A shareholder lawsuit filed Monday accused Boeing's board of doing nothing to investigate the safety of the 737 MAX until the plane suffered a second deadly crash in 5 months. The lawsuit is the latest legal challenge facing Boeing over the 737 MAX crashes. Monday's lawsuit said the first crash was "the biggest red flag an airline manufacturer can face." The lawsuit, brought by the Kirby Family Partnership, a Boeing investor, alleges the directors breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders and seeks to hold them personally liable for damage caused to Boeing, which could run into the billions of dollars. The Kirby Family Partnership obtained internal corporate records that show the board did not take action to ensure the safety of the 737 MAX until after the second crash, according to the complaint. <br/>
general
The unprecedented and ongoing examination of aircraft certification, triggered by the 2 Boeing 737 MAX accidents, has identified several areas that must change to improve outcomes, FAA administrator Steve Dickson said. “We’ve identified some key themes that are emerging regarding aircraft certification processes,” Dickson said Sunday. Regulators agree that certification needs to shift from a “holistic vs. transactional” approach, human factors elements must be introduced earlier and more effectively throughout the design process, and information flow must improve—between regulators as well as applicants and their agencies. “These are among the many issues that we have to address to prevent the next accident from happening,” he added. <br/>
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada won its biggest plane orders since the brand was sold off by Bombardier with the sale of as many as 23 Dash 8-400 turboprops. The manufacturer, an aviation pioneer long overtaken by the jet age, said Monday at the Dubai Airshow that it a signed a letter of intent with lessor Palma Holding for up to 20 of the planes, which list at US$32m each. That followed a firm order from Nigeria’s Elin Group for 3 planes to use in its oil and gas operations. The Dash 8 program and De Havilland brand were purchased by Longview Aviation Capital last year as part of a breakup of Bombardier’s aerospace assets. The new owners are betting on a revival for the plane after turboprops were displaced from most Western airlines by the advent of the regional jet. <br/>
The FAA is rolling out a system that allows planes to fly closer to one another, but the roar that it creates is unbearable, people in the flight paths say. The new flight paths were the result of a long-planned FAA program to modernise the nation’s airspace, minimise wasted fuel and increase the number of flights. The Next Generation Air Transportation System uses GPS instead of radar to guide planes and digital communication rather than radio. Because air traffic controllers know exactly where planes are, they no longer need to leave as much of a buffer between them. Flight paths are more predictable, narrower and at lower altitudes. But as the FAA has rolled out the program, the people who live below the new, more concentrated flight paths have risen up. <br/>
The Finnish airport workers' union Monday announced a 1-day strike set for Nov 25 in solidarity with Finnish postal service employees who have been on strike for a week. "It will affect air traffic's ground services, meaning catering, technical services, cargo, security checks and consequently all airlines flying to and from Finland," Juhani Haapasaari, chairman of the Finnish Aviation Union, said. Finnair said it was still hoping the strike could be called off before next Monday. "It would have major impacts on air traffic," a Finnair spokeswoman said, adding the company was still in the process of estimating the impact on its own operations. Several Finnish employee unions have announced varying measures to support the postal service employees' strike. <br/>