Boeing asked a Delaware court to throw out a shareholders’ lawsuit over the safety of its 737 MAX following fatal crashes, saying the board engaged in “robust and well-established” oversight of jet’s development. In an amended complaint unsealed in February, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who heads the state pension fund, and other investors argued that Boeing’s board breached its fiduciary duties and acted with gross negligence by failing “to monitor the safety of Boeing’s 737 MAX airplanes.” The lawsuit, filed in Delaware Chancery Court, also alleges that the board did not develop any tools to evaluate and monitor airplane safety until after two 737 MAX crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia killed 346 people in a span of five months, and the fleet was grounded. It also said the board did not receive a briefing about the basics of airplane safety until the end of April 2019, several weeks after the jet’s worldwide grounding. In its motion to dismiss the complaint, made public on Monday, Boeing said the plaintiffs ignore “the robust systems that had long been in place” to keep the board informed about significant risk issues.<br/>
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Private equity firm Carlyle Group said on Monday an affiliate of Carlyle Aviation Partners, its aviation investment arm, will buy aircraft leasing company Fly Leasing Ltd for an enterprise value of $2.36b. Shareholders of Fly Leasing would get $17.05 per share in cash, valuing the company at $520m. The price represents a premium of 29% to the stock’s closing price on Friday. “We believe in the long-term resilience of the aviation industry. History tells us when we get past a crisis, we will see a return of traffic as people return to travelling. We think we are buying this at an attractive price,” said Robert Korn, president and co-founder of Carlyle Aviation Partners. The deal with Fly, expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, will use funds from Carlyle Aviation’s fifth aviation fund, SASOF V, the company said.<br/>
One of Europe’s busiest airports is hitting the bond market on Monday to shore up its finances in the face of a second tourist season lost to the coronavirus pandemic. London’s Gatwick Airport is marketing GBP400m of junk-rated debt with a five-year maturity. But with British holiday makers still forbidden from traveling, it’s offering a hefty premium to lure skeptical investors -- a yield between 4.75% and 5% which is more than double the average for European bonds with a similar credit rating. Representatives for Gatwick didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the offering. Gatwick’s passenger numbers will this year only rebound to around 40% of 2019 levels, Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings said in a note on Monday. But while there’s little prospect of respite for the travel industry, Gatwick is selling into a booming junk bond market. High-yield debt sales are running at the fastest pace on record this year as investors scour for returns in a world of rock-bottom interest rates.<br/>
Monday marked the first anniversary of the introduction of low-altitude flight routes over central Tokyo to and from Haneda Airport. The new routes, however, have not been used as frequently as the government had initially hoped, reflecting a plunge in air travel demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the central government is currently considering introducing measures to alleviate noise pollution, including altering the fight routes, after receiving nearly 6,000 complaints about noise and other issues caused by aircraft. Accompanied by a deafening roar, an airplane flew over houses and commercial facilities near Oimachi Station in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward one afternoon in late March. The wheels and the registration number on the main wing of the aircraft, which was flying around 300 meters above ground, were discernible to the naked eye. The routes were introduced in March last year to increase the number of international flights using the airport.<br/>
Rolls-Royce said it had started building its new greener UltraFan engine and aims to have the first demonstrator model completed by the end of the year, in what it hopes will be a boost to both it and the environment. The British company has been hit harder than most by the pandemic, with much of its income disappearing when airlines stopped flying, leaving it to post a record $5.6b underlying loss in 2020. Rolls believes a new engine will be needed by aircraft manufacturers, even if the date when either Airbus or Boeing develop a new jet has been pushed further into the future by the coronavirus crisis. It hopes the UltraFan, which it describes as the world’s largest aero-engine, could deliver a 25% fuel efficiency improvement compared with the first generation of its Trent engine.<br/>