Boeing has won a closely watched contest to supply 47 new 787 Dreamliner jets to American Airlines, beating European rival Airbus for the highly coveted order of widebody, long-haul aircraft. “This was a difficult decision between the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 and A330neo and we thank both manufacturers for their aggressive efforts to earn more of American’s business. In the end, our goal to simplify our fleet made the 787 a more compelling choice,” American Airlines President Robert Isom said. The deal, at a list price of more than $12b, is the latest in a series of blows to the Airbus A330neo. It comes just weeks after Hawaiian Airlines [HAII.UL] dropped an order for six Airbus A330-800neo jets in favor of the 787, leaving that variant of long-haul A330neo with no customers. “This new order is a powerful endorsement of the 787 family’s unique passenger appeal and unmatched ability to help airlines open new routes and grow profitably,” Boeing CE Kevin McAllister said.<br/>
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The Cabin Crew Union of LAN Express, a subsidiary of the Chile-based LATAM Airlines group, said workers would strike Tuesday after mediation with the government failed to produce a new labor contract. The union, which includes about 1,000 airline workers, said Saturday that the strike would affect all local flights and international connections in Chile of LATAM Airlines. LATAM Airlines said it was continuing to negotiate but had preventively cancelled or rescheduled some flights within Chile, not including Easter Island, and to and from other parts of South America between April 10 and 16. “During the mandatory mediation, some secondary agreements were reached, however there were no proposals that could be approved in the two most relevant areas,” the union said. It added that two points of contention were the duration of rotations and salaries of new employees. LATAM said it had offered employees seven days of work and four days of rest, improving upon Chilean law which calls for four days of rest per 10 days of work.<br/>