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European plane maker Airbus plans to deliver more aircraft this year while its U.S. rival Boeing faces delays.
Airbus posted higher revenue and profit for the first quarter, backed its goal to deliver more planes this year than in 2023 and decided to increase production of its A350 wide-body jets, extending its lead over beleaguered rival Boeing.
The European plane maker confirmed its target to deliver about 800 commercial aircraft to customers this year, more than the 735 planes it dispatched in 2023.
Airbus’s optimism that deliveries will keep growing comes as Boeing grapples with the fallout from an Alaska Airlines emergency landing in January after a door plug ripped away in midair, prompting a temporary grounding and immediate inspections of Boeing 737 MAX jets.
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Boeing deliveries are expected to slow substantially as a machinist strike continues.
Boeing managed to deliver a small number of 737 MAX jets after a strike by machinists shut down the Renton, Wash., factory that builds the planes.
But deliveries are expected to slow substantially as the walkout stretches into its second month. The jet maker delivered 33 planes last month, including 28 737s. That's down from 40 jets overall in August and 32 of the 737s. The company says it was able to slip out some delivery-ready planes after the strike started Sept. 13. Analysts estimate Boeing built 10 737s in September, well off the company's goal of 38 per month.
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Boeing said it has reminded operators of the actions that flight crews should take if they encounter rudder restriction.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a safety alert to airlines regarding Boeing 737 airplanes equipped with certain rudder components.
The air-safety regulator said Tuesday the operators of Boeing 737 NG and 737 MAX airplanes with SVO-730 rudder rollout guidance actuators should instruct flight crews that the rudder control system could potentially become jammed or restricted in flight or during landing.
Boeing said in a statement it has reminded operators of the proper actions that flight crews should take if they encounter rudder restriction, and has also shared technical guidance from its supplier.
“We continue to work under the oversight of regulators regarding the actuator on an optional autoland system on a subset of 737s,” Boeing said.
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Manufacturer to book $5 billion in charges on troubled programs and warns of deeper quarterly loss amid machinists strike
Boeing will delay the launch of the 777X to 2026. Boeing will cut 10% of its global workforce, or roughly 17,000 jobs, and warned of deeper losses in its operations as a machinist strike compounds problems brewing at the jet maker for years.
Along with the job cuts, the manufacturing giant said it would further delay the launch of a new airplane, the 777X, that is already years behind schedule. It will also discontinue the 767 cargo plane.
Boeing will book $3 billion of pretax charges tied to the two jet programs and another $2 billion in write-offs tied to several troubled programs in its defense unit. The charges will result in a quarterly net loss of roughly $6 billion.
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The European plane maker said that it will book charges of about €900 million in the first half of 2024
Airbus said it will miss annual aircraft targets, and will book charges of about €900 million in the first half of 2024. Airbus AIR said it won’t be meeting its annual targets for the year, including the number of commercial aircraft it planned to deliver, after its space-systems management team identified further commercial and technical challenges.
The European plane maker on Monday said that it will also book charges of about €900 million ($962.5 million) in the first half of 2024 following an extensive review of its space-systems programs.
Airbus expects to end the year delivering 770 commercial aircraft, down from a prior outlook of 800 commercial aircraft deliveries a couple of months ago.
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Engine problems are the latest chapter in the troubled history of the Airbus A220, a jet with the potential to revolutionize regional and short-haul travel
An Airbus A220-300’s roughly 170 seats make it ideal for small European countries’ flag carriers. Corporate history is full of great products that flopped—Betamax, Commodore’s Amiga computer and Aston Martin’s 1974 Lagonda car. For the Airbus AIR A220, avoiding a similar fate seems like a constant struggle.
The durability problems affecting jet engines have hit this aircraft hard, forcing airlines to cancel flights and ground crews. RTX-owned Pratt & Whitney has said that many of its PW1500G turbofans, which were supposed to last 20,000 flight cycles, should be sent to the shop at 5,000. Some are being sent in before 600 cycles. According to August estimates by analytics firm IBA, 15% of global A220s are grounded and another 42% are of the age that suggest inspections have happened or are due.
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The bloc’s aviation safety agency said it will require a one-time fleet inspection. The European Union’s aviation safety agency called for inspections to be carried out on Airbus A350 model planes after Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific discovered earlier this week that engine components on some of its planes required replacement.
The bloc’s aviation safety agency said in an emergency airworthiness directive on Thursday that it is requiring a “one-off inspection of flexible fuel hose connections inside the engines to check for damage” on Airbus A350-1000 jets powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines.
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The airline net profit in the first six months fell 15% from a year earlier
Cathay Pacific said it expects to restore passenger flights to prepandemic levels by the first quarter of 2025. Photo: Lam Yik/Bloomberg News
Cathay Pacific Airways is set to buy Airbus AIR 0.24%increase; green up pointing triangle jets valued at US$11 billion, the Hong Kong flag carrier said as it posted a drop in first-half profit in part due to lower ticket prices.
The airline on Wednesday said net profit in the first six months fell 15% on the year to 3.61 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to US$463.1 million. It attributed the fall to the “normalization of ticket prices.”
Revenue rose 14% to HK$49.60 billion, helped by passenger flights reaching 80% of prepandemic levels, which also boosted cargo capacity, it said. Yield, or the revenue earned per passenger, declined by 11%, given that more passenger flights are being added to the market, it added.
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