Tag: struggles

Rex Airlines Takes Delivery of First Boeing 737-800ng in Full Livery

December 28, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

Rex Airlines marks another major milestone tomorrow, as the first of its Boeing 737-800NGs lands in Sydney in full Rex livery (airline colours). The aircraft arrived in Brisbane today just after 7:30pm on a transit stop after its major scheduled check overseas. The aircraft is due to touch down in Sydney at 8:30am on Christmas Eve.

Planespotters will be in for a treat as they finally get to see Rex’s official livery on its Boeing 737 in the Sydney skies.

Rex has leased six Boeing 737-800NG aircraft in readiness for its inaugural service from Melbourne to Sydney commencing 1 March 2021.

Brisbane will be added to Rex’s capital city network after Easter.

Rex’s Deputy Chairman the Hon John Sharp AM said, “The livery of Australia’s favourite Regional Airline is now emblazoned on a 737, ready for take-off. It’s a historic moment.”

“Our second 737 is currently being painted by Douglas Aerospace at one of the country’s finest aircraft paint facilities in Wagga Wagga. The remaining four 737s are undergoing scheduled checks and will be brought in-country over the next 3 months.”

“With Rex’s entry into the domestic market, passengers are no longer forced to choose between cheap fares that come with limited service and reliable service with premium fares. Rex is bringing its renowned country hospitality to the capital city market, offering twice the value at half the cost. This is the shake-up Australia’s domestic aviation sector has been crying out for and it could not have come at a better time, as Australia struggles to recover from the worst pandemic in the last century.”

To celebrate its launch, Rex is offering 100,000 special $79 fares between Melbourne and Sydney on sale now at rex.com.au.

Rex is Australia’s largest independent regional and domestic airline operating a fleet of 60 Saab340 aircraft (pre-COVID) on 1,500 weekly flights to 59 destinations throughout all states in Australia. Rex will begin its domestic services with six 737-800NGs in March 2021. In addition to the airline Rex, the Rex Group comprises wholly owned subsidiaries Pel-Air Aviation (air freight, aeromedical and charter operator) and the two pilot academies, Australian Airline Pilot Academy in Wagga Wagga and Ballarat.

LATAM Airlines to Fire ‘at Least’ 2,700 Workers in Brazil

August 2, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

BRASILIA (Reuters) – LATAM Airlines will fire “at least” 2,700 workers in Brazil, including pilots, its Brazilian arm said on Saturday, as the bankrupt carrier struggles to cut costs and cope with an industry collapse due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, LATAM Brasil said it opened a voluntary redundancy process on Friday which will run through Aug. 4, after which a further minimum 2,700 jobs will be cut.

The announcement followed the breakdown in talks with the SNA union over workers’ pay, the statement said. O Globo and O Estado de S. Paulo newspapers had reported the redundancies earlier on Saturday. LATAM said it pays its pilots and crew more than its rivals in Brazil, and the pandemic has forced it to “match industry practices.”

The layoffs are the latest in efforts to downsize Latin America’s largest airline. Before the novel coronavirus outbreak, the airline had 43,000 workers worldwide, with most of them in Brazil and Chile.

LATAM is seeking to restructure $18 billion in debt. When it filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in May, it was the world’s largest airline to date to seek an emergency reorganization due to the pandemic.

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever and Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Paul Simao)

China’s Bid to Challenge Boeing and Airbus Falters

January 9, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

BEIJING/PARIS (Reuters) – Development of China’s C919 single-aisle plane, already at least five years behind schedule, is going slower than expected, a dozen people familiar with the programme told Reuters, as the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation (COMAC) struggles with a range of technical issues that have severely restricted test flights.

Delays are common in complex aerospace programmes, but the especially slow progress is a potential embarrassment for China, which has invested heavily in its first serious attempt to break the hold of Boeing and Airbus on the global jet market.

The most recent problem came down to a mathematical error, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

COMAC engineers miscalculated the forces that would be placed on the plane’s twin engines in flight – known in the industry as loads – and sent inaccurate data to the engine manufacturer, CFM International, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. As a result, the engine and its housing may both have to be reinforced, the people said, most likely at COMAC’s expense – though another source denied any modification.That and other technical and structural glitches meant that by early December, after more than two and a half years of flight testing, COMAC had completed less than a fifth of the 4,200 hours in the air that it needs for final approval by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), two people close to the project told Reuters.

Click the link for the full story!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-bid-challenge-boeing-airbus-024459909.html

Rex Airlines Takes Delivery of First Boeing 737-800ng in Full Livery

LATAM Airlines to Fire ‘at Least’ 2,700 Workers in Brazil

China’s Bid to Challenge Boeing and Airbus Falters

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