The extreme heat that has come with climate change is prompting airplane manufacturers to test their fleets for increasingly hotter temperatures. While travellers are used to flight cancellations in blizzards, the unpredictable storms and extreme heat of warmer months present airlines — and passengers — with some of the most challenging conditions of the year. The gradual warming of the earth that has come with climate change is causing more frequent and more severe swings in weather patterns across the globe. That means more days of extreme heat that airlines didn't have to worry about before. "Last summer was a wake-up call for us," said Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for American Airlines. Once the busy summer travel season was over, Feinstein said the airline approached Bombardier, the manufacturer of the regional jets that were grounded in the heat wave, to see if the planes could fly at higher temperatures. The company won that approval from US and Canadian regulatory agencies in May, said Bombardier spokeswoman. The maximum temperature at which Bombardier CRJs can fly depends on altitude, but from Phoenix, it's now around 123 degrees Fahrenheit, up from about 118. Bombardier's competitor, Brazil's Embraer has taken similar steps and its new E190 E2 regional jet, which started service this April, can operate at higher temperatures than previous models. Higher temperatures could make flying more unpleasant for travellers. A 2017 University of Reading study based on computer models found that hotter air could increase strong turbulence in the coming decades by generating instabilities in air flows at high altitudes.<br/>
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Congressional investigators say TSA failed to perform many inspections of carriers operating flights from Cuba to the US between 2012 and 2016. The Government Accountability Office said in a new report that the Transportation Security Administration only performed about half the required inspections on five carriers that investigators studied. The GAO said that in many cases TSA couldn't reliably track US-bound charter operations. TSA said it is working to improve tracking A TSA spokesman said Friday that "external factors" hindered the agency's ability to perform inspections as often as expected — generally every six to 12 months. The agency told GAO that the Cuban government sometimes asked to reschedule inspections. The spokesman said TSA followed guidelines to follow up when inspections turned up shortcomings, a point on which the GAO agreed. Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee requested the GAO study.<br/>
Boeing is seeking to rewrite the rules for creating commercial jets as it hones plans for a new midrange aircraft nicknamed the 797. For decades, Boeing pushed its planes to fly ever farther. The 787 Dreamliner, the company’s last all-new jetliner, opened nearly 200 nonstop routes. The 777X will be the first twin-engine jet designed to haul more than 400 travellers halfway around the world. But for its next aircraft, Boeing plans to dial back the ambitions for range, shooting instead for a plane that’s tailored for, say, the eight- to ten-hour flight from Chicago to Central Europe. That market hasn’t been considered cutting-edge since the Berlin Wall was standing and the company’s 757 and 767 were forging new trans-Atlantic connections. More recently, Airbus SE has been edging into the niche by bumping up the range of its popular single-aisle jetliner, the A321neo. The new jet Boeing is contemplating would fill a gap between the planemaker's biggest narrow-body and its smallest wide-body. What’s revolutionary about the so-called 797 is the gush of money that Boeing hopes to get not from making and selling the plane, but from keeping it in the air. The mid-market family would be the first Boeing jets designed to make money for the world’s largest planemaker long after the point of sale. The initial purchase of a jet represents about 30 percent of the lifetime costs of operating the aircraft, said Stan Deal, who heads Boeing’s new global services division. Capturing a bigger slice of the remaining 70 percent that comes from services and maintenance over the following decades represents a lucrative opportunity for Boeing -- and a cushion against down cycles when airplane sales stall.<br/>
Top global plane makers land at the Farnborough air show in England next week, hoping to pick up speed on demand for passenger jets while charting a path through Brexit and trade war turbulence. This year’s sector showpiece event, opening on Monday, will be buzzing on the back of rapid changes in the industry, as Boeing and Airbus vie for superiority in the skies. Boeing could signal plans for its new mid-size aeroplane (NMA), but reports suggest this could be derailed by the festering global trade war spearheaded by US President Donald Trump. Boeing recently took control of the commercial business of Brazil’s Embraer, while Airbus bought a majority stake in Canadian peer Bombardier’s C Series airliner programme. The pair will continue their head-to-head dogfight at the biennial Farnborough event locked in a battle for lucrative multibillion-dollar jet orders. Farnborough, southwest of London, is one of the world’s largest civilian and defence air shows, along with Paris and Dubai. Visitors from almost 100 countries will flock to the event, which features air displays by civil and defence jets. “It’s our biggest international show ever,” said Gareth Rogers, CE of Farnborough International, adding that Chinese participation alone was up 70% from 2016. “Everybody is coming to the show,” he added.<br/>
Rolls-Royce plans to offer airlines maintenance credits, limiting direct compensation for grounding Boeing 787 planes in a bid to minimise the impact of unexpected wear issues on cash flow, according to people familiar with the matter. Under the offer, airlines would benefit from reduced engine-overhaul fees, as well as credits for future orders, after the problems with Rolls’s Trent 1000 turbines led to unscheduled shop visits, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the proposal is confidential. That would help Rolls meet a GBP450m cash-flow target that’s under pressure from the extra costs, pushing those outlays out to later years. CEO Warren East has already cut back on travel expenses, IT upgrades and spending on new programmes in an effort to meet the cash goal. While the offer of maintenance credits would help Rolls stay on target, the move risks eating into a critical source of revenue. Like other engine makers, Rolls sells its power plants at a loss and makes most of its money from long-term repair contracts.<br/>
The world needs to produce 43,000 new aircraft over the next two decades to meet booming demand, Boeing's CEO forecast here Sunday. Dennis Muilenberg, CE of the US aerospace giant, revealed the outlook upgrade to reporters in London before the sector's Farnborough Air Show starting Monday. "We continue to see the aerospace market grow very strongly," said Muilenberg. "We see $8.1t marketplace in the next ten years" for commercial, defence and services, he added. "We further increased our estimates in the next 20 years. We expect the world to need roughly 43,000 new commercial airplanes. That's up from last year's estimates." Boeing will publish exact details of its latest outlook on Tuesday, the second day of the Farnborough event held southwest of London. Airbus had forecast last week that the world's passenger fleet would more than double to 48,000 aircraft over the next 20 years, on the back of keen demand from emerging economies and low-cost airlines. In a revised market outlook, Airbus had put the value of nearly 37,400 new aircraft required to meet global demand at $5.8t by 2037. In 2017, Airbus had estimated the world would need 35,000 new planes by 2036, valued at $5.3t.<br/>
Embraer is forecasting 10,550 new aircraft deliveries in the 30- to 150-seat segment over the next 20 years, valued at $600b. Embraer released the updated global forecast during a briefing at the Farnborough Air Show on July 15. Today, there are 9,000 aircraft below 150 seats in operation, but Embraer said this figure is set to increase to 16,000 aircraft, with 65% of the new deliveries being used for growth, while the remaining 35% will be replacements. Of the 10,550 new aircraft needed, 4,660 (45%) will have fewer than 100 seats, while the remaining 5,890 (55%) will carry 100 to 150 passengers. Asia Pacific will lead demand, taking 28% of the 10,550 aircraft. Europe and North America will each take a 27% share, with Latin America accounting for a further 11%. Africa and the Middle East make up the remaining 7% of the anticipated demand.<br/>