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The Coronavirus is heavily impacting the airlines, the entire travel industry, and global economies in general. Airlines are cutting back on flights, looking at hiring freezes and unpaid leave, flying empty planes to avoid losing valuable airport slots, and reassigning widebodies to fly narrowbody routes. We also look at hiring at Boeing, a congressional committee preliminary report on the 737 MAX, aviation event cancellations, the first A220 assembled at the Mobile, Alabama plant, the gigantic market forecast for air taxis, and a petition to drop gender-exclusive words from FAA and ICAO publications.
Coronavirus News
The Coronavirus (or COVID-19) continues to take its toll on airlines and the aviation industry in general. We discuss some of the effects of the virus and the actions being taken.
United trims schedules up to 20%, imposes hiring freeze amid coronavirus fears
Delta’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) website
Lufthansa Considers Grounding Entire Airbus A380 Fleet
IATA requests suspension of slot rules due to COVID-19
#PaxEx Podcast: Coronavirus and MAX grounding level one-two punch
Emirates Offers Leave to Staff as Virus Saps Demand for Travel
Southwest Airlines Has More Bad Coronavirus News for Travel Stocks
The (rare) travel upside to coronavirus? You might have a swankier plane on your spring flight
Trump seeks to stamp out airline bailout talk
Airlines, travel and cruise industries hurt by coronavirus could get tax relief from White House
In Other Aviation News…
Boeing Goes on Hiring Spree in High-Stakes Gamble on 737 Max
When Boeing halted 737 MAX production and redeployed workers, people wondered what all those mechanics would do. We now see that some were deployed to study and improve production processes. In addition, Boeing is looking ahead to the time when deliveries of the jet can resume, and they are staffing up to handle the task.
Boeing : Congressional Report Says MAX Crashes Stemmed From Boeing’s Design Failures and Lax FAA Oversight
After five public hearings over the last year into the design and certification of the 737 MAX, Democrats on the House Transportation Committee have released preliminary findings. The report notes Boeing’s engineering mistakes, a “culture of concealment,” and insufficient federal safety oversight.
Aero Friedrichshafen postponed over coronavirus concerns
AERO Friedrichshafen Postpones Due To Coronavirus Concerns; Sun ’n Fun Weighs In, Too
AERO Friedrichshafen is the big GA show for Europe but the event scheduled for April 1-4, 2020 has been postponed. The Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg is also postponed. As of now, Sun N’ Fun will take place as planned.
Airbus Receives No New Orders In February 2020
Airbus received 274 orders in January, but none in February, Boeing received no new orders in January.
Airbus rolls out first A220 assembled in Mobile
The first A220 assembled at the Airbus Mobile, Alabama plant rolled off the line. The A220-300 jet is due to be delivered to Delta Air Lines by September. Jets for both Delta and JetBlue Airways will be assembled in Mobile.
The flying taxi market is ready for takeoff, changing the travel experience forever
Flying cars, electric air taxis, urban air mobility, call it what you like, but it’s not going away anytime soon. Companies investing in this idea include Airbus, Boeing, Bell, Toyota, Uber, and Hyundai. A Morgan Stanley Research study published in January says “…autonomous urban aircraft may no longer be the stuff of comic books. Accelerating tech advances and investment could create a $1.5 trillion market by 2040.” Another study by Frost & Sullivan, sees a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of about 46% over the next 20 years with more than 430,000 units in operation by then.
Petition: Help Eliminate Gender-Exclusive Words that Keep Women out of Aviation
There are over 40,000 references to Airman or Airmen on the FAA’s website. ICAO’s website lists close to 2,000 airmen references. This petition asks the FAA and ICAO to remove gender-exclusive words from all their publications, on- and off-line. The petition is sponsored by the Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide (iWOAW) – a not-for-profit organization headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
Mentioned
Flight Safety Detectives, Episode 14: Lion Air Accident Report Analysis.
Hi – I love the podcast! I’m sure lots of people have already suggested this, but why not “aviator/s” to replace “airman/men”?
Global airlines stand to lose $113 billion in sales if the coronavirus continues to spread, according to the International Air Transport Association.
The losses would be similar to those experienced by the aviation industry during the global financial crisis of 2008, IATA warned as it dramatically increased its estimate of the damage caused by the outbreak. It said airlines could lose 19% of their business if the virus isn’t contained soon. For more details on COVID-19, feel free to check this article. https://www.tomedes.com/translator-hub/coronavirus-medical-translation
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an estimated 1.1 million flight cancellations are predicted by June 30, 2020 with the total loss in passenger revenue expected to total to $252 billion for this year.