Tag: US (Page 6 of 8)

Air Canada Reports Surprise Profit Despite MAX Grounding

May 6, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

May 6 (Reuters) – Air Canada on Monday reported a surprise quarterly profit that sent shares up 4 percent in morning trading, helped by flying more passengers and its purchase of a loyalty program, despite rising costs from the global grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX jets.

Canada’s largest carrier said it sees strong booking trends ahead of the busy summer season, and expects second quarter results in line with forecasts made before the March global suspension of the Boeing MAX in March following two fatal crashes involving the model.

Air Canada stock was up 4 percent, even as Canada’s main stock index fell at the open on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China, triggering a global rout in risky assets.

Air Canada Chief Executive Calin Rovinescu said the carrier, which operates 24 MAX jets, would return the planes to service based on its own safety assessment, in addition to regulators giving it the green light.

During the first three months of the year, Air Canada and other North American carriers that fly the MAX scrambled to replace flights following harsh weather and the plane’s grounding, while facing pressure from rising fuel costs.

“First quarter is always the most demanding for Canadian airlines,” Rovinescu said. “This year was an exception and it was made more so with the unexpected grounding of the 737 MAX.”

Air Canada canceled 1,600 mainline flights during the first three months of the year, a 40 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2018, Rovinescu told analysts.

The company was able to protect most of its flights from the date of the grounding through April 30 by entering into new leases, among other strategies, he said.

For the first quarter, the company reported a 9.4 percent rise in total operating revenue to C$4.45 billion ($3.30 billion), beating analysts’ estimate of C$4.39 billion.

In January, Air Canada closed a deal to acquire the Aeroplan loyalty program.

Aeroplan revenue and strong demand drove a nearly 5 percent increase in passenger yield, the company said, even as cost per available seat mile (CASM) — a measure of how much an airline spends to fly a passenger — climbed 3.8 percent.

Air Canada said traffic rose 4.2 percent while passenger revenue per available seat mile, a key revenue measure for airlines, increased 4.5 percent in the first quarter.

The Montreal-based company reported an adjusted net income of C$17 million, or 6 Canadian cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, compared to a loss of C$26 million, or 10 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts’ on average had expected a loss of 18 Canadian cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. ($1 = 1.3467 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Allison Lampert and Shanti S Nair ; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Bill Trott)

U.S. Names Experts to Boeing Certification Review Panel

April 22, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

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)

Union Pacific Quarterly Profit Beats Estimates

April 18, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: A Union Pacific rail car is parked at a Burlington National Santa Fe (BNSF) train yard in Seattle, Washington, U.S., February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

(Reuters) – Union Pacific Corp on Thursday reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, as the U.S. railroad raised prices, helping offset the impact of severe winter weather and record flooding that damaged rails in the Midwest.

Shares rose 2.7 percent to $173.80 in premarket trading.

Union Pacific’s operating ratio, a measure of operating expenses as a percentage of revenue and a key metric for Wall Street, increased 1 point to 63.6 percent from a year ago.

A lower ratio means more efficiency and higher profitability.

Total operating revenue fell to $5.4 billion from $5.5 billion.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based company’s net income rose to $1.4 billion, or $1.93 per share, in the first-quarter ended March 31 from $1.31 billion, or $1.68 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, expected a profit of $1.89 per share and revenue of $5.50 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Union Pacific and Berkshire Hathaway-owned BNSF are the largest U.S. freight rail operators with an annual revenue of more than $20 billion each.

(Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

Trump Says Boeing Should ‘Rebrand’ Grounded 737 MAX Jet

April 15, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the debut of the Boeing South Carolina Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner in North Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., February 17, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday urged Boeing Co to fix and “rebrand” its 737 MAX jetliner following two fatal crashes, as regulators worldwide continue to work with the planemaker to review its grounded best-selling aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration has been meeting major airlines and convened a joint review with aviation regulators from other countries, while federal prosecutors, the U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general’s office and a blue-ribbon panel are reviewing the plane’s certification.

In an early-morning post on Twitter, Trump, who owned the Trump Shuttle airline from 1989 to 1992 and is an aviation enthusiast, weighed in with his own advice.

“What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!), but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?” Trump tweeted.

The plane’s grounding has also threatened the U.S. summer travel season, with some airlines removing the 737 from their schedules through August.

Trump issued the tweet as Boeing tries to restore trust in its fastest-selling jet, the main source of profits and cash at the Chicago-based planemaker which has won some 5,000 orders or around seven years of production for the aircraft.

Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg has apologised on behalf of Boeing for lives lost in two recent accidents and promised that it would address the risk that flight software meant to prevent the plane stalling could be activated by wrong data.

Boeing has also held dozens of briefings and simulator sessions for airline executives and pilots and held worldwide meetings with airline branding and communications staff.

Pilots are expected to play a major role in regaining public confidence in the aircraft, but Trump’s tweet marks the first time the brand underpinning Boeing profits in coming years has been thrown into question at a high level.

Brand Finance, a UK-based consultancy that tracks the value of global brands, rejected the idea that Boeing should abandon the MAX brand but said its corporate reputation was in the firing line.

“This has without a doubt damaged Boeing’s reputation and we foresee a dent to the (Boeing) brand’s value at over $12 billion (£9 billion),” Chief Executive David Haigh said by email when asked about Trump’s comments.

“This is a temporary blip in the long run for Boeing,” he said, adding Toyota and others had recovered from similar high-profile crises without a drastic rebranding exercise.

Brand Finance had previously estimated the damage to the value of Boeing’s reputation at $7.5 billion immediately after the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jetliner, the second fatal accident involving the 737 MAX in five months.

Boeing has the world’s most valuable aerospace brand, having seen the value of its overall corporate image rise by 61 percent to $32 billion in 2018, according to the same branding firm.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Tim Hepher; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Toby Chopra)

Richard Cole, Last WWII Doolittle Raider, Dies at 103

April 9, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

SAN ANTONIO — Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, the last of World War II’s Doolittle Raiders, passed away early Monday morning in San Antonio with his daughter, Cindy, and son, Rich, at his side, according to reports from family and friends.

Cole was 103 years old. Arrangements are being made for a memorial service at Randolph Air Force Base, and Cole will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery. He had been scheduled to be honored in Sarasota on April 7 but was unable to attend the ceremony after being hospitalized.

The Doolittle Raiders were group of 80 Army Air Force aviators who participated in a daring aerial raid on Japan during World War II, bombing seven cities just months after the Japanese had laid waste to American naval power at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Cole, though, was humble about his role in the historic raid, which was planned and led by Army Air Force Lt. Col. James “Jimmy” Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces.

“I don’t think that the Raiders should be remembered any more than the millions of other people who took part in World War II,” he said during a recent interview at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin Air Force Base.

The Doolittle Raiders are woven tightly into the historical fabric of this area. For a little more than two weeks in March 1942, they trained at what was then Eglin Field for their improbable mission: launching stripped-down B-25 bombers off the deck of an aircraft carrier and flying hundreds of miles across the Pacific Ocean to bomb Japan.

Less than a month after leaving Eglin Field, on April 18, 1942, the Doolittle Raiders — all volunteers and none of whom had flown a combat mission — boarded 16 B-25 bombers on the deck of the U.S.S. Hornet in the Pacific to start their mission. Cole was in the copilot’s seat of the lead B-25, which was piloted by Doolittle.

Cole also was among the airmen who had to bail out of the the B-25s after the raid. Asked recently about his sharpest memory of the raid, after more than 76 years, Cole had a quick response.

“The thing I remember most is my parachute opening,” he smiled.

Cole was in the area last month, attending a ceremony at Hurlburt Field, headquarters of Air Force Special Operations Command, for a 75th anniversary commemoration of Operation Thursday, another piece of World War II history in which he was involved. Cole was among the aviators involved in the 1944 operation in the China-Burma-India war theater in which early American air pioneers worked alongside British special operations soldiers known as Chindits to extract British soldiers from the forests of Burma. The operation marked the birth of Air Commandos as part of U.S. military aviation forces.

B-25 bombers aboard the aircraft carrier
USS Hornet, departing San Francisco bound for Tokyo, Japan

Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 DEFIANT Helicopter Achieves 1st Flight

April 9, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., March 21, 2019 – The Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 DEFIANT™ helicopter achieved first flight today at Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Fla., site. This revolutionary aircraft, developed by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company [NYSE: LMT], and Boeing [NYSE: BA], will help inform the next generation of military helicopters as part of the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift program.

View the video.

“The design and development of DEFIANT has revealed the capability advancement that is truly possible for Future Vertical Lift,” said David Koopersmith, vice president and general manager, Boeing Vertical Lift. “Clearly, the performance, speed and agility of DEFIANT will be a game changer on the battlefield and we look forward to demonstrating for the U.S. Army the tremendous capabilities of this aircraft.”

With its two coaxial main rotors and a rear mounted pusher propulsor, DEFIANT is unlike production rotorcraft available today. It represents a leap forward in technology to achieve the U.S. government’s desire for vast increases in speed and range while improving maneuverability and survivability in a cost-effective way. DEFIANT aircraft’s use of X2™ Technology will allow the Army to penetrate from strategic standoff and exploit gaps created in complex Anti-Access Area Denial systems against near-peer adversaries.

“DEFIANT is designed to fly at nearly twice the speed and has twice the range of conventional helicopters while retaining the very best, if not better, low-speed and hover performance of conventional helicopters,” said Dan Spoor, vice president, Sikorsky Future Vertical Lift. “This design provides for exceptional performance in the objective area, where potential enemy activity places a premium on maneuverability, survivability and flexibility. We are thrilled with the results of today’s flight and look forward to an exciting flight test program.”

The helicopter is participating in the Army’s Joint Multi-Role-Medium Technology Demonstrator program. Data from DEFIANT will help the Army develop requirements for new utility helicopters expected to enter service in the early 2030s. This flight marks a key milestone for the Sikorsky-Boeing team and is the culmination of significant design, simulation and test activity to further demonstrate the capability of the X2 Technology.

X2 Technology is scalable to a variety of military missions such as attack and assault, long-range transportation, infiltration and resupply. DEFIANT is the third X2^® aircraft in less than 10 years.

For more information, visit http://www.lockheedmartin.com/defiant and https://www.boeing.com/defense/future-vertical-lift/.

About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

About Boeing
For more information on Defense, Space & Security visit www.boeing.com. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense and @BoeingSpace.

Boeing Receives U.S. Navy Multiyear Contract for F/A-18

April 9, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

ARLINGTON, Va., March. 20, 2019 – With a three-year contract award for 78 F/A-18 Block III Super Hornets, Boeing [NYSE: BA] will play a vital role in the U.S. Navy’s fleet modernization efforts.

The Block III configuration adds capability upgrades that include enhanced network capability, longer range, reduced radar signature, an advanced cockpit system and an enhanced communication system. Boeing will begin converting existing Block II Super Hornets to Block III early in the next decade. The fighter’s life also will be extended from 6,000 hours to 10,000 hours.

This new multi-year contract benefits the U.S. Navy and Boeing by allowing both to schedule future production and Navy officials estimate this multi-year model saves a minimum of $395 million on this contract valued at approximately $4 billion.

“This multiyear contract will provide significant savings for taxpayers and the U.S. Navy while providing the capacity it needs to help improve readiness,” said Dan Gillian, vice president of F/A-18 and EA-18G programs. “A multiyear contract helps the F/A-18 team seek out suppliers with a guaranteed three years of production, instead of negotiating year to year. It helps both sides with planning, and we applaud the U.S. Navy on taking the appropriate steps needed to help solve its readiness challenges.”

For more information on Defense, Space & Security, visit www.boeing.com. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense and @BoeingSpace.

Air Force Again Halts Boeing KC-46 Tanker Deliveries

April 3, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

April 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force said on Tuesday that it again stopped accepting deliveries of Boeing Co’s KC-46 tanker aircraft after finding foreign object debris in the planes.

Back in February, deliveries of the aircraft were halted by the U.S. Air Force because of the same issue in one of the aircraft. Deliveries resumed in March after Boeing ramped up the inspection process.

“Our inspectors identified additional foreign object debris and areas where Boeing did not meet quality standards,” U.S. Air Force spokesperson Captain Hope Cronin said.

The decision to halt acceptance of the planes was made on March 23, the Air Force said, adding that the problem was not with the aircraft itself but with the process in place for building it.

“We are currently conducting additional company and customer inspections of the jets and have implemented preventative action plans,” Boeing said in a statement.

“We have also incorporated additional training, more rigorous clean-as-you-go practices and FOD awareness days across the company to stress the importance and urgency of this issue.”

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

China’s Huge Airbus Order Padded by Old & Incomplete Deals

April 2, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

Exclusive: China’s huge Airbus order padded by old or incomplete deals – source

PARIS (Reuters) – A landmark order from China for 300 Airbus jets signed during a state visit last week was bolstered by repeat announcements of dozens of existing deals and advance approval for deals that have yet to be struck, two people familiar with the matter said.

Echoing an umbrella order for 300 Boeing jets awarded during a visit to Beijing by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017, the headline figure for the new “framework order” for European jets was partly driven by political considerations, the people said.

The Airbus deal would have been worth some $35 billion at list prices but the amount of new business is lower, they added. Duplicate announcements included a deal for 10 A350 aircraft to an unnamed buyer, which represents a repeat announcement of an order for 10 jets by Sichuan Airlines at an air show last year.

The disclosure takes some of the shine off an announcement widely regarded as the economic highlight of a trip to Europe by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Nonetheless the deal marked a return to the aircraft market by China’s state buying agency after a pause of over a year during global trade tensions.

The overall figure of 300 was introduced late in the process and after Xi’s visit was underway, although plane orders typically take months to negotiate, one of the people said.

Airbus declined to comment on detailed orders but left open the possibility that the large total contained gaps.

The agreement “creates the approval framework for aircraft ordered by Chinese airlines, be it existing orders or future orders,” a spokesman said.

TRADE TIES

Airbus shares fell 0.7 percent on Tuesday, extending earlier losses after Reuters reported gaps in the China deal. Airbus’ stock had risen almost two percent after China’s mega-order, signed in Paris on March 25 in front of Xi and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Industry sources say major planemakers play by similar rules when selling to China, where they face a two-tier system of negotiations with airlines within a framework of state-backed umbrella deals that may be influenced by geopolitics.

But the headline figures for new orders during high-profile diplomatic visits, which for several years hovered around 150 aircraft for both Airbus and Boeing, have increased as trade ties between Washington and China go through highs and lows.

In November 2017, months before a trade war erupted with the imposition of tariffs, China announced an order for 300 Boeing jets during a visit to Beijing by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Analysts expressed doubts at the time over how much of that was new business, and said part of the announcement represented renewed government support for deals already on Boeing’s books.

“The most recent Airbus and Boeing deals followed a similar pattern,” said a China aircraft industry specialist.

Boeing is now seen as next in line to secure a 200-300-plane order as part of a possible economic truce being negotiated to end the trade war, but the recent grounding of one of its jets has cast uncertainty over the timing of the deal.

Boeing and Airbus compete fiercely to serve the needs of the world’s fastest-growing airplane market, while bracing for future competition from China’s own aerospace industry.

Analysts say Beijing tends over time to balance U.S. and European purchases, though recent years have seen the rise of a growing number of independent Chinese leasing companies and an increase in autonomous decision-making by several airlines.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Additional reporting by Marine Pennetier; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Richard Lough)

Airbus Shares Take Off After Bumper Beijing Order

March 26, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

FILE PHOTO: The Airbus logo is pictured at Airbus headquarters in Blagnac near Toulouse, France, March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus shares rose on Tuesday after the European planemaker won a deal worth tens of billions of dollars to sell 300 aircraft to China.

Airbus was up 2.7 percent by 1208 GMT, with the stock having risen nearly 40 percent so far in 2019.

French officials said the deal was worth some 30 billion euros (25.6 billion pounds) at catalogue prices. Planemakers usually grant significant discounts.

The Chinese order was announced late on Monday, coinciding with a visit to Europe by Chinese President Xi Jinping and matching a China record held by U.S. rival Boeing.

Investment bank Citigroup kept its “buy” rating on Airbus.

“We do not have details of the delivery schedule of this order, but China has been taking about 20-25 percent of Airbus production per year and given the A320 family is sold out at announced production rates out to 2024/25, we believe this increases the probability of Airbus moving to a production rate of 70 per month,” wrote Citigroup.

That positive view was echoed by Morgan Stanley, which kept an “overweight” rating on Airbus shares.

“Clearly finalisation of this order is a positive for Airbus, and continues to underpin strong order book coverage and rising production rates in narrowbody,” Morgan Stanley said.

The larger-than-expected order, which matches an order for 300 Boeing planes when U.S. Donald Trump visited Beijing in 2017, follows a year-long vacuum of purchases in which China failed to place significant orders amid global trade tensions.

It also comes as the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX has left uncertainty over Boeing’s immediate hopes for a major jet order as the result of any warming of U.S.-China trade ties.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Leigh Thomas and Jane Merriman)

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