The CE of Boeing said the company would acknowledge “our mistake” after one of its 737 Max aircraft lost a section of its fuselage in flight last week, as a regulator said it would not rush to allow its grounded planes to fly again. Dave Calhoun was speaking at a company-wide safety meeting at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, where it builds the 737 Max. The meeting was broadcast to employees worldwide but closed to the media. “We’re going to approach this, No. 1, acknowledging our mistake,” Calhoun said, according to excerpts shared by the company. “We are going to work with the [National Transportation Safety Board] who is investigating the accident itself to find out what the cause is . . . I trust every step they take.” Boeing has been under intense pressure after a 737 Max 9 plane operated by Alaska Airlines lost a piece of its fuselage at an altitude of about 16,000 feet above Oregon last Friday. Footage shot by people on board showed a gaping hole next to a row of seats. While there were no serious injuries among the 171 passengers and six crew, Calhoun said that when he saw the images, all he could think about was “whoever was supposed to be in the seat next to that hole”. “I’ve got kids, I’ve got grandkids, and so do you,” he said. “This stuff matters. Every detail matters.” Boeing’s stock has fallen more than 9% since the incident. The US FAA grounded 171 Boeing 737 Max 9s on Saturday. Boeing issued instructions to airlines on how to inspect the door inserts on their other Max 9s, but on Tuesday the FAA said those technical instructions were only “the initial version” and were being revised “because of feedback”. “The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service,” the FAA said.<br/>
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The FAA is facing questions about its oversight of planemaker Boeing following the emergency landing on Friday of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9. Mike Whitaker, who took over as the agency's head in late October, will testify before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 6, sources said. The hearing was in the works before the Alaska Airlines flight and is expected to cover a broad range of issues. The 737 MAX is certain to come up at the hearing, the sources said. The FAA, which was without a permanent administrator for 18 months until Whitaker's 98-0 confirmation, has come under growing scrutiny after a series of potentially catastrophic near-miss aviation safety incidents, persistent air traffic control staffing shortages and a January 2023 pilot messaging database outage that disrupted 11,000 flights. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday asked the FAA to answer detailed questions about its handling of the Alaska Airlines incident. The FAA MAX 9 grounding order "is the least that should be done," Blumenthal said, adding he wanted to know "what more the FAA is doing to ensure our skies are safe." Blumenthal added: "This disturbing event is another black mark for Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft fleet and troublingly, appears to be part of a wider pattern."<br/>
Americans should feel safe flying in the wake of the recent Boeing 737 MAX 9 incident, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday. A panel last week blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 plane that had left Portland, Oregon, forcing a dramatic emergency landing with a rectangular-sized hole in the aircraft.<br/>
More than a thousand domestic and international flights in the United States were canceled on Tuesday as extreme weather pummeled the country from coast to coast. With more than 70 flights called off, Chicago O’Hare International Airport had the most cancellations, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. Ronald Reagan National Airport had about 45 canceled flights, followed by Newark Liberty International Airport and then La Guardia Airport, both at just more than 40. The FAA briefly issued a ground stop at O’Hare on Tuesday afternoon, citing excessive snow and ice. Kayla Kovarna, a spokeswoman for the Des Moines Airport Authority, said one of the two main runways at the airport was closed because of wind, and the other was closed from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. as crews plowed and chemically treated its surface. According to FlightAware, at least 13 flights scheduled to depart the airport on Tuesday were canceled and a dozen others were delayed. Kovarna said she expected more disruptions. Not all of the disruptions on Tuesday were related to the weather. Hundreds of flights were canceled as airlines planned to inspect nearly 200 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes. The NTSB is investigating the midair blowout of a panel on an Alaska Airlines Max 9 in a near-disastrous accident on Friday night.<br/>
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday responded to calls for Canada to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity, saying this could happen if done "responsibly." The comment was made at a memorial for the victims of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which was shot down by the IRGC over Tehran on Jan. 8, 2020. "We will continue our work, including continuing to look for ways to responsibly list the IRGC as a terrorist organization," the prime minister announced to applause from grieving families. Of the 176 people killed when the commercial airliner was shot down, 55 were Canadian citizens and 30 were permanent residents. The IRGC says the plane was mistaken for a hostile target, as tensions between Iran and the United States were high after the American assassination of Iranian Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani. The families of those victims have called for the powerful paramilitary group to be listed as a terrorist organization in Canada for years.<br/>
Japan Airlines' recent incident where all 379 people onboard were miraculously saved before the carrier's Airbus A350-900 was engulfed in flames has shown the importance of a clear and understandable safety video in times of emergency. The IATA spokesperson Albert Tjoeng said one striking thing about Japan Airlines' safety video is that it clearly demonstrates the consequences of incorrect actions and focuses on actual evacuation with information on the height of the slide, the method in which to slide down and baggage blocking aisles being shared. "It would appear that this, together with other factors, may have helped the positive outcome in this evacuation, but we will wait for the accident report before drawing conclusions," he told Business Times. The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) director general Subhas Menon said cabin crews play a very important part in evacuations, which is why they are thoroughly trained to cope with various emergency scenarios. "The Japan Airlines incident underlines how crucial the roles played by everyone onboard are in reacting urgently and in unison to convert a hazardous situation into an ultimately safe outcome."<br/>
A week after a deadly runway collision at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, the Japanese government has rolled out safety measures that aim to prevent such an incident from happening again. The incoming reforms will focus on air traffic control functions as well as on the aircraft operating side. Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito told reporters Tuesday that his agency will move forward with permanent safety measures as quickly as possible. "One of our biggest missions is to restore confidence in aviation as a mass transit system," Saito said. "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will launch full-scale efforts to implement measures to ensure safety and security." For the time being, all airports in Japan will suspend the use of such terms as "No. 1" when issuing air traffic control instructions to aircraft and will use more precise phrases when communicating orders. "No. 1" refers to a plane that is next in line to take off, but it is believed that the crew of the coast guard plane misunderstood the term as permission to enter the runway. Additionally, all air traffic control crews in Japan will have extra staff to constantly watch monitoring systems that warn about erroneous entry into runways. Extra staff has been in place at Haneda since Saturday, and other airports in Japan will add the dedicated personnel as well. The monitoring system at Haneda was working properly during the night of the crash, but the air traffic control crew did not notice that the coast guard plane had erroneously entered the runway. The transport ministry has also ordered airlines to make sure that aircraft crews confirm runways are clear before landing. The pilots on the JAL jetliner were unable to visually confirm the coast guard plane because it was nighttime. The transport ministry is establishing a committee to explore further measures. One item on the agenda will be upgrades to systems informing pilots and air traffic control about the situation on the runways. The first meeting is expected to take place next week.<br/>
Boeing met its jetliner delivery goals and recorded a 70% boost to annual net orders in 2023, reflecting a record-shattering year of sales for planemakers. The US manufacturer released the year-end figures on Tuesday as it contends with the fallout from an accident involving an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9, which lost a fuselage panel in mid-air last week. Boeing delivered 528 planes in 2023 and booked 1,314 net new orders after allowing for cancellations, up from 480 deliveries and 774 net new orders in 2022. It delivered 396 narrowbody 737 jets last year, meeting its revised goal of at least 375 single-aisle planes but falling short of the initial target of 400 to 450 jets. The target was downgraded in October after a manufacturing flaw by fuselage supplier Spirit AeroSystems forced the it to inspect planes, slowing deliveries. Boeing delivered 73 787 Dreamliners in 2023, meeting its goal of 70 to 80 aircraft. Boeing’s orders and deliveries are likely to eclipsed by its European rival Airbus, which broke industry records for gross and net orders and beat its delivery target of 720 airplanes in 2023 with deliveries in the mid-730s, sources told Reuters last week. Boeing won 1,456 gross orders for 2023, or 1,576 net orders after accounting adjustments. In December, the company booked 371 gross orders, including highest-ever monthly sales of the 737 MAX at 301 planes. Spanish carrier Air Europa canceled a booking for two Dreamliners. The company delivered 44 737 MAXs and one older-model 737NG last month. It also handed over seven 767s, four 777 freighters and 11 787s. Its order backlog increased from 5,324 to 5,626.<br/>
Global air cargo demand increased by 8.3% in November last year compared to the same month in 2022, while demand growth for international operations stood at 8.1%, according to the IATA. The association said Tuesday capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometres, was up 13.7% compared to November 2022 (+11.6% for international operations). "Most of the capacity growth continues to be attributable to the increase in belly capacity as international passenger markets continue their post-Covid recovery. "Compared to November 2019 (pre-Covid), demand is down 2.5%, while capacity is up 4.1%," IATA said. It said that the November 2023 global air cargo markets indicated the strongest year-on-year growth in about two years, partly due to weakness in November 2022, but also reflects a fourth consecutive month of strengthening demand for air cargo. IATA DG Willie Walsh said November air cargo demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres, was a doubling of October's 3.8% increase and a fourth month of positive market development.<br/>
Hyundai Motor Group aims to begin initial test flights of its electric air taxi by the end of the year as the world’s third-largest carmaker joins the race to develop the next generation of transport. The South Korean company will apply for certification of the vehicle in the US by the middle of 2024 with the goal of starting technology demonstrator flights by the end of the year, according to Shin Jaiwon, CEO of Supernal, the Hyundai unit developing the craft. The company plans to launch formal service in 2028 after meeting testing requirements to ensure it’s ready for the public. The executive detailed the timeline as the company unveiled a product concept of the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas. Hyundai is racing to catch up with rivals in the nascent, though increasingly crowded, field of eVTOLs, as the vehicles are called. The flying taxi will be a hybrid between a helicopter and a fixed-wing plane, while some competing models rely primarily on rotors. The battery-powered S-A2 will be quiet, efficient and zero-emission, the company said. Hyundai is studying various battery options for the vehicle, including lithium-metal and solid-state batteries, Shin said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We are also working on different chemistry to make sure we can capitalize on the most advanced battery technology.” The company is aggressively pursuing air taxis and has spent nearly $1b on Supernal in the roughly two years since it was founded. The firm has already opened an engineering headquarters in Irvine, California, and a new research and development facility in the same state.<br/>