Boeing is holding workshops with Chinese airlines about the grounded 737 Max plane as it tries to bring the troubled jet back to operation. Boeing invited pilots and engineers from China Southern to a gathering in Guangzhou on Monday, according to an emailed statement from Boeing. More such workshops will be held with Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Hainan Airlines in their respective hubs this week. The gatherings are among the latest steps Boeing is taking to bring the plane back, though the exact timing remains unclear. Boeing is redesigning the plane’s flight-control system and is still aiming to present a final software package to regulators by September, though the timeline could slip, a person familiar with the plans has said. China Southern and Air China are among Chinese carriers seeking compensation from the US manufacturer for order delays and losses caused by the grounding of the 737 Max in the wake of two deadly crashes. A total of 96 of the Chinese carriers’ 737 Max jets have been suspended, and the airlines were planning to introduce a further 130 of the planes this year, secretary general of the China Air Transport Association said in May.<br/>
general
Airbus is poised to open a new assembly line for the A321neo in Toulouse, France, easing a grip on production of the hot-selling jetliner enjoyed by workers in Germany and accelerating an industrial rethink caused by the demise of the much larger A380. A formal decision on how to meet record demand for the medium-haul A321 has not been taken and operations in China and the United States are also being considered as part of an A321 study that Airbus says it will complete this year. But industry sources say Toulouse is all but certain to get the ninth A320-family assembly line because of shorter lead times and the availability of cavernous halls built for the A380 superjumbo, which Airbus is shutting down due to weak demand. “Toulouse is clear front-runner,” a person familiar with the plans said, while another said Airbus had been close to announcing the move at the end of the July, when it instead said only that it was considering how to shape future A321 output. “We see a need to adapt our assembly capacity to reflect our richer A321 mix within the A320 family from 2022 onwards,” COO Michael Schoellhorn said. The 180-240-seat A321 is the longest version of Airbus’s medium-haul A320 family which competes with Boeing’s 737 in the busiest part of the jet market.<br/>