President Donald Trump Monday urged Boeing to fix and "rebrand" its 737 MAX jetliner following 2 fatal crashes, while the planemaker said it was brainstorming with airlines over other ways to win back public trust. Pilots will play a pivotal role in that process, a Boeing spokesman said. "Pilots' confidence in the aircraft will lead passengers and crew to have greater confidence in the aircraft," said a Boeing VP. A person familiar with Boeing's public trust campaign said they did not believe the company was contemplating renaming the MAX, noting that aircraft renaming is a large undertaking that goes far beyond just a new paint job. For now Boeing remains focused on submitting a software update and finalising pilot training for regulatory approval. Regulators worldwide are preparing to review Boeing's proposals. <br/>
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Embraer and Boeing continue to progress toward closing proposed joint ventures, with a top executive describing the regulatory approval process as time-consuming but on track. “All teams are fully focused on securing regulatory approval from the antitrust authorities around the world,” Embraer’s president of commercial aircraft John Slattery said. “We have to respect the authorities…and the timeline that they dictate for us.” The companies have said that by year-end they expect to close deals under which Boeing will acquire 80% of Embraer’s commercial aircraft division and 49% of Embraer’s KC-390 heavy-lift military aircraft programme. Once closed, Slattery will be appointed CE of the joint Embraer-Boeing commercial aircraft business, the companies have said. <br/>
A4E has rebuked the EU for extending the maximum threshold for Europe's air navigation service providers (ANSP) from 0.5 minutes to 0.9 minutes per flight, the weakest performance targets ever. With the new targets in place for the next two years, a minimum of 9.9m minutes of delays per year will be acceptable versus 5.5m minutes. Airlines experienced a record 19m minutes of delays in 2018, 105% higher than in 2017. “New targets will lead to increased delays and more CO2 emissions, despite record delays and industry calls for urgent EU airspace reform,” A4E said. A4E MD Thomas Reynaert said: "Combined with insufficient staffing levels and current underspending by ANSPs on future investments to improve their performance, the new targets are extremely disappointing and simply bad news for passengers.” <br/>
The boss of Scotland's busiest airport has said the industry is currently "not a comfortable place to be", because of high taxes and Brexit uncertainty. Edinburgh Airport CE Gordon Dewar said he was expecting a solid summer, but insisted the Scottish govt must cut air passenger duty. He also said certainty over the UK's deal for leaving the EU was needed so airlines could invest confidently. Govt plans to cut air passenger duty have been hit by legal issues. Dewar said: "We've got particular issues in the UK with all of the uncertainty around Brexit and on top of that we've got the highest taxation anywhere in the world. What we're hearing from airlines is that, as belts need to be tightened, Scotland and the UK in general are probably going to suffer more than most.” <br/>