Boeing said Monday that it expected US regulators to approve the return to commercial service of its grounded 737 MAX jet in the coming weeks, and its shares jumped as investors grew more hopeful the planemaker had addressed software problems at the heart of 2 fatal crashes. Boeing said it expected the FAA to issue an order approving the plane's return to service next month, but added it now expected commercial service to resume in January. Boeing shares rose 5% on the company's outlook. As recently as last week, Boeing said it expected flights could resume by the end of December. Monday, the company said it was possible that resumption of MAX deliveries to airline customers could begin in December but said getting approval for training changes would take more time. <br/>
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The proportion of people travelling between London and Glasgow by rail rather than air has reached a record level, according to Virgin Trains. In the 12 months to July 2019, 29% of passengers chose to travel with the train company rather than fly. This is nearly 2 percentage points higher than the previous record set in 2014, during the Commonwealth Games. Fastest flights between the cities take about an hour and 15 minutes. The train takes about 4.5 hours. The figures released by Virgin Trains show the rise was driven by a 6% year-on-year increase in the number of passengers travelling between London and Glasgow by train, reaching 718,000. The charity Transform Scotland, said: "The current level of air travel is incompatible with the climate emergency so it's heartening to hear that rail is growing its market share". <br/>
The US FAA has downgraded Malaysia's air safety rating, restricting the country's airlines from adding flights to the US, sources familiar with the matter and a US govt official said Monday. At present, the only Malaysian airline route to the US is AirAsia X services from Kuala Lumpur to Honolulu via Osaka. The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia and the FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Malaysia's transport ministry did not have an immediate comment. Malaysia has been downgraded to Category 2, said the sources, who did not want to be identified. A US govt official said the FAA would make an official announcement Tuesday. Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad said he was not aware of the details of the downgrade. <br/>