Near-miss: Passenger jet ‘narrowly avoided’ hitting drone at Gatwick airport in April August 28, 2019 An Airbus passenger jet carrying as many as 186 passengers was forced to take evasive action to avoid a drone as it approached Gatwick airport, it has emerged. The airliner was flying at 518 metres towards the West Sussex airport on 28 April when the pilot saw a dark-coloured drone and made a banking turn [...]
Britain ‘still attractive for aerospace investment’ despite Brexit uncertainty August 27, 2019 Britain is the fourth-most attractive attractive country to invest in for the aerospace and defence industries, according to research. Despite warnings from major industry players that Brexit uncertainty will hamper investment in the sector, the UK has been named the best European country to invest in, ahead of Germany, by PwC. Countries were ranked on [...]
Boeing 737 Max: First customer lawsuit comes in against plane maker as Russian firm sues August 27, 2019 Boeing is facing its first lawsuit from an aviation industry customer of its Boeing 737 Max, after a Russian firm that ordered 35 planes is said to have sued it for breach of contract. Avia Capital Services, an aircraft leasing company that is a subsidiary of Russian firm Rostec, made an order for 35 Max [...]
Up in the air: Risks pile on for aerospace industry as 737 Max saga continues August 22, 2019 Risks are mounting for the world’s aerospace industry, amid political tensions and delays to Boeing’s grounded 737 Max jet returning to service, according to ratings agency Moody’s. Read more: Boeing takes $4.9bn hit on 737 Max groundings to compensate airlines The grounding of the best-selling passenger jet in March after two deadly crashes killed 346 [...]
Land of the car? Trump slams Ford for backing stricter emissions rules August 22, 2019 Donald Trump has found a new target for his Twitter ire: the global automotive industry. The US President yesterday mounted a series of attacks on car makers for snubbing his plan to roll back Obama-era fuel efficiency rules, singling out Ford for instead siding with a California state deal which proposes stricter emissions standards. Read [...]
JCB charges ahead with ‘historic’ electric digger August 20, 2019 JCB marked an “historic moment” in digger manufacturing today, as its new electric version of the iconic yellow digger rolled off the production line. The firm is moving into full production with the construction industry’s first fully electric mini excavator, with 50 machines already having gone out to customers around the world. Read more: JCB [...]
Manufacturers’ pains soften despite ‘Brexit millstone’ hampering firms August 20, 2019 Britain’s manufacturing headaches softened slightly over the last three months, with output stabilising despite “relentless Brexit uncertainty” continuing to weigh heavy on the industry. Manufacturers reported output fell less sharply over the three months to August, according to the CBI’s monthly industrial trends survey, meaning the industry is still in decline but the rate of [...]
Automotive supplier SGL shares drop a third as chief quits on profit warning August 15, 2019 SGL Carbon, a major supplier to Germany’s car industry, has suffered a double blow as its chief executive threw in the towel over flawed business planning on the same day as a profit warning. Chief executive Juergen Koehler will step down at the end of August, he announced, as the company said it expected adjusted [...]
Lion Air ‘urgently’ needs more Boeing 737 Max jets to support growth August 14, 2019 Indonesian airline Lion Air “urgently requires” more Boeing 737 Max jets, after two crashes involving the model – one of which was a Lion Air jet – left the entire global fleet grounded in March. The airline’s co-founder, Rusdi Kirana, told Reuters that once regulators allowed the plane back in the skies, it needed more [...]
Rolls-Royce: Engine issues still in focus after ‘storm of steel and iron’ falls from plane August 14, 2019 On a sunny, 30C-degree afternoon in Fiumicino, near Rome, residents of the airport town thought they were experiencing a sudden hail storm. But when witness Paola Di Lazzaro looked outside, she saw “a storm of steel and iron,” she told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. Hundreds of shards of incandescent metal were falling down to earth [...]