Airbus’s hopes of winning an immediate respite from slow sales of its A330neo jetliner with an order from United are dwindling, leaving a gap in future production weeks before it is due to enter service, industry sources said on Friday. Airbus has been competing with Boeing to replace all or part of a fleet of some 50 Boeing 767s at United, people familiar with the discussions say. Others said Airbus had made an unsolicited offer to try to head off plans by United to use rights to buy more Boeing 787s. “Airbus doesn’t have United,” one person familiar with the matter said, though others did not exclude a chance to compete for a second tranche of business later. Sources say Boeing has an advantage in any competition because United already flies its 787 and has options for more.<br/>
star
Jet Airways India is not ruling out looking at the sale of loss-making national carrier Air India, its chairman said, although he remains focused on his own airline. "We are looking at our own business,” Naresh Goyal said. “But I am not saying that we will not look at Air India, I’ve never said that. Ultimately we will always see what is the best approach ahead of us, and for the country.” Jet Airways’s comments come after IndiGo, the only airline to have publicly shown interest in buying parts of Air India, said it’s no longer keen on the airline, which has been put on the block after a taxpayer-funded bailout failed to stem losses. Goyal said the plan to privatize Air India is “a brave and very good decision” for India, predicting that the process will ultimately prove successful.<br/>
Air China’s new service between Chengdu and London that BA dropped in 2017 will be to Gatwick. The Chinese carrier proposes to fly Airbus A330s on the route three times a week beginning in July 2018, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said. But whereas BA connected Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport with London’s Heathrow Airport, Air China proposes to fly to London Gatwick. BA opened the route in September 2013 using Boeing 787s, but ceased flying in January 2017. Chongqing, a rival of Chengdu 160 miles to the southeast, has had a Tianjin Airlines service to London Gatwick since June 2016.<br/>