US prosecutors are looking at whether Boeing provided incomplete or misleading information about the 737 Max aircraft to US air-safety regulators and customers, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The aircraft is the same model involved in 2 fatal crashes in less than 5 months. Although Boeing hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, people close to the matter said the focus on disclosures to regulators is part of a broader investigation into how the jetliner was developed and certified. People close to the matter said agents with the FBI and the DoT’s inspector general’s office are working together under the direction of federal prosecutors, reported the Journal. <br/>
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As Boeing rushes to address international concerns about the safety of its 737 Max jets, most Wall Street analysts are taking a wait-and-watch approach. The FAA Wednesday was the latest to ground the planes following the second deadly crash in recent months. They won’t fly again until Boeing updates flight-control software, a process the chairman of a House aviation subcommittee says could last for 6 weeks or more. Several airline operators around the world have already indicated that they’ll rethink their Boeing orders, raising questions about the company’s long-term outlook. “If a software solution can be mounted/FAA approved in short order, the financial impact to fiscal 2019 could be more muted,” a Seaport Global analyst said. “Ultimately, the outcome of the investigation remains fluid and dynamic.” <br/>
Vienna has become the hottest ticket in European aviation as carriers pour planes and investment into a market once regarded as an industry backwater. A clutch of operators are ramping up capacity in a challenge to Austrian Airlines, sparking hefty price cuts. Europe’s top airlines are targeting Vienna after the collapse of Air Berlin left a gap in the market. Vienna has become “a bloody party,” according to Wizz CE Jozsef Varadi, while HSBC analyst Andrew Lobbenberg says the current rate of expansion is “too good to be true” and indicates an unsustainable, unstable and irrational market. “The strategic visions of the various major European carriers are all playing out on top of one another,” Lobbenberg said, predicting that at least 2 players will be forced to quit. <br/>