Aircraft & Propulsion

With about 140 Boeing 737-8/-9s delivered to almost 30 operators since its commercial debut 13 months ago, the 737 MAX is quickly setting an industry record for the fastest introduction ever of a new jet transport.

FedEx Corp. has ordered 24 more Boeing freighters, comprising 12 767Fs and 12 777Fs.

Aircraft News-June 19, 2018

Ethiopian Airlines may announce a Bombardier CSeries or Embraer E2 order at the 2018 Farnborough Air Show, as well as a follow-on deal for Boeing 787s, according to Ethiopian CEO Tewolde Gebremariam.

Korean Air is on track to increase its Bombardier CSeries fleet to 10 aircraft this year, and is preparing to debut the type on short-haul international routes.

Japan Airlines (JAL) Group is considering options to replace three Saab A340B turboprops at its Hokkaido Air System regional subsidiary.

Faced with size constraints at its production facilities, Airbus rethinks the way it manufacturers aircraft.

The Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) has grounded the C919 flight-test aircraft for modifications, costing about three months in the flight-testing schedule.

Swiss regional SkyWork Airlines plans to add a sixth Saab 2000 turboprop to its fleet, which will be used on the carrier’s regional network from its Berne home base.

UK LCC easyJet plans to take delivery of the first of the Airbus A321neos it has on order at the Farnborough Air Show in July, easyJet France director Francois Bacchetta said at a June 14 media briefing at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Deliveries of CFM Leap-1 engines are about to overtake those of the CFM56 for the first time, marking a watershed moment in the 44-year history of CFM International, the GE Aviation-Safran Aircraft Engines joint venture.

Revised secondary structure and cabin fittings will cut ARJ21 empty weight by more than half a ton. Thrust may be increased.

LOT Polish Airlines will start services from its Warsaw hub to London City Airport (LCY) and acquire four Embraer E190s specifically for the route.

Air New Zealand is planning to increase the size of its domestic fleet by transferring Airbus A320s from its international operation, and is also considering ordering up to seven additional A321neos to use on domestic routes.

Airbus believes it has defined the blueprint for future new production lines and developed technology it can also apply to its legacy production systems now that it has opened the fourth A320/A320neo family final assembly line (FAL) in Hamburg.

Rolls-Royce plans to cut 4,600 jobs over the next two years in a bid to save £400 million ($537 million) a year.

Airbus is offering a higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) version of the A350-1000, adding significant range capabilities.

Aircraft returning from storage in April reached a four-year high, IATA figures show, suggesting that operators are scrambling to support sustained demand for lift and perhaps offset the effects of delivery delays and in-service issues delays on several key aircraft programs.

Boeing logged 40 new commercial aircraft bookings in May, over half for 737 MAXs, lifting the US manufacturer’s total gross orders for 2018 to 361 commercial aircraft, valued at about $63 billion.

The scheduled first delivery of the Chinese-Russian commercial aircraft consortium CRAIC CR929 widebody airliner has been moved up by two years to 2025, with the first flight now scheduled for 2023.

Airbus and Boeing commercial aircraft deliveries for 2018 year-to-date, sorted by most-recent delivery date.

Airbus and Boeing commercial aircraft gross orders for 2018 year-to-date, sorted by most-recent date of order placement with manufacturer.

Kuwaiti hybrid carrier Jazeera Airways has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320neo, the first of the type to be based in the Middle East.

China’s Spring Airlines plans to introduce much longer routes when it begins receiving Airbus A320neo family aircraft in the second half of this year.

The Chinese-Russian commercial aircraft consortium (CRAIC) has fixed the main dimensional details of its CR929 widebody aircraft, which were revised from figures given to ATW’s sister publication Aviation Daily in May.