PNAA conference, Pt 1: Traffic data; AA-US merger thoughts, 787

Each airline region of the world is different and many going through transitions US went through previously, says Bob McAdoo, the airline analyst for Imperial Capital (a boutique investment banking company in California). McAdoo is speaking at the… Read More

Odds and Ends: ICAO says no to lithium batteries;Dendrites and the 787; Deleting Flightblogger

ICAO says no to lithium-ion batteries: The UN organization ICAO apparently will reverse itself and say that lithium-ion batteries should not be shipped as cargo on passenger airliners. This seems like a prudent move, considering the history of… Read More

Airbus may drop lithium batteries from A350; BCA CEO appeals to SPEEA members

Airbus may drop Lithium batteries: Bloomberg reports that Airbus may drop lithium ion batteries from the A350 in the wake of the problems encountered by Boeing. Reuters has this report. A switch to standard batteries would delay the… Read More

Analysis of 787 situation ahead of NTSB briefing

Note: The National Transportation Safety Board will brief the media today at 11am ET. We will have a live update on this blog. ******************************************************************** The flurry of news late yesterday for the Boeing 787, its grounding, a ferry… Read More

Odds and Ends: Narrowing the cause on 787s; 30-120 days grounding?

Narrowing the Cause: Aviation Week has a good article with some behind-the-scenes snippets about the grounding of the Boeing 787. Toward the end are comments from Japan Air Lines about narrowing the cause of the battery problems. The… Read More

Odds and Ends: Airbus’ frustration over A350 fallout–blame yourself; DC-10 grounding retrospective

Airbus’ frustration: Airbus says it has a Plan B for its lithium ion battery design and the CEO says he’s frustrated over the attention the A350 is getting as a result of the Boeing 787 issues. Airbus has… Read More

Airbus examines lithium battery safety, fire suppression

Note: The NTSB Sunday said it still doesn’t know what caused the lithium ion battery to catch fire on the JAL Boeing 787. Japan has shifted focus to a monitoring system, not the battery. The battery charger has… Read More

NTSB briefing on 787 today

The National Transportation Board will have a briefing today at 2:30 ET. In advance of the briefing, NTSB issued this terse statement: The following factual information has been developed about the battery: It consists of eight cells of… Read More

Reflections of a whirl-wind week in the news cycle

This is one of those moments where jet-lag induced sleep patterns give us a moment to catch our breath. What a week it’s been in the news cycle. We came to Europe on routine business and from the… Read More

Airbus annual press conference: Passed 12,000 orders since inception, more than 9,000 single-aisle

We’re at the Airbus Annual Press Conference for the 2012 results, the first of several stops on our Europe trip. Participants are: Fabrice Breigier, CEO (FB) Gunter Butschek, COO (GB) John Leahy, COO-Customers (JL) Tom Williams, EVP Programs… Read More