Company Watch - Boeing.

Oct 9, 2006

Ryanair said its buying power would give Aer Lingus added negotiating strength to buy new planes either from Ryanair's preferred supplier Boeing or from Aer Lingus's usual supplier Airbus. Oct 5, 2006

Aeroflot will now split a long awaited order for new aircraft between Airbus and Boeing chief executive Valery Okulov CE told reporters at an economic forum in the Siberian city of Irkutsk last week. It seems that Aeroflot wants 22 Airbus and 22 Boeings. However Russian politics being what they are these cannot be considered firm orders and both manufacturers have declined to comment. Aeroflot is owned by the state which through the national bank recently acquired a 5% interest in EADS, soon to become the sole owner of Airbus. http://www.aeroflot.ru/eng Oct 2, 2006

Air France KLM's Van Wijk said the Franco-Dutch airline expected to invest much of the merger savings in new planes, noting that KLM had several Boeing 747s that were 25 years old, the company needed to replace MD-11s and Air France is buying new A380s. Oct 4, 2006

Boeing's third-quarter deliveries increase 61%. Boeing said it delivered 100 commercial aircraft in the third quarter, a significant increase over the 62 delivered in the third quarter of 2005 when production was compromised by a 27-day assembly workers' strike. Deliveries comprised 81 737NGs, three 747s, three 767s and 13 777s. Year-to-date deliveries total 295 compared to 217 in the year-ago period. The vast majority (223) were 737NGs, followed by five 717s (including three under operating lease), 11 747s, nine 767s and 47 777s. Oct 6, 2006

Boeing yesterday named Larry Dickenson to lead its Commercial Airplanes sales team as VP-sales reporting to Scott Carson, whom he is replacing after Carson was named to succeed Alan Mulally as president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes early last month. Dickenson, 63, has headed the manufacturer's Asia/Pacific sales team for 20 years. He is credited with playing an integral role in the launch of the 787 and 777 programs. Prior to joining Boeing, he was VP-aircraft programs at Texas Air Corp., then the parent company of Continental and Eastern Airlines, with responsibility for aircraft acquisition, sales and aircraft financing. Previously he was VP-commercial sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa at McDonnell Douglas. Oct 3, 2006

EgyptAir yesterday exercised options for six additional 737-800s for delivery in 2009, bringing its total order for the type to 12 valued at $850 million. It took delivery of its first dash 800, part of the original order for six placed in August 2005, yesterday. That aircraft is the first 737NG dedicated to regular service equipped with Boeing's Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag. The airline's 737NGs also will be outfitted with Heads-Up Display systems. EgyptAir currently operates four 737-500s and five 777-200s. Chairman and CEO Atef Abd El-Hamid said the 737NGs will "maximize our operating efficiency." Oct 3, 2006

Boeing delivered a third 747-400ERF to Nippon Cargo Airlines yesterday. NCA has a further seven on order. Oct 4, 2006

Singapore Airlines finalized a purchase agreement yesterday for 20 787-9s for which it signed a letter of intent in June. It also has purchase rights on 20 more dash 9s. Value of the firm order is $4.52 billion at list prices. Deliveries will be scheduled between early 2011 and mid-2013 and will be for fleet renewal as well as growth, SIA said. No engine selection has been made. Boeing has received firm orders and commitments for 444 787s with options and price rights on another 325. Oct 3, 2006

Travel Service of the Czech Republic placed an order for two firm 737-900ERs plus two purchase rights, Boeing announced this week. The order is valued at $150 million at list prices and deliveries to the Prague-based carrier will commence in the fourth quarter of 2009. Travel Service operates a fleet of 10 737s including seven dash 800s, offering scheduled services through its Smart Wings brand and charter services to more than 230 destinations. Oct 5, 2006

Connexion by Boeing in-flight Internet system, agreed by most to be excellent from both a practical and technical point of view, but not viable, and now dumped by the aircraft manufacturer, is not finished. Shephard's daily In-flight Online reports that Panasonic North America, wants to take the operation over and develop it itself. Clearly Panasonic is putting funds into the project but airlines are expecting to receive cancellation fees from Boeing which will help towards the project. Shephard says that Panasonic wants carriers to firm up within 60 days and is targeting 500 planes to be equipped and say they have 150 committed. Lufthansa has over 60 aircraft with Connexion and SAS with about 20. Typically Etihad was an early customer and has equipped its new Boeing 777s, telling 'guests' that it will be switched off in December. However for its equally new A340-500s, the system has not been completed. Any new 'Son of Connexion' is likely to be wireless only, a major saving on the early wired system. http://www.shephard.co.uk/In-flight/default.aspx?Action=-1000945703&ID=78b42b71-21f5-4d2e-8703-6387a7a39a0b Oct 2, 2006

SES Americom, a satellite communications company, said it received a $70 million payment from Boeing relating to the cancellation of Connexion by Boeing inflight internet service. Oct 4, 2006

Emirates May Top Up Boeing Freighter Order. Dubai-based Emirates said on Sunday it may buy 10 more Boeing freighter aircraft worth about USD$2.8 billion to tap the growing Middle Eastern air cargo traffic market. Emirates secured the right to purchase the 747-8F planes, it said in a statement. Purchase rights do not include agreement on price. Emirates also confirmed an earlier order for 10 similar aircraft worth USD$2.8 billion. "Our order for the 747-8Fs will be essential in helping us service our rapidly growing network of 28 freighter destinations," Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum was quoted as saying in the statement. Middle East air cargo grew 5.8 percent last year by tonnage, said Emirates, which operates nine freighters among its fleet of 98 planes. It also awaiting delivery of eight Boeing 777 freighters among more than 100 aircraft on order worth a total USD$30 billion. Emirates ordered 10 Boeing 747 freighters at the Farnborough Air Show in July. At the time, it said the order was worth USD$3.3 billion. A spokeswoman for Emirates could not explain the discrepancy with Sunday's confirmation price. Oct 8, 2006

Brazil Steps Up Search For Air Crash Victims. The Brazilian government on Sunday sent an extra 80 troops to join a search in the Amazon rainforest for victims of Brazil's worst plane disaster which killed 154 people. They reinforce 37 soldiers who have been combing the remote forest area in northern Brazil where a Boeing 737-800 of low-cost airline Gol crashed on September 29. By Saturday night, soldiers had recovered 117 bodies, the Brazilian Air Force said in a statement. Relatives of the victims have complained that the corpses may soon become too decomposed to be identified and that body parts could be devoured by wild animals. Oct 8, 2006

Gol Plane Skids Off Runway, No Injuries. Brazilian low-cost carrier Gol said on Friday one of its planes slid off the runway at Sao Paulo's Congonhas domestic airport but no passengers were hurt. Gol flight 1941 from Cuiaba in Mato Grosso state landed at the Sao Paulo airport at 6:05 a.m. local time (0505 EDT/1005 GMT), sliding up to a grassy area, where it stopped. A Gol spokesman said the plane skidded off the runway because of light rain. Sao Paulo's domestic airport, the busiest in Brazil, halted all landing and takeoffs briefly while Gol's plane was removed from the runway. A Boeing 737-800 belonging to Gol crashed into the Amazon jungle last week, killing all 154 people onboard. Oct 6, 2006

Air Force commander Luiz Carlos Bueno said on Monday the two planes invloved in Brazil's worst plane disaster were flying at 37,000 feet, which means that one of them had abandoned its flight plan. In any case, it was not clear why the modern collision avoidance equipment installed on both planes didn't prevent the accident, local aviation authorities said. The black box from the Boeing will probably be taken to the United States for analysis, after which it will be compared with the data from the Legacy jet, made by Brazil's Embraer, Bueno said. The US National Transportation Safety Board also sent investigators to Brazil to assist in the probe of the Gol crash. Oct 3, 2006

Brazilian Planes Collide, 155 Missing. A Brazilian Gol passenger plane with 155 people on board disappeared over the Amazon jungle on Friday after colliding with a small plane, the company and news reports said. The mayor of a remote town in the central state of Mato Grosso said the plane had crashed on a farm in Peixoto de Azevedo municipality. Gol flight 1907, flying from the principle Amazon city of Manaus bound for the national capital Brasilia, disappeared after losing radar contact, the company said. The head of Brazil's airports authority, Infraero, said the Gol aircraft collided with another smaller plane, Globo news agency reported. The smaller plane, an executive jet, was able to land in a town called Serra do Cachimbo even though it suffered wing damage, Globo reported. Cachimbo is deep in the jungle about midway between Manaus and Brasilia. Celso Gick, a spokesman in the Amazon region for Infraero, said the Boeing 737-800 was carrying 149 passengers and six crew members. Oct 2, 2006

First Bodies Recovered From Brazil Plane Crash. Rescuers recovered the first two bodies from the wreckage of a crashed Brazilian passenger plane in the Amazon jungle on Sunday and reported that none of the 155 people on board had survived, the Brazilian Air Force said. The crash of the new Boeing 737-800 belonging to low-cost airline Gol is Brazil's worst aviation disaster. Search and rescue teams had to rappel down from helicopters while others hacked their way through thick jungle to reach the wreckage after the plane went down in remote Mato Grosso state on Friday. They found the first two bodies before halting their search when night fell, an air force statement said. The corpses were loaded onto helicopters and taken to an air force base. All 149 passengers and six crew on board had been killed, the air force said, confirming what had been feared. The crash appeared to have been caused by a collision between the Boeing and a small executive jet, the aviation authority ANAC said in a statement. Oct 2, 2006

Gol officials said there were 113 men and 42 women on board flight 1907 that carshed, including an 11-month-old boy and four children. The airline said there were only about half a dozen foreigners on the flight, though the company didn't disclose their nationalities. Authorities lost radar contact with Gol flight 1907 on Friday afternoon during its journey from the principal Amazon city of Manaus to the capital Brasilia, the airline said. Search planes found the crash site in Mato Grosso state, about 1,000 km northwest of Brasilia. Friends and relatives, many wearing dark sunglasses and hugging and crying, gathered on the patio of a hotel in Brasilia waiting for details. Most could not utter more than one word before bursting into tears. Denise Abreu, director of civil aviation authority ANAC, said signs indicated there had been a mid-air collision with a smaller jet, which landed safely. Oct 2, 2006

The Gol plane that crashed in the Amazon jungle was received new from Boeing on September 12 and had only 234 flight hours, the company said. Until now, the worst air disaster in Brazilian history was the June 1982 crash of a Vasp flight which hit a mountain near Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil, killing 137 people. Oct 2, 2006

A Boeing 737-800 of low-cost airline Gol crashed on September 29 Brazil's air traffic control has said that the accident occurred after an executive jet piloted by two US citizens crossed paths with the passenger plane. The jet, which lost a winglet, made a safe emergency landing. On Saturday, a Brazilian court ordered that the new ExcelAire Embraer Legacy business jet be retained in Brazil while an investigation into the crash continues. Police last week confiscated the passports of the US pilot and co-pilot. Preliminary results of the crash probe are expected in coming days. Any pilot or controller found guilty in the crash could be jailed for up to five years, state security officials said. Brazil's chief air traffic controller, Brig. Lt. Roberto Vilarhino, said on Thursday that the executive jet was flying at the wrong altitude when it crossed paths with the Gol airliner. But he said that he could not yet blame anyone for the crash and did not rule out equipment failure. Vilarhino said that the Legacy's transponder, which gives details about an aircraft's location, was apparently not working. Some Brazilian officials have suggested that the pilots may have turned off the instrument. Oct 8, 2006

Air Force commander Luiz Carlos Bueno said on Monday both planes involved in the Gol fatal crash were flying at 37,000 feet, which means that one of them had strayed from its flight plan. Investigators want to know why modern collision avoidance equipment installed on both planes did not prevent the accident, local aviation authorities said. Brazilian news reports have offered a range of conflicting theories about the accident's cause, some speculating that the Embraer Legacy business jet may have deviated from its flight plan. Christine Negroni, with US law firm Kreindler & Kreindler which is not involved in the investigation, said all planes heading west in Brazil fly at even multiples of 1,000 feet, and those heading east at odd multiples. Oct 4, 2006

At the Gol crash site in a dense, remote area in the Brazilian rain forest, salvage crews had recovered the remains of about 50 victims by Tuesday, including the airliner's two pilots. A badly damaged black box from the Boeing will probably be taken for analysis to the United States or Canada, after which it will be compared with the data from the business jet, aviation authorities said. As it often does, the US National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to help with the probe in Brazil. Grieving relatives were asked to provide dental records or descriptions that could help identify the bodies, as well as blood samples for DNA tests. Oct 4, 2006

Bodies Found At Brazilian Plane Crash Site. Searchers found dozens of bodies at the Amazon site of Brazil's worst plane disaster on Tuesday and started to fly remains to the capital as investigators tried to determine how two planes collided. An air force spokesman said coroners and rescue workers were trying to separate human remains, but could not say how many corpses had been found. All 155 people on board the Boeing 737-800, owned by budget airline Gol, died in Friday's crash. The first remains found on Sunday were being sent to Brasilia today, he said. Earlier, aviation officials said more than 100 bodies had been found, but the air force, which is in charge of the search, could not confirm the number. Meanwhile, two US pilots of a smaller Legacy executive jet that authorities believe clipped the Boeing arrived in Rio de Janeiro from the Amazon for medical and psychological tests at the Aerospace Medical Center as part of the investigation. They cannot leave Brazil while the probe is on. The ExcelAire Embraer Legacy 600 jet, landed at a military base in the jungle at Cachimbo, after losing a winglet in a collision. None of the seven people on board were hurt. Oct 3, 2006

Brazilian Crash Victim Relatives Journey To Site. Grieving relatives of 155 people killed in Brazil's worst aviation disaster arrived in the Amazon on Monday to fly over the wreckage as searchers tried to recover corpses in the dense jungle. The relatives had earlier complained that authorities kept them in the dark about the search for bodies and the investigation into Friday's crash of a brand-new Boeing 737-800 belonging to Brazil's budget airline Gol. All 149 passengers and six crew died in the crash after the plane and a smaller executive jet appear to have clipped wings in mid-air. The Brazilian Air Force reported that rescue teams recovered the black box flight recorder of the Gol plane. The air force flew a group of six victims' relatives to the crash site in northern Mato Grosso state, about 1,000 km northwest of Brasilia. An air force spokesman said the idea was to show to them how difficult it was for rescue workers to reach the plane, which plunged nose first into the rain forest and disintegrated. Only two bodies were recovered by Sunday. The disaster site was found on Saturday and rescuers had to rappel down from helicopters while others hacked through thick jungle guided by local Indians to reach the wreckage. The smaller executive jet involved in the incident made an emergency landing at the Cachimbo air force base on Friday with five passengers on board, none of whom was hurt. The Gol plane had departed from Manaus, a river port, tourist center and manufacturing zone in the heart of the Amazon, bound for Brasilia with a final destination of Rio de Janeiro. The previous worst air disaster in Brazilian history was the June 1982 crash of a Vasp flight which hit a mountain near Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil, killing 137 people. Oct 3, 2006

Gol said the flight that crashed had 155 passengers on board but made no mention of crew members. Brazil's civil aviation authority said the plane was transporting 155 people and lost contact around the town of Sao Felix do Xingu. At Brasilia airport, dozens of friends and relatives, many weeping, gathered anxiously to await news. Gol is a low-cost carrier that has expanded rapidly in recent years to become Brazil's number two airline and to offer flights to neighboring countries. With its orange and white colors and stylized casual uniforms, it is an instantly recognizable brand in Brazil and one of its most successful new businesses. Manaus is host to a number of foreign-owned manufacturing plants making motorcycles, computers and other goods in its duty free zone. It is also a base for tourism in the Amazon, the world's largest rain forest, and a headquarters for several environmental groups. CBN radio said at least 20 passengers were employees of Yamaha, the Japanese conglomerate. The flight left Manaus at 2:36 p.m. local time (1836 GMT) but did not arrive in Brasilia at 6:12 p.m. (2112 GMT) as scheduled, a spokesman for Manaus Airport said. This is the first major crash involving Gol, which was founded in 2001. In the last major airline crash in Brazil, 33 people were killed when a plane belonging to regional carrier Rico Linhas Aereas crashed in the Amazon flying from Sao Paulo de Olivenca to Manaus on May 14, 2004. Oct 2, 2006

No Sign Of Life At Brazilian Jet Crash Site. Military searchers on Saturday were at the site of the wreckage of a Brazilian passenger plane that crashed a day earlier in remote Amazon jungle with 155 people on board. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said there was no sign of survivors. The new Boeing 737-800 operated by Brazilian low-cost carrier Gol probably crushed into the ground nose first after it clipped a smaller executive jet, the head of Brazil's airport authority Infraero said. If the death toll is confirmed, it will be the worst aviation accident in Brazil's history. Brazil's military suspended the search and rescue mission as dusk set in the thick forested area and will resume Sunday morning. Earlier in the day, the two soldiers who rappelled from a helicopter into the area were cutting down dense jungle to make a helicopter landing area and authorities had recruited Indian trackers to find a path to the remote jungle crash site for relief teams. The small size of the wreckage area indicated that the chances of survivors among the 149 passengers and six crew members on board were slim. Oct 2, 2006

Cyprus Helios Airways Crash Probe Blames Human Error - Report. Human error was the main cause of Cyprus's worst airline disaster, in which an aircraft crashed into a hillside north of Athens last year killing all 121 people on board, a Cypriot newspaper reported on Friday. Errors by ground and air crew were among eight factors logged by Greek investigators who are expected to hand the result of their official probe into the disaster to Greek and Cypriot authorities next week, the daily Phileleftheros said. Cypriot authorities declined to comment on the report. The crash was highly unusual because the Boeing 737-300, operated by Helios Airways on a Larnaca-Prague flight, flew on autopilot for two hours, its pilots slumped over the controls, before crashing into a Greek hillside when it ran out of fuel. Two Greek air force fighters were scrambled when the plane lost radio contact, and their pilots saw a flight attendant, apparently the only person still conscious on the plane, grappling with the controls before the aircraft crashed. A failure to switch the aircraft's decompression system to automatic from manual mode, by both technicians on the ground and the pilots themselves, triggered the sequence of events, Phileleftheros reported. The system regulates the oxygen supply, which therefore decreased as the aircraft gained altitude and rendered the pilots and passengers unconscious. Oct 6, 2006

PrivatAir of Switzerland will take delivery of a 767-300ER in December and reconfigure it as a 56-seat luxury charter aircraft. It will be placed into service in April, replacing a 28-seat BBJ. Oct 5, 2006

Rolls-Royce Signs USD$1 Bln Monarch Deal. British engine maker Rolls-Royce said on Thursday it had won an engine and maintenance deal from the UK's Monarch Airlines worth USD$1 billion at list prices. The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines are to power Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes which Monarch has ordered, Rolls said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. The planes are scheduled for delivery from 2010. Oct 5, 2006

Ryanair Orders 32 Boeing 737s. Budget airline Ryanair ordered 32 Boeing 737-800s on Friday worth USD$2.25 billion at list prices for deliveries beginning in 2008. The orders are from options Ryanair held on buying the popular single-aisle planes. The airline has ordered 281 of the 737 airliner to date. Oct 2, 2006

Editor: Aram Gesar, eMail: [e-mail]

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Oct 2, 2006