Boeing claimed victory Thursday after outselling rival Airbus at this week’s Farnborough Airshow, where the world’s largest planemakers repeated last year’s comparable haul of around 900 orders with the help of leasing industry demand. The world’s largest planemaker said it had won 528 orders and commitments at the event in southern England, while Airbus reported 431 new deals, or 371 excluding the recently acquired Bombardier CSeries, now rebranded A220. But the tally was overshadowed by some 400 deals where the names of the buyers were withheld - unusual at an event mainly designed to attract publicity, and prompting one delegate leaving Farnborough to quip that he had attended a “UFO show”. Airbus blamed the incognito wave on trade tensions that had made some firms nervous about appearing to side with the US or other economic powers amid heated trade rhetoric. “The fact that the world is waking up to see which tweet has hit which part of the world doesn’t really help,” Airbus sales chief Eric Schulz said, in an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump’s frequent use of Twitter. But the publicity-shy trend was also widely seen as evidence that both giants were anxious to boost their tallies. Planemakers in some cases accelerate semi-finished business or use shows as a deadline to get airlines to commit even if they are not ready to be named, people familiar with talks said.<br/>
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Executives from top aerospace and aviation companies called Thursday for stepped-up efforts to attract more women, saying this could help solve looming shortages of pilots, mechanics and top managers in the traditionally male-dominated sector. The industries are coming under scrutiny because of the low numbers of women employed as senior executives or airline pilots. At the same time, a growing shortage of pilots is putting the sector's recent growth at risk. The head of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, caused a storm last month when he said that a woman could not do his job, although he later apologised, saying his comments had been intended as a joke and were taken out of context. Charlotte Pedersen, CE of Luxaviation Helicopters, a private aviation operator, said urgent action was needed since the sector faced a potential "huge gap" in management capacity in a decade as current executives retired. Jane Basson, chief of staff to Airbus CEO Tom Enders, said women now accounted for 17.5% of the company's workforce of 140,000 but that was just a tick up from 15% in 2005. "It's not progressing fast enough," she said, adding that her company was now using data analysis tools to understand why it was proving so difficult to recruit and retain women.<br/>
WTO arbitrators will evaluate a US request to impose billions of dollars worth of sanctions on European products after a final WTO ruling that found the EU had given illegal subsidies to Airbus. The request for retaliation for losses incurred by rival Boeing in the long-running dispute over claims of illegal handouts for aircraft makers adds fuel to mounting transatlantic trade tensions. It comes as EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in Brussels that she hoped an EU mission to Washington would help ease a trade dispute linked to steel and aluminium but that the bloc is preparing a list of US imports to hit if the US imposes tariffs on EU cars. The US made the request to the WTO last Friday for three judges to set the level of retaliatory sanctions, the global watchdog said in a document posted on Thursday. The WTO arbitration is expected to take around a year.<br/>
Travellers at JFK Airport in New York will soon experience a test of more advanced, three-dimensional imaging to screen carry-on bags. The TSA and American Airlines said Thursday that a test of computed-tomography scanners will start later this month at JFK's Terminal 8. The machines let screeners manipulate 3-D images to get a better idea of what's inside a bag. TSA has been running similar tests in Phoenix and Boston since last year. TSA uses 3-D imaging to scan checked bags, but until recently the scanners have been too large and heavy for use at security checkpoints. Instead, screeners use older X-ray technology to inspect carry-on bags. TSA Administrator David Pekoske says 3-D scanning will improve security right away.<br/>
The world’s largest passenger jet is finally getting a second life. On August 1 a 10-year-old, Airbus A380 formerly flown by SIA will enter service with a new carrier, said Paulo Mirpuri, CEO of aircraft lessor Hi Fly. He said he has two candidates interested in flying the refurbished, 471-seat, jumbo jet: a large European airline seeking its first A380 for flights across the North Atlantic, and an East Asian carrier that already has a fleet of the double-decker. “We believe there is quite strong potential for the A380,” Mirpuri said. “It is a good aircraft for high-density airports where slots are restricted and cannot easily be added. Our clients want an aircraft that’s able to fly more passengers.” A decision is due next week on which of the customers, whom he declined to name, will receive the plane. Hi Fly’s leasing deal would extend the usefulness of a plane that has been popular with travellers but has become an embarrassment for Airbus since it was introduced 10 years ago. <br/>
A group of local authorities in the London area have notified the UK Secretary of State for Transport it will seek a judicial review of the government's decision to support a third Heathrow runway. In 2016, the UK government chose adding a new runway as its preferred option for increasing airport capacity, proceeding to a consultation on the draft Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) and a House of Commons vote on June 25, 2018, which approved—with a large majority—the GBP14b project to build the third runway, with the aim to have it in operation by 2026. The debate over how to keep up with growing demand for airport capacity has dragged on for half a century, with environmental and noise concerns for local residents pitted against the economic benefits of job creation and a boost to international trade that a higher capacity airport would bring.<br/>