Air Niugini to take delivery of two B737 MAX jets next year despite crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia
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Air Niugini to take delivery of two B737 MAX jets next year despite crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia
PORT MORESBY: More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX jets have been grounded globally after two such controversial aircraft crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia the past five months.
The crashes killed about 350 people and Indonesia’s Garuda has informed Boeing it will cancel a multi-billion-dollar order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets.
Garuda had already received one of the planes, part of a 50-aircraft order worth US$4.9 billion when it was announced in 2014.
Obviously, after the Garuda crash, the Indonesians have found it necessary to reject the B737 Max jets in the interest of air passenger safety.
Papua New Guinea’s Air Niugini had also ordered four such jets from Boeing and it is set to take delivery of two aircraft next year, and another two in 2021.
Air Niugini has maintained its stand that it will go ahead with taking delivery of the jets amid continuous global concerns over the air worthiness of the B737 MAX aircraft.
Even Boeing has reportedly stopped delivery of all new MAX jets.
What do you think? Should Air Niugini put on hold its order of the jets?
Read on for the latest on air safety and the B737MAX:
Factbox - What we know about Boeing 737 MAX crash and what comes next
WORLD
Wednesday, 27 Mar 2019
12:40 AM MYT
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Investigators looking to uncover the causes must answer one of the biggest questions: Was the plane's software to blame?
WHAT WE KNOW
- Boeing has stopped delivery of all new MAX jets. Its shares have fallen 12 percent since the Ethiopian Airlines crash, wiping $28 billion from its market value.
- Europe and Canada said they would independently certify the safety of the jets, further complicating plans to get the aircraft flying.
- Boeing will mandate on MAX jets a previously optional cockpit warning light, which might have warned of problems that possibly played a role in the recent crashes of Ethiopian and Indonesian planes, sources said.
- Indonesia's flag carrier Garuda said on Friday it sent a letter to Boeing asking to cancel an order for 49 MAX 8 aircraft, becoming the first airline to confirm plans to cancel an order after the crashes.
- Investigators have found similarities in the 'angle of attack' data from both flights. A piece of a stabilizer in the wreckage of the Ethiopian jet with the trim set in an unusual position was similar to that of the Lion Air plane, sources said.
- Investigators who verified data from the black box recorders of the Ethiopian plane have found 'clear similarities' with the doomed Lion Air flight, French air accident authority BEA has also said.
- Experts believe a new flight control system, MCAS, on the jets, designed to stop stalling by dipping the nose, may have been a factor in both crashes, with pilots unable to override it as their jets plunged after a faulty sensor indicated a stall. But no conclusive evidence yet links the two accidents.
- The pilot of the Ethiopian flight had reported internal control problems and received permission to return. The pilot of the Lion Air flight, which crashed on Oct. 29 with the loss of all 189 aboard, had also asked to return soon after take-off from Jakarta.
- Investigators confirmed a Reuters report that the Lion Air pilots scrambled through a handbook to understand why the jet was lurching downwards in the final minutes before it hit the water.
- Indonesia has advanced the date for the release of its report on the Lion Air crash to between July and August, versus a previous schedule of between August and September.
- Boeing's commercial airplane division has brought in a new vice president of engineering while dedicating another top executive to the aircraft investigations, a company email showed.
WHAT'S NEXT?
- U.S. lawmakers said the planes could be grounded for weeks to upgrade and install the software in every plane. Other countries may ground the planes even longer.
- The U.S. Transportation Department's inspector general plans to audit the FAA's certification of the jet, an official with the office said this week. The office can recommend changes or improvements to how the FAA operates.
- The U.S. Justice Department is also looking at the FAA's oversight of Boeing, one of the people said. The FAA has said it is "absolutely" confident in its vetting.
- The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives transportation committee and another key Democrat asked the Transportation Department's inspector general to examine key decisions the FAA made in certifying the MAX jet for use.
- U.S. President Donald Trump will nominate former Delta Air Lines executive Steve Dickson to head the FAA, the White House said.
- Ethiopian Airlines said on March 16 that DNA testing of the remains of the passengers may take up to six months.
- A preliminary report on an Ethiopian Airlines crash will very likely be released this week, the country's transport ministry said on Tuesday.
- Boeing is this week briefing airlines on software and training updates for the MAX, with more than 200 global airline pilots, technical experts and regulators due in Renton, Washington, where the plane is built.
(Compiled by Reuters bureaux) - The Star
U.S. aviation agency to overhaul oversight after Boeing crashes
WORLD
Tuesday, 26 Mar 2019
9:20 PM MYT
by david shepardson and kumerra gumechu
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WASHINGTON/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will significantly change its oversight approach to air safety by July, a U.S. transport department official said on Tuesday, following two fatal Boeing MAX 737 plane crashes.
U.S. Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel disclosed the plan in written testimony ahead of a U.S. Senate panel hearing on Wednesday.
The aviation industry has been thrown into flux by the two disasters - a Lion Air crash in Indonesia last October that killed 189 and an Ethiopian Airlines one this month that killed 157 - both involving Boeing's 737 MAX single-aisle plane.
The jet, Boeing's best-selling with orders worth more than $500 billion at list prices, has been grounded globally.
Acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell will tell Wednesday's Senate Commerce subcommittee that the agency's oversight approach must "evolve" following the crashes, according to written testimony viewed by Reuters.
He will also say that the 737 MAX will return to service "only when the FAA’s analysis of the facts and technical data indicate that it is appropriate."
The MAX software is among the leading areas of focus for investigations into the two crashes.
Elwell’s testimony discloses that Boeing first submitted a proposed upgrade to its anti-stall software to the FAA for certification on Jan. 21.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment but is expected as early as Wednesday to unveil more details of the software upgrade.
Elwell will tell the panel that the FAA "will go wherever the facts lead us, in the interest of safety".
Boeing is this week briefing airlines on software and training updates for the MAX, with more than 200 global airline pilots, technical experts and regulators due in Renton, Washington, where the plane is built.
As well as FAA approval, any MAX software fixes will need a green light from governments around the world, a process that could take months.
China's civil aviation regulator has stopped taking applications for MAX 8 airworthiness certification, an official from the regulator said on Tuesday.
ETHIOPIAN REPORT EXPECTED
On Tuesday, a spokesman for Ethiopia's transport ministry, which is leading the investigation in Addis Ababa into the March 10 crash, told Reuters the preliminary crash report would very likely be released this week, though he cautioned "there could be unpredictable things" and declined to give further details.
The statement came a day after Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Tewolde Gebremariam said he expected the preliminary report "maybe" to be released this week or next.
The airline subsequently issued a statement denying the CEO had commented on the timing of the report's release. "We want to make clear to the world that we have no mandate to comment on the investigation," it said.
Separately on Tuesday, families and friends grieving the victims of the Ethiopian disaster held a tearful ceremony in Addis Ababa to unveil a plaque and plant an olive tree with soil from the crash site.
The initial report from the investigation will begin to paint a more detailed picture of what went wrong during flight ET 302's six minutes in the air -- likely with huge consequences for the plane's manufacturer, the airline, or both.
Ethiopian Airlines is a symbol of immense national pride for the country of more than 100 million people.
Its success over the past decade in particular, as it has grown its Boeing-dominated fleet substantially, is emblematic of Ethiopia's ambitions: to be a regional powerhouse with an Asia-style economic development model.
The country's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who took office a year ago and announced sweeping economic and political reforms, has said he wants to open Ethiopian Airlines up to foreign investment as part of a partial privatisation scheme for state-owned enterprises.
All of that could hinge on what the investigation reveals. Most crash investigations end up pinpointing a combination of factors.
SOFTWARE UPGRADES
Boeing's software fix for the grounded 737 MAX will prevent repeated operation of an anti-stall system at the centre of safety concerns, and deactivate it altogether if two sensors disagree widely, two people familiar with pilot briefings told Reuters on Monday.
Upgrading an individual 737 MAX with Boeing's new software only takes about an hour per plane, though the overall process could stretch on far longer as it is rolled out across the global fleet due to stringent testing and documentation requirements by engineers and regulators, according to a senior FAA official with knowledge of the process.
Ethiopian and French investigators have pointed to "clear similarities" between the two crashes, putting pressure on Boeing and U.S. regulators to come up with an adequate fix.
Boeing shares were down 0.5 percent at $368.71 on Tuesday, having lost about 12 percent and $29 billion in market value since the March 10 crash.
In another potential blow to Boeing, France announced on Monday that Airbus had agreed to sell 300 aircraft to China in a deal worth about is 30 billion euros (£26 billion).
Such headline figures surrounding state visits typically mask a mixture of old and new business, but the deal signals China's return to the global aircraft market after a pause of around a year due to trade tensions, industry sources said.
(Reporting by Kumerra Gemechu and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Keith Weir/Mark Potter/Georgina Prodhan) - The Star
AVIATION CRASH FRANCE ETHIOPIA INDONESIA BOEING AIRBUS
U.S. Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel disclosed the plan in written testimony ahead of a U.S. Senate panel hearing on Wednesday.
The aviation industry has been thrown into flux by the two disasters - a Lion Air crash in Indonesia last October that killed 189 and an Ethiopian Airlines one this month that killed 157 - both involving Boeing's 737 MAX single-aisle plane.
The jet, Boeing's best-selling with orders worth more than $500 billion at list prices, has been grounded globally.
Acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell will tell Wednesday's Senate Commerce subcommittee that the agency's oversight approach must "evolve" following the crashes, according to written testimony viewed by Reuters.
He will also say that the 737 MAX will return to service "only when the FAA’s analysis of the facts and technical data indicate that it is appropriate."
The MAX software is among the leading areas of focus for investigations into the two crashes.
Elwell’s testimony discloses that Boeing first submitted a proposed upgrade to its anti-stall software to the FAA for certification on Jan. 21.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment but is expected as early as Wednesday to unveil more details of the software upgrade.
Elwell will tell the panel that the FAA "will go wherever the facts lead us, in the interest of safety".
Boeing is this week briefing airlines on software and training updates for the MAX, with more than 200 global airline pilots, technical experts and regulators due in Renton, Washington, where the plane is built.
As well as FAA approval, any MAX software fixes will need a green light from governments around the world, a process that could take months.
China's civil aviation regulator has stopped taking applications for MAX 8 airworthiness certification, an official from the regulator said on Tuesday.
ETHIOPIAN REPORT EXPECTED
On Tuesday, a spokesman for Ethiopia's transport ministry, which is leading the investigation in Addis Ababa into the March 10 crash, told Reuters the preliminary crash report would very likely be released this week, though he cautioned "there could be unpredictable things" and declined to give further details.
The statement came a day after Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Tewolde Gebremariam said he expected the preliminary report "maybe" to be released this week or next.
The airline subsequently issued a statement denying the CEO had commented on the timing of the report's release. "We want to make clear to the world that we have no mandate to comment on the investigation," it said.
Separately on Tuesday, families and friends grieving the victims of the Ethiopian disaster held a tearful ceremony in Addis Ababa to unveil a plaque and plant an olive tree with soil from the crash site.
The initial report from the investigation will begin to paint a more detailed picture of what went wrong during flight ET 302's six minutes in the air -- likely with huge consequences for the plane's manufacturer, the airline, or both.
Ethiopian Airlines is a symbol of immense national pride for the country of more than 100 million people.
Its success over the past decade in particular, as it has grown its Boeing-dominated fleet substantially, is emblematic of Ethiopia's ambitions: to be a regional powerhouse with an Asia-style economic development model.
The country's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who took office a year ago and announced sweeping economic and political reforms, has said he wants to open Ethiopian Airlines up to foreign investment as part of a partial privatisation scheme for state-owned enterprises.
All of that could hinge on what the investigation reveals. Most crash investigations end up pinpointing a combination of factors.
SOFTWARE UPGRADES
Boeing's software fix for the grounded 737 MAX will prevent repeated operation of an anti-stall system at the centre of safety concerns, and deactivate it altogether if two sensors disagree widely, two people familiar with pilot briefings told Reuters on Monday.
Upgrading an individual 737 MAX with Boeing's new software only takes about an hour per plane, though the overall process could stretch on far longer as it is rolled out across the global fleet due to stringent testing and documentation requirements by engineers and regulators, according to a senior FAA official with knowledge of the process.
Ethiopian and French investigators have pointed to "clear similarities" between the two crashes, putting pressure on Boeing and U.S. regulators to come up with an adequate fix.
Boeing shares were down 0.5 percent at $368.71 on Tuesday, having lost about 12 percent and $29 billion in market value since the March 10 crash.
In another potential blow to Boeing, France announced on Monday that Airbus had agreed to sell 300 aircraft to China in a deal worth about is 30 billion euros (£26 billion).
Such headline figures surrounding state visits typically mask a mixture of old and new business, but the deal signals China's return to the global aircraft market after a pause of around a year due to trade tensions, industry sources said.
(Reporting by Kumerra Gemechu and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Keith Weir/Mark Potter/Georgina Prodhan) - The Star
AVIATION CRASH FRANCE ETHIOPIA INDONESIA BOEING AIRBUS
Issued on 22-03-2019 Modified 22-03-2019 to 19:43
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| Southwest Airlines Co. Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft sit next to the maintenance area after landing at Midway International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., March 13, 2019.REUTERS/Kamil Kraczynski/File Photo |
Garuda, the national carrier of Indonesia has told Boeing it will cancel a multi-billion-dollar order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets after the model was involved in two fatal crashes. Garuda had already received one of the planes, part of a 50-aircraft order worth $4.9 billion when it was announced in 2014.
Shukor Yusof, head of Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics, said Garuda's announcement appeared to mark the first formal plans by a carrier to cancel an order for the 737 MAX 8.
It "will probably not be the last. There is a risk that Garuda's rival Lion Air, which also has many 737 MAX 8 orders, might make the same decision," he said.
"That is a risk. This has been made public by the Lion Air CEO. He stated publicly that he is considering" a cancellation.
But he added that it was difficult to predict whether more major carriers would follow suit.
"There are many unanswered questions and each airline has specific needs," Yusof said.
This month, Lion Air said it was postponing delivery of four of the jets after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.
The Ethiopian tragedy came after a Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in Indonesia in October, killing all 189 people on board.
Budget carrier Lion -- Southeast Asia's biggest airline by fleet size and a major Boeing customer -- said the now-postponed planes had been on track for delivery this year.
The black boxes of the Ethiopian Airlines are under investigation by France’s air-accident investigator, the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA).
On 18 March, the BEA said in a press release that “clear similarities were noted by the investigation team between Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610.” A preliminary report on the Ethiopian airliner of flight ET302 is expected “within 30 days.”
Bloomberg reports that France has a “direct link to the crash” as the engines of the 737 Max 8 are made by through CFM International, a 50/50 joint venture between Safran Aircraft Engines and General Electric Co. CFM International itself is based in West Chester, Ohio. The joint venture was established in 1974; in 2009, the partnership was renewed until 2040, and the company provides its LEAP motors for 100% of the Boeing Max market.
According to French business daily La Tribune, CFM International broke records at the 2017 airshow Salon du Bourget with sales of 1,658 LEAP motors worth over 25 billion euros (20 of those motors were sold to Ethiopian Airlines). - RFI
Shukor Yusof, head of Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics, said Garuda's announcement appeared to mark the first formal plans by a carrier to cancel an order for the 737 MAX 8.
It "will probably not be the last. There is a risk that Garuda's rival Lion Air, which also has many 737 MAX 8 orders, might make the same decision," he said.
"That is a risk. This has been made public by the Lion Air CEO. He stated publicly that he is considering" a cancellation.
But he added that it was difficult to predict whether more major carriers would follow suit.
"There are many unanswered questions and each airline has specific needs," Yusof said.
This month, Lion Air said it was postponing delivery of four of the jets after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.
The Ethiopian tragedy came after a Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in Indonesia in October, killing all 189 people on board.
Budget carrier Lion -- Southeast Asia's biggest airline by fleet size and a major Boeing customer -- said the now-postponed planes had been on track for delivery this year.
The black boxes of the Ethiopian Airlines are under investigation by France’s air-accident investigator, the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA).
On 18 March, the BEA said in a press release that “clear similarities were noted by the investigation team between Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and Lion Air Flight 610.” A preliminary report on the Ethiopian airliner of flight ET302 is expected “within 30 days.”
Bloomberg reports that France has a “direct link to the crash” as the engines of the 737 Max 8 are made by through CFM International, a 50/50 joint venture between Safran Aircraft Engines and General Electric Co. CFM International itself is based in West Chester, Ohio. The joint venture was established in 1974; in 2009, the partnership was renewed until 2040, and the company provides its LEAP motors for 100% of the Boeing Max market.
According to French business daily La Tribune, CFM International broke records at the 2017 airshow Salon du Bourget with sales of 1,658 LEAP motors worth over 25 billion euros (20 of those motors were sold to Ethiopian Airlines). - RFI
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