(Reuters) – Eleven passengers and crew were killed on Friday evening when their plane crashed near an airfield in Hawaii, authorities said, during what broadcasters said was a skydiving trip.
The twin-engine King Air plane, with eleven people onboard, went down soon after takeoff from Dillingham Airfield and there were no survivors, the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) said.
The fire service said the aircraft was engulfed in flames when fire crews arrived. “We are still gathering information as to the intent of the flight and what they were doing,” Honolulu Fire Department Chief Manuel Neves told a news conference.
The news report said the plane was on a skydiving excursion and the Federal Aviation Administration would investigate the crash.
The HDOT said Federal inspectors are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash.
Dillingham is a joint-use airfield operated by the HDOT under a 25-year lease from the U.S. army, according to its website.
PARIS, June 18 (Reuters) – Boeing’s grounded 737 MAX jet received a boost on Tuesday after British Airways-owner IAG signed a letter of intent to order 200 of the planes and said it was confident that it would return to service in the coming months.
Boeing said the deal had a value of more than $24 billion at list prices.
IAG said the mix of 737-8 and 737-10 aircraft, to be delivered between 2023 and 2027, would be powered by CFM Leap engines and used across a number of its airlines including British Airways, Vueling and Level.
The MAX 737 was grounded in March following two deadly crashes, and Boeing has been working on a software fix to get the jet back flying by the end of the year.
IAG Chief Executive Willie Walsh said he had experienced Boeing’s MCAS anti-stall software in person, adding it was “very helpful to see it in operation” and to “understand the changes” that Boeing was proposing.
“It gave me confidence both in terms of the aircraft and the changes that Boeing introduced,” he said at the announcement of the deal at the Paris Airshow.
“I am confident in Boeing.”
Boeing shares rose 2% on the announcement. The company is working towards a certification flight with regulators soon.
Boeing commercial airplanes boss Kevin McAllister said the decision of when the MAX flies again was in the hands of the regulators.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Eric M. Johnson and Alistair Smout Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter)
FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo shows Boeing 737 MAX airplanes parked on the tarmac at the Boeing Factory in Renton, Washington
(Reuters) – Boeing Co said on Tuesday it handed over 56% fewer airplanes in May, compared with a year earlier, as deliveries of its top-selling 737 MAX jet remained suspended following a deadly crash in March.
Total deliveries fell to 30 planes, compared with 68 in 2018. Net orders for the first five months remained in negative territory, with a total of minus 125 net orders.
The company has been facing its worst ever crisis after an Ethiopian Airlines’ 737 MAX plane crashed, killing all 157 people on board, in the second fatal accident involving the jet in just five months.
Boeing reiterated on Sunday it was working with global regulators to certify a software update for the jet as well as related training and education material to safely return the plane to service.
Global airlines that had rushed to buy the fuel-efficient, longer-range aircraft have since canceled flights and scrambled to cover routes that were previously flown by the MAX.
European rival Airbus SE delivered 81 aircraft in May, up 59% from last year and 313 in the January-May period, a rise of 40%.
Boeing shares were down 0.6% at $351.44 in morning trade.
(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – All 13 people aboard were killed when a private jet crashed between the U.S. city of Las Vegas and Monterrey in northern Mexico, authorities said on Monday.
The wreckage of the plane was found via aerial surveillance in a remote mountainous zone in the northern municipality of Ocampo, the government of Coahuila state said in a statement.
A photograph published on local television network Milenio showed what it said were the burnt remnants of the plane, broken into pieces, spread over charred earth.
The Coahuila government said the flight plan listed 13 people on board. It said no survivors were found.
Mexican media reported that the passengers had been to a boxing match between Mexican boxer Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and U.S. fighter Daniel Jacobs in Las Vegas on Saturday.
The nationalities of the victims were not immediately clear. The surnames of the three crew and 10 passengers published by the Coahuila government were all Hispanic.
The victims were aged between 57 and 19, according to a version of the passenger list published in Mexican media.
Newspaper Diario de Yucatan said on its website that among the victims were 55-year-old businessman Luis Octavio Reyes Dominguez, his wife, and their three children.
In a statement, Canada’s Bombardier Inc identified the jet as a Challenger 601 and said the plane had gone missing about 150 nautical miles from the northern Mexican city of Monclova.
Expressing its condolences to the victims, the company said it had been in touch with Canada’s transportation safety board and would work with the investigating authorities.
Mexican broadcaster Televisa reported the twin-engine jet lost contact on Sunday with air traffic controllers sometime after 5:20 p.m. local time (2220 GMT) as the pilot descended to avoid a storm.
Francisco Martinez, an emergency services official in Coahuila, told Milenio recent adverse weather conditions would form part of the investigation into the crash. However, he stopped short of saying weather had caused it.
(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon, Noe Torres, Ana Isabel Martinez, David Alire Garcia and Allison Lampert; Editing by David Gregorio and Tom Brown)
This image taken from a video distributed by Russian Investigative Committee on Sunday, May 5, 2019, shows the Sukhoi SSJ100 aircraft of Aeroflot Airlines on fire, at Sheremetyevo airport, outside Moscow, Russia. At least 40 people died when an Aeroflot airliner burst into flames while making an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, officials said early Monday. (The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation via AP)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The Aeroflot-operated SSJ100 passenger jet that caught fire during an emergency landing in Moscow is part of Russia’s efforts to maintain a presence in civil aviation in a market dominated by companies like Boeing, Airbus and Embraer.
Here’s a quick look at the SSJ100 and the Russian company that built it, the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company:
THE PLANE
The
SSJ100, or Superjet 100, is a short- to medium-haul narrow body jet
with two engines that can be configured to carry up to 103 people.
At
that size, it’s intended to substitute for larger planes such as the
Boeing 737 or Airbus 321 on shorter, less travelled routes and during
slower travel seasons. Regional aircraft are an important part of
Russia’s transportation system, given the country’s enormous distances
and many remote towns. The Superjet succeeds older, Soviet-built planes
such as the Tu-134 airliner.
The plane is built at the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company’s plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia’s distant Far East region. Although the design is Russian, the company says it uses the latest Western technology as well. The engines are made by PowerJet, a joint venture between France’s Safran Aircraft Engines and Russia’s Saturn.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft of Airflot Airlines, center, is seen after an emergency landing in Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 5, 2019. (Moscow News Agency photo via AP)
The
plane first flew in 2008 and entered commercial service in 2011. It is
certified by the European Union Safety Agency but is mainly used in
Russia and has not made much headway against international competitors,
not just from Boeing and Airbus but also from Brazil’s Embraer.
Aeroflot
is the biggest client with 50 of the planes. Mexico’s Interjet said
Sunday it operated five of the planes “under the highest safety
standards.”
Interjet
earlier operated 22 Superjets but referred in a recent earnings report
to the “gradual phase out of the fleet of SSJ100.” The company reported
lost sales after the planes were grounded due to a defect in the tail
section in December 2016 and said it was seeking “contractual recovery
of amounts related to maintenance costs” for the planes.
Ireland’s CityJet, which supplies planes and crews to other airlines, stopped operating several Superjets in January.
People gather around the damaged Sukhoi SSJ100 aircraft of Aeroflot Airlines at Sheremetyevo airport, outside Moscow, Russia, Monday, May 6, 2019. Russia’s main investigative body says both flight recorders have been recovered from the plane that caught fire while making an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, killing at least 40 people on Sunday. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
THE COMPANY
The
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company bears the name of the legendary Soviet
aircraft designer, Pavel Sukhoi, who was responsible for a series of
Soviet military aircraft starting before World War II.
Today’s
firm is part of Russia’s United Aircraft Company, which consolidated
many of the legendary names of Soviet aviation such as MiG, Sukhoi,
Tupolev and Yak. UAC was established by a decree from President Vladimir
Putin in 2006 to promote the Russian aircraft industry, which is seen
as essential for the security and defense of the country. Much of its
production goes to the military, while the SSJ100 is the key project
aimed at maintaining a Russian presence in civil aviation.
TROUBLES
On
May 9, 2012, a demonstration flight hit Mount Salak in Indonesia,
killing all 45 on board, after the pilot disregarded six alarms from the
terrain warning system on the apparent assumption there was a problem
with the terrain database, according to the report from Indonesia’s air
safety regulator. The plane had unintentionally left a circling pattern
after the crew was distracted by a prolonged conversation not related to
flying the plane.
And a Superjet skidded off the runway at Iceland’s Keflavik airport in 2013 with landing gear up during flight certification tests involving landing on one engine; one crew member suffered minor injuries.
In this photo taken on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, the Sukhoi SSJ-100 aircraft of Aeroflot Airlines that made an emergency landing on Sunday, May 5, 2019 in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, takes off from the Siberian city of Tyumen, Russia. Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot says the plane that caught fire at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, killing at least one person, had been forced to turn back after taking off for the city of Murmansk because of technical reasons. (AP Photo/Marina Lystseva)
(Reuters) – Boeing Co’s largest supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc reported strong first-quarter results on Wednesday, while following the planemaker in suspending its full-year outlook in the face of the global grounding of 737 MAX jets.
The crisis with Boeing’s most popular aircraft has thrown into doubt orders for a raft of parts makers who have been investing heavily to meet record-breaking demand from the world’s biggest planemaker over the past two years.
Spirit, which makes fuselage, structural engine components and wing parts for the MAX, did a deal with Boeing last month to stick to its current parts delivery schedules for now, and its profits in the first quarter were up 30 percent, according to Wednesday’s quarterly results.
Boeing however has announced cutbacks in its monthly production of MAX jets to 42 from 52 and while it says it is nearing certification for a software fix for the jet, airlines are assuming the planes will not be back in the air before August.
Spirit said with the uncertainty around MAX production it could not stand by its previous full-year outlook which had factored production for MAX jets rising to 57 units per month in June.
“As we now expect to remain at 52 aircraft per month for some period of time, (prior) guidance does not reflect our current outlook,” Spirit Chief Executive Officer Tom Gentile said, adding he was waiting for more clarity from Boeing on MAX’s return to service.
MAX’s other major supplier General Electric Co, which makes engines with Safran SA of France, on Tuesday stuck to its full-year forecasts, while highlighting risk due to MAX’s reduced production.
Another MAX supplier United Technologies Corp last month included an up to 10 cents per share impact in its full-year profit outlook from the groundings of the jet, assuming Boeing produced at 42 aircraft per month for the rest of the year.
Spirit, whose shares are down about 10 percent since the fatal crash of the Ethiopian Airlines’ jet on March 10, rose as much as 3.5 percent to $89.96 in morning trade.
“Given that (Spirit’s) shares have already notably sold off, we think much of this … has been discounted into the price,” Vertical Research Partners Krishna Sinha said.
The company said it has taken actions including deferring capital investments and pausing hiring and share repurchases to mitigate the financial impact of the MAX production change.
On an adjusted basis, Spirit earned $1.68 per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.64 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Total revenue rose 13.4 percent to $1.97 billion (£1.51 billion), beating estimates of $1.93 billion.
(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Monday she named four experts to a blue-ribbon committee to review the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) aircraft certification process after two deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes killed nearly 350 people.
Chao said she was naming NASA’s former aviation safety program director Amy Pritchett and Gretchen Haskins, chief executive of HeliOffshore Ltd, an international expert in aviation safety and a former U.S. Air Force officer.
She also named Kenneth Hylander, chief safety officer at Amtrak and a former senior safety executive at Delta and Northwest airlines, and J. David Grizzle, chairman of the board of Republic Airways and a former FAA chief counsel.
The committee is “specifically tasked to review the 737 MAX 800 certification process from 2012 to 2017, and recommend improvements to the certification process.”
U.S. lawmakers have criticized the FAA’s program that allows Boeing Co and other manufacturers to oversee the process that ensures air worthiness and other vital safety aspects of new aircraft.
Chao said last month the panel would be co-chaired by retired Air Force General Darren McDew, the former head of the U.S. Transportation Command, and Lee Moak, a former president of the Air Line Pilots Association.
Federal prosecutors, the Transportation Department’s inspector general and lawmakers are investigating the FAA’s certification of the 737 MAX 8 aircraft. A joint review by 10 governmental air regulators is also set to start April 29.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Tom Brown)
FILE PHOTO: A United Express Embraer ERJ-175LR airplane is pictured at Vancouver’s international airport in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, February 5, 2019. REUTERS/Ben Nelms
(Reuters) – United Airlines on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected jump in first-quarter profit as it sold more tickets and cut costs, standing by its 2019 profit target even as its Boeing Co 737 MAX jets remain grounded.
Chicago-based United has removed its 14 MAX aircraft, which were suspended worldwide in March following two fatal crashes, from its flying schedule through early July, eating into U.S. airlines’ peak summer travel season.
Still, the airline’s parent United Continental Holdings Inc reiterated its estimate for adjusted earnings of $10 to $12 per share in 2019, and said its strategy for scheduling more flights out of its hubs was continuing to win customers.
Adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.15 in the first quarter, ending March 31, from 49 cents a year earlier, overcoming a U.S. government shutdown and severe winter weather earlier this year that curtailed flights.
Wall Street analysts on average had forecast 95 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Its shares rose 2.8 percent in after-hours trading.
United has largely avoided cancelling MAX flights by servicing those routes with larger aircraft, but President Scott Kirby warned last week that the strategy could not last indefinitely.
The airline, which has been adding seats at a faster pace than rivals, trimmed its 2019 capacity growth target to between 4 percent and 5 percent from 4 percent to 6 percent previously, but did not say whether the decision reflected the effect of the grounded MAX.
Total operating revenue rose 7.1 percent to $8.73 billion in the quarter, while closely watched revenue per available seat mile rose 1.1 percent.
In the second quarter, United said it expects unit revenue to rise between 0.5 percent and 2.5 percent while unit costs, which fell 1.8 percent in the first quarter, were expected to be flat to 1 percent higher.
The No. 3 U.S. carrier is the first of three U.S. 737 MAX operators to report first-quarter results. Southwest Airlines Co and American Airlines Group Inc, which have removed their MAX jets from schedules into August, report on April 25 and April 26 respectively.
A Federal Aviation Administration review board said on Tuesday that it found a Boeing software update for the MAX to be “operationally suitable,” suggesting the lengthy regulatory process to get the planes back in the air was underway.
Rival Delta Air Lines Inc, which does not operate the 737 MAX, lifted its 2019 revenue forecast last week after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit.
(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Additional reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Rigby)
OTTAWA
(Reuters) – As Boeing Co and global airlines work to restore public
confidence in the 737 MAX after two deadly crashes, they will have a
play book they can use.
This
is not the first time that Boeing has faced a crisis after launching a
new plane with innovative technology. In 1965, three Boeing 727-100
passenger jets crashed in less than three months in the United States
while coming into land, killing a total of 131 people.
Like
the 737 MAX, the three-engined 727 was billed as one of the most
advanced aircraft of its time. Boeing introduced the 727 in 1964 and
portrayed it as a more efficient alternative to the standard four-engine
jets of the day, with new features designed to make the 727 easier to
operate from short airfields.
The
727’s wing flap system, which provides extra lift at low speeds, was
unusually large and sophisticated, which allowed the plane to descend
more quickly than other rivals and avoid buildings and other obstacles
close to runways.
Investigators
looking into the crashes discovered that some pilots did not fully
understand the flap system and were therefore allowing the planes to
descend at too great a speed.
“There was nothing wrong with the airplane… (but) if you didn’t really pay a lot of attention to it you could build up an immense sink rate,” said Bill Waldock, a professor of safety science at the U.S-based Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He uses the 727 accidents as part of a case study.
Aviation
authorities ordered more training for pilots but allowed the planes to
keep flying despite calls from some politicians to ground them.
Boeing made some modifications to the flight manual and to the procedures for flying the airplane on final approach.
In the case of the 737 MAX 8, Boeing is working on software and training updates. [L3N21C0FP]
Alan
Hoffman, a U.S. aviation historian and retired transportation lawyer
who has researched the 727 accidents, said given the publicity over the
recent crashes, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration would only
allow the 737 MAX 8 planes to fly again if the regulator is convinced
the fixes worked.
“The
airplane will go back into service and unless something else crops up
there will be no further problems and a year from now this will all be a
dim distant memory,” he predicted by phone from St Louis, Missouri.
Boeing was not immediately available for comment.
In
contrast to the swift grounding of the 737 MAX 8 after the recent
second accident, just two days after the third fatal 727 crash, in
November 1965, the Civil Aeronautics Board said there was no reason to
ground the plane.
“It
passed very rigid certification tests … before it was put into
service and nothing has turned up in our investigation to cause us to
doubt its stability,” the board said.
Those
words did not immediately reassure many travellers. Indeed, passengers
had started to boycott the airliner after the crashes began.
“For
a period of six months or so a lot of 727s were flying with half full
cabins,” Waldock said by phone from Prescott, Arizona. Still, the 727
crisis passed.
The
plane eventually became one of Boeing’s best sellers and was in
widespread use for another 30 years. By 2003, virtually all had been
retired as airlines moved away from the 727’s loud and thirsty engines.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Joe White and Cynthia Osterman)
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian Air will lease planes and postpone the sale of older models in its fleet following the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, the airline said on Monday.
The budget carrier will also use some of its bigger Boeing 787 Dreamliners to offset the effects of the grounding of its 18 MAX jets – about 11 percent of its fleet.
The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide this month following a deadly crash in Ethiopia.
“In addition to continuing combining flights and reallocating aircraft, the company has decided to delay potential sales of six Boeing 737-800 aircraft and use available 787 Dreamliner capacity on high-volume routes, which will add flexibility,” Norwegian said in a statement.
“The company is further preparing to wetlease aircraft to fill the remaining capacity gap,” it added, referring to the industry practice of renting fully-staffed aircraft for a period of time.
Norwegian said earlier this month it would seek compensation from Boeing for costs resulting from the grounding of the global MAX fleet.
“The company has a good dialogue with Boeing and is confident of reaching a constructive agreement,” Norwegian said, without elaborating.
Norwegian Air CEO repeats plan to turn profitable in 2019
Norwegian Air aims to turn profitable this year, its chief executive said on Monday, reiterating plans to turn around the situation at the loss-making budget airline.
“We aim to become profitable in 2019,” Bjoern Kjos told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. “We’re managing well as an independent company.”
