Category Archives for Aircraft.
While it’s been an open secret that Air India has been about to purchase nearly 500 aircraft in an order split between Boeing and Airbus, the Airbus order was announced… but we were waiting for the order from Boeing. The reason why the two orders weren’t announced together is now clear. It awaited President Biden so that he could be a part of the announcement.
Here’s video of a plane that’s going viral, appearing to show the aircraft not moving in the skies over Chicago. It’s being called ‘a glitch in the matrix’.
Now one of those March 2020-retired Boeing 757s – which eventually made it from Tulsa to the desert in Roswell, New Mexico – has been opened, as though it were a time capsule. It’s headed off to China for a cargo retrofit. And while the plane has been painted over to obscure its previous owner, the interior is completely preserved.
Inside the Boeing 757 you see the old Collins Diamond business class seats. They lie flat, but the plane lacked direct aisle access for these seats. There were no seat back entertainment screens, either. There was still material in the seat back pockets!
After 53 years in production, the final commercial Boeing 747 was delivered to cargo carrier Atlas Air on Tuesday. On Wednesday it flew from Paine Field in Seattle to Cincinnati, drawing “747” in the sky and placing a crown on top to honor the “Queen of the Skies” as the aircraft has long been known.
American Airlines still has fewer mainline aircraft flying than they did before the pandemic. They retired their Boeing 757s, 767s, Airbus A330s (that they’ve even still been paying on) and Embraer 190s during the pandemic. And they’ve kept Boeing 737s parked in the desert.
However they’re bringing back some of those 737s this year, and will take delivery of 19 new narrowbody and 4 widebody aircraft in 2023. All told they expect to end 2023 with more active mainline aircraft than their average for 2019, but still fewer aircraft total.
Boeing has reportedly succeeded in lobbying against safety measures for Boeing 737 MAX -7 and -10 aircraft, with Congress sticking the airframe manufacturer’s language into the must-pass year-end budget bill.
Any plane that’s certified starting in 2023 requires new cockpit alerts as a result of legislative reaction to problems with the Boeing 737 MAX. But Boeing is about to get an exemption from this for the new 737 MAX variants.
So where does American Airlines stand? The topic was addressed at a recent meeting between executives and pilots in Dallas (a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing). CEO Robert Isom began by saying they have enough on their plate with current aircraft deliveries and Vice President Brian Znotins explaining why they don’t want the Boeing 787-10.
At a meeting with pilots in Dallas on December 9th, a recording of which was reviewed by View From The Wing, Chief Operating Officer David Seymour spoke about Boeing delays and quality control issues that are holding back the airline’s ability to grow its schedule.
Musk’s twitter has reportedly refused to pay some bills for services provided in the last days of previous management – like a $197,725 roundtrip private jet flight from Teterboro to San Francisco for the executive who served as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer and head of HR the day prior to close of the sale of the company.
The Twitter executive might have chosen one of 21 flights between New York and San Francisco offering flat business class seats instead.
United Airlines and Boeing are planning a big announcement today at the airframe manufacturer’s facility in South Carolina. They’ve been expected to announce a huge order for Boeing 787s, which should be line-fit with a new Polaris business class suites with doors.
Ahead of the announcement details of the order have already been released. The Boeing 787 details are correct but they’re ordering MAX aircraft, too.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
