US aviation-safety officials Monday said flyers should not use any Samsung Electronics Galaxy Note 7 cellphones on flights, expanding their guidance to include replacement models. The FAA widened the guidance given to airlines and flyers about the phone’s possible fire risks, having previously excluded models purchased after Sept. 15 from their warnings. The move will iron out differences in how the existing ban on the use of the phone is applied by airlines. Some included all Note 7 models while others excluded the replacement models. The FAA reiterated its guidance, which is also being followed by overseas airlines, for passengers to keep phones powered off and avoid charging them on the plane. Passengers are also being told to keep phones on their person or in carry-on baggage. The agency cited Samsung’s decision to suspend sales and product exchanges, as well as the continuing probe by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Airlines have been reminding passengers with announcements at airport gates and as part of preflight safety briefings. <br/>
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Aéroports de Paris has completed the sale of its 4.3% stake in Mexican airport operator OMA. The equity interest stake sale in Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte (OMA) was through an international private placement, ADP said. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. OMA operates 13 airports in central and northern Mexico.<br/>
It’s rarely a good sign when you become the butt of jokes. But that’s what happened to Pratt & Whitney at an industry gathering recently, when John Leahy, the venerable chief salesman of Airbus Group SE, went on about a futuristic airplane -- with an engine that “no doubt will be delivered late.” While the audience was amused, Pratt surely wasn’t. It’s spent $10b and decades developing the quieter, more-efficient and less-polluting engine. Executives see the product as critical to catching up to rival General Electric Co. in the market to power narrow-body planes, the dominant aircraft used by airlines around the world. Instead, the engine’s debut has been marred by production delays, technical issues and supply-chain foul-ups. Qatar Airways last week cited the problems while announcing plans to buy planes powered exclusively by GE turbines. Pratt was forced to cut promised deliveries this year by 25%, frustrating some airlines and plane manufacturers counting on them. The troubles have dinged the stock of parent United Technologies, as Pratt’s $14b in sales accounts for about one-quarter of its revenue. “This is their big play to get back on single-aisles,” said Cai Von Rumohr, an analyst at Cowen & Co. “This is the one that’s going to have to happen if they’re going to be a player in large commercial engines.”<br/>