IAG Thursday said it would place a big order for Boeing ’s 777-9 jetliner, ending a 2-year sales drought for the new long-haul plane. IAG said it would place a firm order for 18 Boeing 777-9s and take options for up to 24 more. The deal has a combined value of US$18.5b at list price before industry standard discounts. The jetliners will eventually replace BA’s aging 747 jumbo jets in another sign twin-engine long-range planes are supplanting their 4-engine rivals. The 777X, when it flies later this year, will become the world’s largest twin-engine airliner. IAG CE Walsh called the 777-9 “the ideal replacement for the Boeing 747.” BA also will phase out some of its 777-200s. Deliveries are due between 2022 and 2025. Though the 777X can seat more than 400 passengers, BA says it will equip them with 325 seats. <br/>
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The govt has fined American Airlines and Delta Air Lines for several instances where passengers were stuck on planes that spent over 3 hours on airport tarmacs. The DoT said Thursday it is fining American US$1m and Delta $750,000 for violating rules prohibiting tarmac delays of more than 3 hours for domestic flights and 4 hours for international trips. The agency said that 13 flights operated by American at various US airports between Dec 2015 and Jan 2017 violated its tarmac-delay rules. Delta was dinged for 11 flights between Jan 2017 and Feb 2018. American will be credited US$450,000 for compensation provided to passengers and Delta will be credited $450,000. <br/>
American Airlines, lacking the global footprint of its top two US competitors, may expand to India and Africa once a second batch of Boeing 787 orders starts arriving next year, an executive said. “That’s the airplane that is going to take us eventually to India and into Africa, and into markets which are very different from the ones that we have been in historically, but ones we believe will be very profitable,” said Vasu Raja, the airline’s VP for planning. With 47 new Boeing 787s set to arrive over several years beginning in 2020, in addition to 42 others from an earlier order, Raja said he is thinking bigger, asking whether American should return to India and enter Africa for the first time. He stressed no route announcements are imminent. <br/>