Lufthansa chairman and CE Carsten Spohr said the Airbus A320neo engine software issues are about 50% resolved. “The engine issues are slowly improving, but we’re not there yet,” Spohr said, adding, “That’s why we have not agreed to take the second aircraft into the fleet.” Lufthansa took delivery of its first A320neo in January following a delay of the re-engined narrowbody’s planned end-of-2015 delivery schedule. The Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engine was certified in November, but in December Qatar Airways stepped back as the planned first operator due to the engine restrictions. The first A320neo operates on only 2 domestic routes between Frankfurt and Munich, pending completion of the engine fix. “We could fly to other destinations, but we would need more engineers in those locations,” Spohr said. <br/>
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The pilot of a Lufthansa Airbus A380 reported a drone aircraft nearly collided with the airliner Friday on its approach into Los Angeles, according to the FAA. The close encounter between the A380 and the drone occurred at about 1:30 pm local time at an altitude of 5,000 feet as the unmanned aircraft passed about 200 feet over the Lufthansa flight 14 miles east of the airport, the FAA said. No evasive action was taken by the crew and the plane made a safe landing minutes later without further incident. The FAA has received at least 42 reports of drones flying unsafely near LAX, the nation's second-busiest airport, since 2014. Data shows nearly 200 pilot reports of close encounters involving drones in California alone during the past 2 years, the most in any state. <br/>
Air India is mulling expanding its Boeing wide-body aircraft feet to implement its plans of adding a host of new destinations in its overseas network in a couple of years. The airline is expected to draw up a firm plan in this regard early next fiscal, highly-placed airline sources said. As of now, the carrier has 40 wide-body or twin-aisle planes in its fleet. "We have not added too many wide-body planes in the fleet in the last couple of years, except the induction of Dreamliners from the 2005 order. We are now considering expanding this fleet as well by adding some long range Boeing aircraft going forward," the sources said. A final call on the issue, including the choice of aircraft — B-777s or Dreamliners — is expected to be made early next financial year, they said. <br/>