Airbus conceded defeat to rival Boeing in the race for new business at the Paris Airshow Thursday, as a late haul of almost 100 aircraft failed to close a gap opened up by the launch of the American firm’s new 737 model. Airbus said it won 326 net new orders and commitments against its estimate of a comparable Boeing tally of 443, excluding conversions from other models to support the launch of the Boeing 737 MAX 10. As Airbus was unveiling its numbers, Boeing topped up its tally by announcing a firm order for 125 737 MAX 8 airplanes with an undisclosed customer and another deal with AerCap to convert 15 of its MAX 8 orders into the larger MAX 10. “Is this a slower show than previous years? Yes, it is. Are we conceding that Boeing sold a few more airplanes than we did? Yes,” Airbus sales chief John Leahy said. <br/>
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US House Transportation chairman Bill Shuster introduced a new bill Wednesday that features a revised and supposedly friendlier approach to moving air traffic control out of the FAA and into a federally chartered, non-profit organisation. Shuster claimed newfound support from Rep. Sam Graves, one of the most prominent voices for general aviation (GA) interests in Congress. That support apparently comes after Shuster’s revised ATC-outsourcing effort now includes a user fee exemption for GA for airspace use, as well as a guaranteed seat on the board of directors at the proposed organisation. All of GA would continue to pay gas taxes according to committee staff. “This bill improves upon the bill we put forward in the last Congress,” Shuster said. “We gained support.” <br/>
Airline pilots have expressed anger after a planned crackdown on people who shine lasers at aircraft was dropped by the govt. In February the Department for Transport announced its intention to introduce legislation meaning people who did so could face tougher penalties including jail. It is already an offence to endanger aircraft by shining lasers at pilots, and offenders can be fined. But police have to prove a person endangered the aircraft when committing the offence of shining a laser. Under the proposed plans to bolster the law, police would have had to prove only the offence of shining the laser. Last year 1,258 laser attacks were reported on aircraft in the UK, down from 1,439 in 2015, Balpa said it was infuriating to see the changes that the airline pilots’ union had hoped for be ditched. <br/>