Boeing said Tuesday it plans to add extra staff and hire "a few hundred" temporary employees at an airport in Washington state where it is storing many grounded 737 MAX jetliners, a key step in its best-case plan for resuming deliveries to airline customers in October. The planemaker, burning cash as one of the worst crises in its history stretches into a sixth month, said the workers will assist with aircraft maintenance and customer delivery preparations at Grant County International. The hiring plans are the first publicly detailed steps Boeing will take as it works to deliver hundreds of grounded 737 MAX jets to airlines globally, an undertaking that would amount to one of the biggest logistical operations in modern civil aviation. The total cost to Boeing so far from the 737 MAX crisis is more than US$8b. <br/>
general
An international panel created after 2 Boeing 737 MAX crashes is expected to recommend the FAA change the way it certifies planes and address safety concerns that aircraft technology is becoming far more sophisticated than the regulations that govern it, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN. The Joint Authorities Technical Review, or JATR is in the "final stages of completing their work" and is expected to issue its report as soon as next week, according to the source. The panel is preparing to make several recommendations, the source said, that will be presented to the FAA. It is not clear if the agency plans to accept or publicly release the recommendations. The recommendations will include detailed ways "to address deficiencies," the source said. <br/>
US airlines expect the ongoing grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircraft will eliminate 326 average daily scheduled departures during the Q3 of 2019, but traffic during the Labor Day holiday is forecast to rise by 4% compared with the same period in 2018. A4A, in its travel report published Aug 20, forecasts US airlines to set a passenger travel record for a second year in a row, carrying an average of 2.51m people each day during the Labor Day holiday period, marking a 4% increase year-over-year. Low fares and high customer satisfaction are factors driving this expected increase, A4A chief economist John Heimlich said. Due to the worldwide grounding of 737 Max aircraft about 300 daily flights will be eliminated from the schedules of US carriers during the Labor Day travel period, he adds. <br/>
The US govt is warning airlines to exercise caution while flying over the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, a region that has seen growing tension between Iran and other nations. The FAA Tuesday released new guidance to US airlines and other commercial-flight operators, saying “there is an increasing inadvertent risk” to flights in that area. “Iran has publicly made threats to US military operations in the Gulf region,” the FAA said in a notice. Iran possesses a variety of missiles and military jets capable of intercepting airliners, according to the agency. In recent months, merchant ships or tankers were damaged or seized in the region as tensions between Iran and the US escalated. In June, Iran brought down a US surveillance drone. <br/>
The US Justice Department sued Tuesday to block Sabre’s US$360m acquisition of Farelogix, saying in court papers that it was a “dominant firm’s attempt to eliminate a disruptive competitor.” Last week, Sabre said it planned to close the deal announced in November by Wednesday unless the Justice Department sued. The companies agreed last week to extend the termination date of their acquisition agreement to April 30 to allow time for any Justice Department challenge to be resolved. The suit said the firms compete head-to-head to provide booking services to airlines, including offering IT solutions that allow airlines to sell tickets and ancillary products through traditional brick-and-mortar and online travel agencies to the traveling public. <br/>
A4A wants the US DoT to change the rules governing service animals to restrict passengers from bringing emotional service animals (ESA) aboard the cabin. A4A SVP Sharon Pinkerton said the group has been urging DoT to align its definition of “service animal” with the Department of Justice’s definition to include only animals that are “trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability." That change would effectively end the ESA category altogether. Under the DOJ definition, only trained service animals which perform physical tasks are permitted to travel in the cabin. “Right now, a different definition exists for airlines and their customers versus the rest of public places like hotels and restaurants which are all governed by the Americans with Disabilities Act ,” Pinkerton said. <br/>