A power outage at Los Angeles International Airport diverted, delayed or cancelled dozens of flights Wednesday night, and hundreds of passengers were briefly stuck on grounded aircraft. A 2-second power "bump" shortly after 6 p.m. caused the entire airport to go dark but electrical generators kicked in and all but three terminals had power within an hour, airport spokeswoman Olga Gallardo said. Passengers cheered when power was finally restored to Terminals 1, 7 and 8 three hours or more later. Southwest diverted or cancelled about 40 flights, spokeswoman Michelle Agnew said. The airline said its normal schedule would resume Thursday morning. United said it delayed 19 flights, cancelled two and diverted nine.<br/>
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Boeing has been negotiating one of the largest orders ever of widebody jetliners with Chinese airlines even as tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate, say people familiar with the talks. The discussions centre on about 100 twin-aisle jets: 787 Dreamliners as well as 777X planes, the newest long-range aircraft in Boeing’s line-up, said one of the people, who asked not to be named as the talks are private. Negotiations have focused in particular on the 777-9 variant, the planemaker’s costliest jet with a US$442.2 million sticker price, ahead of the model’s expected first flight later this month. No deal is imminent, the people cautioned, and the trade war is a major complication for all involved. The Chinese side is waiting for guidance from the government before pushing forward with the discussions, according to some of the people, as the tit-for-tat fight between the US and China intensifies. The battle over trade and technology between the world’s two biggest economies has entered a new phase, with allegations that China reneged on commitments made at the negotiating table triggering a fresh round of tariffs and smashing a months-long detente. Boeing, under pressure over the worldwide grounding of its 737 MAX plane, is the largest US exporter and the deal would help reduce its home country’s trade deficit with China. The potential order would be worth more than US$30b before customary discounts, depending on the mix of aircraft. The manufacturer declined to comment, while China’s Civil Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<br/>
A new tool launched by privacy activists offers to help travellers avoid increasingly invasive facial recognition technologies in airports. Activist groups Fight for the Future, Demand Progress and CREDO on Wednesday unveiled a new website called AirlinePrivacy.com, which shows users what airlines use facial recognition to verify the identity of passengers before boarding. The site also helps customers to directly book flights with airlines that don’t use facial recognition technologies. Airlines’ use of facial recognition technology is raising fresh questions about privacy and data security, advocates have argued. Instead of verifying passengers’ details by scanning a boarding pass, the technology – which is provided by government agencies – scans passengers’ face and sends that information to border control to verify identity and flight details. JetBlue began using the technology in 2017 in partnership with federal agencies, after Donald Trump issued an executive order pushing for the use of facial recognition technology in US airports. Since then, more airlines have begun incorporating the technology, including Delta, American Airlines, BA and Lufthansa. Airlines that do not use facial recognition technology include Alaska, United, Southwest, Allegiant and Air Canada.<br/>
Boeing’s effort to build the world’s largest twin-engined jet, the 777X, continues to be hampered by challenges with General Electric’s new GE9X turbine engine, a top Boeing executive said Wednesday. Boeing is facing testing glitches on the GE9X after assembly delays on the engine and the plane’s carbon-composite wings. These issues, coupled with the crisis over its 737 MAX in the wake of deadly crashes, leaves the world’s largest planemaker less leeway to deliver on its official 2020 target for entry into service, industry sources say. Dubai’s Emirates has said it expects to fly its first 777X in June 2020, a date now widely seen in doubt. Boeing CFO Greg Smith said that 2020 entry into service was “still the current assumption,” echoing comments from CE Dennis Muilenburg last week. “(The) long pole in the tent right now is the GE engine,” Smith said. “There’s some challenges they are working through there on testing. So we are having to do some re-testing, and they’re working their way through that.” The market for widebody jets has been fragile due to oversupply and fears over the economy and trade disputes. Reuters reported in March that a major potential deal for more than 100 Boeing jetliners of various types with China was in doubt in the wake of the trade dispute and the MAX crisis. The first two 777X flight test aircraft have left Boeing’s Seattle-area factory and are in integrated system testing on the ground, while the next two flight test airplanes are in final assembly, Muilenburg said. But the engine snags and other issues have diminished the prospect of a maiden flight in late June, despite a prediction over the weekend by the head of Gulf airline Emirates for a June 26 flight.<br/>