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Two new Challenger 350 business jets recently added to L.J. Aviation’s existing fleet of more than 40 aircraft under management
The Challenger 300 aircraft series continues to outperform the competition as the fastest business jet in history to reach 300 deliveries in the medium and large categories and as the best-equipped aircraft in its class
With the widest and quietest cabin, smoothest ride and lowest operating costs in its category, the Challenger 350 aircraft delivers an unrivalled experience

Bombardier is pleased to announce that L.J. Aviation, a world-class aircraft flight management and charter aircraft company, has expanded its fleet with its latest addition of two industry-leading Challenger 350 aircraft. The high-performing Challenger 350 business jets join the company’s existing fleet of 40 aircraft and are available for charter in the Mid-Atlantic States.

“We are thrilled to receive our Challenger 350 aircraft,” said Ed Kilkeary Jr., President, L.J. Aviation. “It delivers everything we want in a business jet: outstanding performance, a comfortable and productive environment, and advantageous operating costs. The Challenger 350 aircraft is a sound investment that will make the most of our passengers’ time.”

Extending its offering with two new industry-leading Challenger 350 business jets, L.J. Aviation currently manages and operates five Challenger 300 series business jets, one Challenger 604 aircraft and a Global 5000 aircraft.

In the last decade, the Challenger 300 aircraft series has accounted for more deliveries than any other business jet platform in the industry. The Challenger 350 aircraft builds upon this remarkable legacy of leadership and continues to take centre stage in the super mid-size segment.

“We are proud of our long-standing relationship with L.J. Aviation, and we are extremely pleased that they have added two Challenger 350 aircraft to their fleet,” said Peter Likoray, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing, Bombardier Business Aircraft. “This business jet is world-renowned as the leader in the super mid-size segment, and with good reason. A stunning cabin, smooth ride and exceptional value proposition all make the Challenger 350 aircraft an ideal choice for customers.”

With a true full seats, full fuel, 3,200 nautical mile range, the Challenger 350 aircraft is an efficient and reliable business tool with proven performance. Delivering comfort without compromise, the Challenger 350 jet was recently recognized by Robb Report Magazine as the Best of the Best super mid-size aircraft for the second consecutive year.

Embraer Earnings Results for 2nd Quarter 2019

August 15, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

HIGHLIGHTS

• Embraer delivered 26 commercial and 25 executive (19 light and 6 large) jets during 2Q19, compared to 28 commercial jets and 20 executive (15 light and 5 large) jets in 2Q18

• The Company’s firm order backlog at the end of 2Q19 was US$ 16.9 billion, up from the US$ 16.0 billion reported at the end of 1Q19. Embraer achieved book-to-bills of above 1x in each of its major business units during the quarter, led by sales performance in the Executive Jets segment

• EBIT and EBITDA in 2Q19 were US$ 26.6 million and US$ 67.0 million, respectively, yielding EBIT margin of 1.9% and EBITDA margin of 4.9%. In the first six months of 2019 the Company’s EBIT was US$ 11.4 million (EBIT margin of 0.5%) and EBITDA was US$ 97.9 million (EBITDA margin of 4.4%)

• 2Q19 Net income attributable to Embraer shareholders and Earnings per ADS were US$ 7.2 million and US$ 0.04, respectively. Adjusted net loss (excluding deferred income tax and social contribution) for 2Q19 was US$ (13.9) million, with Adjusted loss per ADS of US$ (0.08). Embraer reported adjusted net loss in 2Q18 of US$ (0.4) million, for an adjusted loss per ADS of US$ (0.002) in the quarter

• Embraer reported 2Q19 Free cash flow of US$ 1.5 million, versus free cash flow of US$ 43.3 million reported in 2Q18. The Company expects free cash flow generation to improve in the second half of the year given higher expected aircraft deliveries and cash inflows related to Defense & Security contracts

• The Company finished the quarter with total cash of US$ 2,478.8 million and total debt of US$ 3,569.1 million, yielding a net debt position of US$ 1,090.3 million at the end of 2Q19

• The Company reaffirms all aspects of its 2019 financial and deliveries guidance.

Qantas Orders 10 A321XLR’s, Converts 26 Additional Aircraft

June 19, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd said on Wednesday it would order 10 Airbus SE A321XLR jets and convert another 26 from a prior order to the new long-range model.

That will take its total A320neo family order to 109 planes, from 99 previously.

The A321XLR jets, to be delivered from mid-2024, have a 4,700 nautical mile range that will allow Qantas or its low-cost arm Jetstar to perform longer-range flights in narrow body jets.

“It can fly routes like Cairns-Tokyo or Melbourne-Singapore, which existing narrow-bodies can’t, and that changes the economics of lots of potential routes into Asia to make them not just physically possible but financially attractive,” Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said in a statement.

Jetstar operates an A320 narrow body fleet, but Qantas uses the rival Boeing 737. Joyce said the A321XLR had plenty of potential uses across both airlines and it would decide closer to the date on where they would be deployed and if they would be used for growth or to replace older jets.

Jetstar is due to receive 18 A321LR jets from 2020 to 2022 and plans to deploy them on domestic and international routes.

The additional 10 jets are valued at more than $1 billion at Airbus list prices, although airlines typically receive substantial discounts.

Qantas said it retained flexibility around the timing and structure of the deliveries depending on market conditions.

“All fleet decisions we make are ultimately guided by our financial framework, which balances our capital expenditure and need to invest for the future with our debt levels and ongoing returns to shareholders,” Joyce said.

Qantas is expected to decide next year on a replacement for its 75 737 jets, which comprise the backbone of its domestic fleet, Joyce said in February.

Contenders include the A320neo family, the 737 MAX and Boeing’s proposed new mid-sized airplane.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Embraer Announces KLM Intention for up to 35 E195-E2 Jets

June 19, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Paris, France, June 19, 2019 – Embraer announced today, at the 53rd International Paris Air Show, KLM Cityhopper’s intention to purchase up to 35 E195-E2 jets, 15 firm orders with purchase rights for a further 20 aircraft of the same model. This intention, which still requires a Purchase Agreement, has a value of USD 2.48 billion based on Embraer’s current list prices. The order will be added to Embraer’s backlog as soon as a firm contract is completed.

“With a fleet of 49 E-Jets, KLM is already the largest Embraer operator in Europe and adding KLM to the E2 family of operators would be a huge vote of confidence in Embraer, our after sales care, and the E2 programme. The aircraft uses 30% less fuel per seat compared to KLM Cityhopper’s current E190s. And in terms of aircraft noise, the aircraft is the quietest in its class both internally for passengers, and externally, by a significant margin*”, said John Slattery, President and CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation.

KLM President & CEO Pieter Elbers, said, “Embraer has been a key partner for KLM and Cityhopper over the past ten years. Our customers appreciate the E190 and E175’s. The E2 would be a welcome addition to the KLM fleet, giving us greater capacity flexibility and help to manage down costs. In addition, the environmentally friendly E195-E2 also supports our sustainability goals with lower levels of noise and emissions.”

The economic and environmental performance of the aircraft makes the E195-E2 the ideal aircraft for growing KLM’s European business and supporting their hub-and-spoke operation, complementing the mainline fleet. This is why Embraer nicknamed the jet – The Profit Hunter.

KLM Cityhopper started the process of replacing its fleet of venerable Fokker aircraft for E-Jets in 2008, in order to enhance the existing network and to permit the efficient development of new routes. KLM Cityhopper’s all Embraer fleet currently has 49 E-Jets, the largest E-Jet fleet in Europe – 32 E190’s and 17 E175’s.

Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial aircraft up to 150 seats with more than 100 customers from all over the world. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,800 orders and 1,500 aircraft have been delivered. Today, E-Jets are flying in the fleet of 75 customers in 50 countries. The versatile 70 to 150-seat family is flying with low-cost airlines as well as with regional and mainline carriers.

*Note to Editors External noise technical information: the cumulative margin to ICAO Stage IV noise limit ranges from 19 to 20 EPNdB, 4.0 EPNdB better than its direct competitor.

About KLM Cityhopper

KLM Cityhopper is Europe’s largest regional carrier. In 2018 it operated more than 300 flights per day from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to 72 European destinations. Since 2018, KLM Cityhopper’s fleet consists entirely of Embraer jets, including 32 E190’s and 17 E175’s. This will give KLM the single largest Embraer fleet in Europe.

Air New Zealand Confirms Order for Eight Boeing 787 Jets

May 28, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Air New Zealand Ltd said on Monday it has ordered eight Boeing Co 787-10 Dreamliner jets worth $2.7 billion (2.12 billion pounds) at list prices, to be powered by General Electric Co engines, as part of a drive toward increased efficiency.

New Zealand’s flag carrier also trimmed its earnings outlook citing higher fuel prices, and said problems with Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC engines and a moderation in demand growth have impacted its financial and operational performance.

The new plane order confirmed a Reuters report last week that Boeing had beaten out rival Airbus SE, which had proposed the A350 for the hotly contested deal.

The airline, which has Rolls-Royce engines on its existing fleet of 13 787s, announced it had switched to GE engines for the new order.

The 787s will replace eight older 777-200ERs and leave the carrier with an all-Boeing wide-body fleet as well as Airbus A320 family jets for shorter flights.

The order comprises eight long-range 787-10s, with the agreement including an option to increase the number of aircraft to 20.

The deal also gives the airline, which has previously mentioned a goal of flying Auckland-New York non-stop, the option to switch some aircraft to the longer range 787-9s.

“With the 787-10 offering almost 15 percent more space for customers and cargo than the 787-9, this investment creates the platform for our future strategic direction and opens up new opportunities to grow,” Air New Zealand Chief Executive Christopher Luxon said in a statement.

The eight jets will enter the Air New Zealand fleet between 2022 and 2027, the airline said.

“The 787-10 has 95 percent commonality with Air New Zealand’s existing fleet of 787-9s and will provide the airline with added benefits in terms of capacity and overall operations,” Vice President of Boeing Commercial Sales and Marketing for Asia Pacific Christy Reese said.

The 787-10 is the largest member of Boeing’s Dreamliner series, and can serve up to 330 passengers in a standard two-class configuration, about 40 more than the 787-9 airplane.

The airline said the 787 was 25 percent more fuel efficient than the jets it is replacing, and noted that carriers typically receive large discounts on the list price of jets.

HEADWIND

In a separate announcement, Air New Zealand trimmed its 2019 earnings before taxation, saying it now expects to beat NZ$340 million ($223 million). That compared with a forecast range of NZ$340 million to NZ$400 million announced in late March.

The change was due to an additional NZ$25 million headwind from increased jet fuel prices, the company said.

The airline also said Rolls-Royce engine issues – in which components prematurely fail or needed extra checks – impacted 2,500 flights and led to 150 cancellations, affecting its financial performance.

Air New Zealand in March launched a two-year cost reduction programme and said it would defer spending on aircraft by about NZ$750 million ($491 million) as part of a business review.

In February, Air New Zealand slashed domestic fares by as much as 50 percent in a shake-up of its pricing structure in response to the slackening travel market.

(Reporting by Praveen Menon in Wellington, Aditya Soni in Bengaluru and Jamie Freed in Singapore; Editing Richard Pullin and Christopher Cushing)

Embraer Delivers 11 Commercial and 11 Executive Jets in 1Q19

May 3, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil, May 3rd, 2019 – Embraer (NYSE: ERJ; B3: EMBR3;) delivered a total of 22 jets in the first quarter of 2019 (1Q19), of which 11 were commercial aircraft and 11 were executive jets (8 light and 3 large). As of March 31st, the firm order backlog totaled USD 16.0 billion.

In the first quarter, Embraer delivered the first E175 jet to Mauritania Airlines, the first of this model to the African continent. The airline signed a firm order for two E175 jets in 2018. The contract has a value of USD 93.8 million at current list prices.

Embraer also signed, in April, a firm order for 10 E195-E2 jets with Nigeria’s largest airline, Air Peace, which will become the first E-Jets E2 operator in Africa. The contract includes purchase rights for a further 20 E195-E2. With all purchase rights being exercised, the contract has a value of USD 2.12 billion based on current list prices. This order will be included in Embraer’s 2Q19 backlog.

The world’s best-selling light jet for the seventh consecutive year, the Phenom 300 reached the mark of the 500th aircraft delivered, becoming the only business jet model to reach this milestone in the last 10 years. The aircraft is in operation in more than 30 countries and has accumulated more than 780,000 flight hours. This milestone followed the announcement of the first Phenom 300E and Praetor 600 business jet sales to Brazilian customers.

Embraer Defense & Security and its partner Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announced in February a contract for 12 A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft to the Nigerian Air Force. This sale was already included in Embraer’s 4Q18 backlog.

In the period, the Brazilian Navy also announced that the Águas Azuis Consortium, formed by thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, Embraer Defense & Security and Atech, was selected for the construction of four defense ships in the Tamandaré Corvettes Class Program (CCT) as preferred bidder.

In the Services & Support segment, Embraer and WDL Aviation GmbH, a German charter business which is part of the Zeitfracht logistics group, signed an agreement for a Flight Hour Pool Program to support the airline’s recently leased fleet of four used E190s. Air Astana, a flag carrier of Kazakhstan, also signed a multiyear agreement for a Flight Hour Pool Program to support the component needs for the airline’s new E2 fleet, Embraer’s second generation of the E-Jets family of commercial aircraft.

About Embraer

A global aerospace company headquartered in Brazil, Embraer celebrates its 50th anniversary with businesses in Commercial and Executive aviation, Defense & Security and Agricultural Aviation. The company designs, develops, manufactures and markets aircraft and systems, providing Services & Support to customer after-sales.

Since it was founded in 1969, Embraer has delivered more than 8,000 aircraft. On average, about every 10 seconds an aircraft manufactured by Embraer takes off somewhere in the world, transporting over 145 million passengers a year.

Embraer is the leading manufacturer of commercial jets up to 150 seats and the main exporter of high value-added goods in Brazil. The company maintains industrial units, offices, service and parts distribution centers, among other activities, across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Lockheed Martin Raises 2019 Profit Forecast, Shares Jump

April 23, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: Lockheed Martin is seen at Euronaval, the world naval defence exhibition in Le Bourget near Paris, France, October 23, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

(Reuters) – Lockheed Martin Corp reported a better-than-expected 47 percent jump in quarterly profit on Tuesday and raised its annual profit forecast, helped by strong demand for its missiles and fighter jets, sending its shares up more than 5 percent in pre-market trading.

U.S. weapons makers have been expected to benefit from stronger global demand for fighter jets and munitions and higher U.S. defence budgets in fiscal 2020 as they announce first quarter earnings this week.

Lockheed’s Missiles and Fire Control business, which makes missile defences like the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD), was one of its best-performing units.

On April 1, the unit was awarded a THAAD interceptor missile contract worth $2.4 billion, some of which are slated to be delivered to Saudi Arabia, which could boost earnings for the current quarter.

Overall, the Bethesda, Maryland-based company said its earnings rose to $1.70 billion, or $5.99 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $1.16 billion, or $4.02 per share, a year earlier. That was partly helped by a $75 million dollar boost from additional tax deductions on foreign military sales.

Excluding that one-time gain, Lockheed reported $5.73 per share profit, well ahead of the $4.34 per share that Wall Street had expected, on average, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Lockheed’s overall net sales for the quarter rose 23 percent to $14.34 billion. The company’s sales backlog grew to $133.5 billion, up 3 billion over the quarter.

Operating margins at the aeronautics division, Lockheed’s biggest, fell to 10.5 percent in the first quarter from 10.8 percent a year earlier, but sales were up 27 percent to $5.5 billion on demand for the F-35 jet and some classified contracts.

The United States is considering expanding sales of Lockheed-made F-35 fighter jets to five new nations including Romania, Greece and Poland as European allies bulk up their defences in the face of a strengthening Russia, a Pentagon official told Congress in early April.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington D.C. and Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Bill Rigby)

Garuda Indonesia Plans to Cancel Boeing 737 MAX 8 Order

March 22, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

JAKARTA/OSLO (Reuters) – Indonesian airline Garuda plans to cancel a $6 billion order for Boeing 737 MAX jets, it said on Friday, saying some passengers would be frightened to board the plane after two fatal crashes, although analysts said the deal had long been in doubt.

The news came as another 737 MAX customer, Norwegian Air, played down the significance of a move by Boeing to make a previously optional cockpit warning light compulsory.

Norwegian said that, according to Boeing, the warning light would not have been able to prevent erroneous signals that Lion Air pilots received before their new 737 MAX plane crashed off Indonesia in October, killing 189 people.

Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda is the first airline to publicly announce plans to scrap an order since the world’s entire fleet of 737 MAX planes was grounded last week, following an Ethiopian Airlines crash that left 157 people dead.

“Many passengers told us they were afraid to get on a MAX 8,” Garuda CEO Ari Askhara told Reuters on Friday.

However, the airline had been reconsidering its order for 49 of the narrowbody jets prior to the Ethiopian crash, including potentially swapping some for widebody Boeing models.

Southeast Asia faces a glut of narrowbody aircraft like the 737 MAX and rival Airbus A320neo at a time of slowing global economic growth and high fuel costs.

“They have been re-looking at their fleet plan anyway so this is an opportunity to make some changes that otherwise may be difficult to do,” CAPA Centre for Aviation Chief Analyst Brendan Sobie said.

Indonesia’s Lion Air has also said it might cancel 737 MAX aircraft, though industry sources say it is also struggling to absorb the number of planes on order.

Both crashes are still being investigated. But regulators have noted some similarities between the two, and attention has focused on whether pilots had the correct information about the “angle of attack” at which the wing slices through the air.

No direct link has been proven between the accidents.

RETROFITS

Boeing now plans to make compulsory a light to alert pilots when sensor readings of the angle of attack do not match – meaning at least one must be wrong -, according to two officials briefed on the matter.

Investigators suspect a faulty angle-of-attack reading led the doomed Lion Air jet’s computer to believe it had stalled, prompting the plane’s anti-stall system, called MCAS, repeatedly to push the plane’s nose down.

The Lion Air plane did not have the warning light installed because it was not compulsory. Ethiopian Airlines did not immediately comment on whether its crashed plane had the alert.

But the Ethiopian carrier, whose reputation along with Boeing’s is at stake, issued a statement on Friday emphasising the modernity of its safety and training systems, with more than $500 million invested in infrastructure in the past five years.

The Ethiopian crash has set off one of the widest inquiries in aviation history and cast a shadow over the Boeing 737 MAX model intended to be a standard for decades.

Boeing did not comment on the plan to make the safety feature standard, but separately said it was moving quickly to make software changes and expected the upgrade to be approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in coming weeks.

Chicago-based Boeing will also retrofit older planes with the cockpit warning light, the officials told Reuters.

Experts said it could take weeks or months to be done, and for regulators to review and approve the changes. Regulators in Europe and Canada have said they will conduct their own reviews of any new systems.

Norwegian said its 18 737 MAX jets did not have the cockpit warning light, but it would follow any recommendations made by Boeing and aviation regulations. The airline said last week it would seek compensation from Boeing for the cost of grounding its 737 MAX planes, which makes up 11 percent of its fleet.

Since the Ethiopian crash, Boeing shares have fallen 12 percent and $28 billion has been wiped off its market value.

Pressure has mounted on the company from U.S. legislators, who are also expected to question the FAA. The company faces a criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department as well.

Several lawsuits have already been filed on behalf of victims of the Lion Air crash referring to the Ethiopian accident. Boeing declined to comment on the lawsuits.

( By Cindy Silviana and Terje Solsvik, Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in Singapore, Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta, Maggie Fick and Jason Neely in Addis Ababa, Tim Hepher in Paris, and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh, Georgina Prodhan and Ben Klayman; Editing by Mark Potter)

Embraer Announces CEO Succession

March 20, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva concludes his tenure at the end of April and will support the transition process of the company as Senior Advisor of the Board of Directors.

São Paulo, Brazil, March 18, 2019 – Embraer, following shareholder approval of the transaction with Boeing, announces that the current President and CEO of the company, Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva, concludes a successful professional cycle with the company on April 22, 2019 which is the end of his current two year elected term.

“Paulo Cesar idealized the partnership with Boeing and led the negotiation process of the transaction that will bring Embraer and Brazil to a much more competitive and prominent level in the global aviation industry,” said Alexandre Silva, Chairman of the Board.

For 22 years at Embraer, Paulo Cesar came from the financial market to structure the company’s sales financing area. For six years he was President and CEO of Commercial Aviation and in 2013 launched the E2 Program, the medium-sized commercial jets considered today to be the most efficient in the market.

In 2016, Paulo Cesar became President and CEO of the Embraer Group, with a mission to make the company more efficient, competitive and better prepared to face structural changes in the global aviation market.

His administration established three key initiatives focused on value creation and the sustainability of the company. The first was the transaction with Boeing. The second was the creation of the Passion for Excellence program, a structural transformation project focused on reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency, generating significant annual recurring savings. The third was the creation of EmbraerX, responsible for disruptive innovation and the development of opportunities for the future, such as eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle), a project that will revolutionize urban transport in partnership with Uber.

“Without the support of the Board and Embraer’s 18,000 employees and colleagues, none of our achievements would have been possible”, noted Paulo Cesar. “We are challenged to remain at the forefront of engineering and operations. In Executive Aviation and Defense, and with the KC 390 joint venture with Boeing, we will expand our international competitiveness and everything indicates that we will have another 50 years of success ahead.” And he added: “I am sure that the new leadership of the company will find fertile ground ahead to expand and consolidate Embraer.”

Paulo Cesar was invited to be a Senior Advisor to the Board, with the task of facilitating the integration of the future President and CEO and advising the Board on the monitoring of assets and resources segregation, an integral part of the process of concluding the partnership with Boeing. As it was reported, 96.8% of Embraer’s shareholders approved an agreement with the North American company last February, which should be concluded after obtaining all approvals of the Regulatory and Competitive Agencies in Brazil and abroad.

Embraer also informs that the future President and CEO, to be elected for the next term, will be recruited externally and announced on or before the Ordinary General Assembly on April 22nd.

About Embraer

Embraer is a global company headquartered in Brazil with businesses in commercial and executive aviation, defense & security. The company designs, develops, manufactures and markets aircraft and systems, providing customer support and services. Since it was founded in 1969, Embraer has delivered more than 8,000 aircraft. About every 10 seconds an aircraft manufactured by Embraer takes off somewhere in the world, transporting over 145 million passengers a year.

Embraer is the leading manufacturer of commercial jets up to 150 seats. The company maintains industrial units, offices, service and parts distribution centers, among other activities, across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Boeing CFO Greg Smith (left), Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg (center), and Embraer CEO Paulo Cesar Silva

Story and images from http://www.embraer.com

French Official Says ‘Positive Signs’ in Airbus-China Talks

March 14, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

NAIROBI (Reuters) – There are encouraging signs that European planemaker Airbus is closing in on a long-negotiated deal with China for dozens of new narrow-body jets, an aide to French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.

The official said there were hopes Airbus would nail down the multibillion-dollar order when President Xi Jinping visits Europe later this month, but acknowledged there would unlikely be confirmation until the eleventh hour.

“The talks are ongoing,” the official said. “It will be difficult to know for sure until the day before, but the signs are positive.”

China has become a key hunting ground for Airbus and its leading rival Boeing, thanks to surging travel demand, but the outlook has been complicated by Beijing’s desire to grow its own industrial champions and, more recently for Boeing, the U.S.-China trade war.

Macron unexpectedly failed to clinch the Airbus order during a trip to China in early 2018 and the French government and Airbus have been working since to salvage it.

Macron said at the time that China would buy 184 A320 narrow-body jets, an order worth $18 billion at list prices.

The Elysee Palace official also said Airbus was discussing a new order with Ethiopian Airlines. The official gave no details on the size of the potential new Ethiopian order but cited the long-range A350, a model which Ethiopian already operates, and the single-aisle A320 jet as aircraft of interest to the airline.

Macron and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed discussed the negotiations during Macron’s visit to Addis Ababa on Tuesday, two days after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed after taking off, killing all 157 people on board.

Industry analysts played down a possible link between any current negotiations and Sunday’s crash. Ethiopian has been undertaking a major fleet expansion and regularly talks to the market, they said, adding that order talks take time.

(Reporting by John Irish; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Mark Potter)

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