The Chinese-Russian commercial aircraft consortium (CRAIC) will issue the next batch of requests for proposals from suppliers for the CR929 within weeks, as it assesses engine and landing-gear offers already received, said Yuri Sluysar, president of the consortium’s Russian member.
The aircraft, MSN1888, took off Tuesday morning from Blagnac, France for its maiden flight. The crew will perform flight-physics tests required for this variant.
Emirates Airline is close to signing up for more Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines for its incoming fleet of Airbus A380s, according to Emirates president Tim Clark.
International Airlines Group’s (IAG) Irish airline Aer Lingus plans to nearly double its long-haul fleet from 17 to 30 aircraft by summer 2023, using the extra capacity to grow its North American presence.
By Joe Anselmo, Guy Norris, Jens Flottau, Michael Bruno
The engine OEM should be celebrating a year of record production. Instead the end of 2018 cannot come soon enough. Listen in as our editors discuss Rolls’ production delays and its long-term future.
Working with Spanish hybrid-electric light aircraft developer Axter Aerospace, US startup Wright Electric plans to fly a nine-seat demonstrator in 2019 as a step toward an ultimate goal of developing a 186-seat, electric-powered narrowbody airliner.
European aircraft manufacturer ATR is confident there are market opportunities for turboprops in South Korea, even though such aircraft have yet to gain a foothold there.
Facing mounting issues in two major programs, Airbus has cut the manufacturer’s 2018 delivery target and said the company is working to “resolve certain commercial challenges on the A330ceo and the A380” by the end of the year.
Overcapacity in the increasingly competitive Canadian domestic market has led WestJet to defer four Boeing 737 MAX 8s scheduled for delivery next year.
Embraer is still working to firm up many of the commitments received at this year’s Farnborough Air Show, but executives are confident that 2019’s production will be at or possibly above this year’s projected total of about 90 deliveries, and the recently reduced backlog will quickly be replenished.
Rolls-Royce has acknowledged it has fallen behind on Trent 7000 shipments to Airbus that will cause knock-on delays to A330neo deliveries later this year and into 2019.
Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) LCC subsidiary Scoot will begin introducing sister company SilkAir’s Boeing 737-800s after April 2019 as part of SIA Group plans to optimize the airline’s network and better compete against regional LCCs.
Finnair is evaluating its plans for narrowbody replacements, with deliveries anticipated to begin about 2020, as 37 of the airline’s existing narrowbody fleet approach mid-life
Southwest Airlines is nearing the end of its required FAA certification process to launch Hawaii flights, and could launch service within weeks of getting final approval, top executives said.
