The executive in charge of Boeing’s troubled 787 Dreamliner factory in North Charleston, SC, is leaving the company, according to an internal company memo reviewed by The New York Times Wednesday. The departure of the executive, David Carbon, the VP of 787 operations at Boeing South Carolina since 2016, comes about a month after The Times published an article detailing shoddy production practices and weak oversight at the factory. No full-time successor to Carbon, who plans to return to his native Australia, was announced. The Boeing memo, written by Brad Zaback, the head of the company’s 787 program, said Carbon was leaving “to care for his family.” The Times’s article detailed a decade of problems at the South Carolina plant that continue to plague the factory. <br/>
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Executives from some of the world’s largest airlines will gather for a private meeting Thursday to discuss Boeing ’s 737 Max at the same time global regulators convene in Texas to sort out what’s needed to return the plane to service. Carriers will join peers in Montreal for a gathering called by IATA. Of IATA’s 290 member airlines, 28 have the Max in their fleet,. But whatever is meant to be gleaned from the Montreal huddle is so far staying just among the airlines, which have put up a shield wall to inquiries. Airlines are grappling with how to address safety concerns with the Max after two fatal crashes. “The meeting will provide a forum for airlines to exchange information about the experiences and challenges that they face as a result of the grounding and in their preparation for the reintroduction of the aircraft into operations,’’ IATA said. <br/>
Europe’s aviation safety agency has set out strict conditions before it will allow Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft back into the skies, in a sign of the depth of the rift emerging among global regulators after 2 deadly crashes. EASA has told the FAA and Boeing it has 3 “pre-requisite conditions”, including demands that design changes for the plane are approved by the European agency, before it will lift the grounding of the Max. Indonesia, site of the first accident last October, has also heaped pressure on the FAA by revealing it was considering seeking a second assessment of the US regulator’s review of Boeing’s software update. Wednesday, Polana Pramesti, Indonesia’s DG for air transport, said the country could ask EASA or Transport Canada for a second opinion. <br/>
Airbus is edging closer to putting railway-like sleeping berths in the belly of its long-range aircraft, including the globe-striding Airbus A350-1000ULR which Qantas is considering for non-stop ‘Project Sunrise’ flights to London and New York. Although the concept also espouses using cargo-hold space for everything from cafe-like social areas to meeting rooms and family rooms, airlines have shown the most interest in offering sleeping bunks where passengers could stretch out in a proper bed. Airbus estimates that 32 bunk beds could fit under the main deck, and would primarily appeal to passengers in premium economy and economy buying the beds as an “upgrade for sleeping”. “So far we have got a lot of interest, with a lot of the creative solutions, but in the end I think everybody is focusing on sleeping,” says an Airbus VP. <br/>
A4A said monitoring a planned diversion of hundreds of US TSA and Customs and Border Protection personnel from US airports to the southwestern border will be the industry trade group’s top policy priority during the peak summer travel season. The group is working closely with Congress to pass supplemental appropriations to shore up the agencies ahead of what is expected be the busiest summer travel season on record, A4A SVP Sharon Pinkerton said. She said A4A considers the issue to be the “biggest risk” to US airlines’ operations this summer. The reassignments were initially reported May 15 by CNN, citing internal agency emails that said up to 175 law enforcement officials and as many as 400 people from TSA Security Operations, as well as federal air marshals, would be sent to the border. <br/>
European pilots stepped up pressure on the region’s air safety agency to take a strong stance in vetting US plans to return Boeing’s grounded 737 Max to service. EASA needs to take steps to regain the confidence of air crew, according to the head of the pilot lobby, who also urged more training on revisions to the Max before it returns to the skies. “We really would like some serious action and transparency to show how they are going to certify the return to service of this aircraft,” European Cockpit Association president Jon Horne said. “It’s critical to regaining credibility among our community.” The ECA is unhappy with the expanding role of planemakers in licensing new models. Boeing had an important hand in certifying the original Max design and the European regulator signed off on it. <br/>