The system is back! Sorry for the delay everyone.
Farewell to Alaska's MD-80
Yesterday, Alaska Airlines retired its final MD-80s. These MD-80s have been particularly storied and quite tragic. Tales of jackscrews and lax maintenance marked the later years of these aircraft, though more broadly its the beginning of the end for US operation of the thirsty narrow body. Delta and American can't be far behind.
All Eyes on Boeing
The negotiations are in full swing at the Doubletree at SeaTac between Boeing and the IAM. About 50% of the contract is nailed down, 50% still in dispute. 11 days to go.
Got wings?
Wings for Dreamliner Five arrived in Everett on Saturday. They were flown through Fairbanks, AK instead of the usual Anchorage. Probably won't see fuselage sections arriving until just before Dreamliner One is ready to roll off the line.
CRJ1000 First Flight
I'm stumped on this one. July 11:
Tanker Madness
The Air Force final RFP should be out soon (this week or next probably). If Boeing gets more time to offer a larger aircraft (767-400ER or 777) does Airbus jump ahead and either convert the KC-30 from the A330-200 (Passenger) to the A330-200F or one step further to launch the A330-300F? Speculation courtesy of Steve Trimble.
United Untied
I try not to let airlines keep me up at night, but United has been bugging me. Undercutting your premium product is NOT the way to save your airline. It's really one of the only reliable revenue streams an airline has. I wanted to throw this one in your court: how would you save United? Does United even need saving?
A380 Production Update
Later this week I'll be posting updates on A380 production to give a rundown on the remaining 2008 deliveries.
Farewell to Alaska's MD-80
Yesterday, Alaska Airlines retired its final MD-80s. These MD-80s have been particularly storied and quite tragic. Tales of jackscrews and lax maintenance marked the later years of these aircraft, though more broadly its the beginning of the end for US operation of the thirsty narrow body. Delta and American can't be far behind.
All Eyes on Boeing
The negotiations are in full swing at the Doubletree at SeaTac between Boeing and the IAM. About 50% of the contract is nailed down, 50% still in dispute. 11 days to go.
Got wings?
Wings for Dreamliner Five arrived in Everett on Saturday. They were flown through Fairbanks, AK instead of the usual Anchorage. Probably won't see fuselage sections arriving until just before Dreamliner One is ready to roll off the line.
CRJ1000 First Flight
I'm stumped on this one. July 11:
First flight will occur "very soon", assures a Bombardier spokesman from London, where the airframer's executives are currently preparing for the Farnborough air show next week.Anyone know what's up?
Tanker Madness
The Air Force final RFP should be out soon (this week or next probably). If Boeing gets more time to offer a larger aircraft (767-400ER or 777) does Airbus jump ahead and either convert the KC-30 from the A330-200 (Passenger) to the A330-200F or one step further to launch the A330-300F? Speculation courtesy of Steve Trimble.
United Untied
I try not to let airlines keep me up at night, but United has been bugging me. Undercutting your premium product is NOT the way to save your airline. It's really one of the only reliable revenue streams an airline has. I wanted to throw this one in your court: how would you save United? Does United even need saving?
A380 Production Update
Later this week I'll be posting updates on A380 production to give a rundown on the remaining 2008 deliveries.
on August 25, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply
I don't particularly believe that contraction will cure the airline industry of it's woes (once one airline disappears two more seem to pop up in its place). And I have no interest in seeing United go out of business. But I can't say my experiences with them have been positive....
on August 25, 2008 9:34 PM | Reply
I didn't see United under cutting the premium product at all? If you are talking about them doing 2 cabin service on domestic 3 cabin flights, that is what AA has been doing for years.
on August 25, 2008 10:00 PM | Reply
No, United does not need saving. That airline would need to work extremely hard to regenerate its extremely tainted public image. The best thing to do at this point is liquidate the airline. This would benefit all other airlines in the U.S.
on August 26, 2008 12:53 AM | Reply
Well on the United case, well first they should remove Jack Creighton, think of the customer before their unions and their unions should understand that they should come second if they still want to see united flying and this company being a profitable airline! And since we do not live in a perfect world this won't happen so eventually United will collapse on its self and we will never ever fly the "Friendly Sky's" ever again:-(
Tom B
on August 26, 2008 4:38 AM | Reply
You might find this interesting Jon
http://www.theage.com.au/national/boeing-job-losses-set-to-double-20080823-40xp.html
remember there was a strike at this plant a few months back.
The speculator in me thinks Boeing Australia has racked up a tonne of undelivered/unintergrated components and since the move to Sydney for non-787 work has been on the table for a while now, Boeing is simply going to let most of the workers go.
It would be interesting to know if this is happeing elsewhere..