December 1 - The Week Ahead Open Thread

SPEEA Votes
Tonight in Seattle, the votes of Boeing's Engineers Union will be tallied. The union will ratify or reject the new four-year contract offered to the 20,500 strong membership. The Union leadership has recommended ratification, though passage depends on a simple majority vote of the membership. Union members have two votes, the first of which is ratification of the contract (yes or no) and authorization for a strike (yes or no). We could know the result as early as 11pm ET/8pm PT tonight.

Economy Stalls CSeries
With the economy doing a nauseating series of high G maneuvers, China is significantly cutting back capacity on its state-owned airlines (redundant?). This cut in capacity will inevitably delay a CSeries order, putting Bombardier's fledgling 130 seater in a precarious spot without a firm launch customer, especially after the Summer's soft commitment from Lufthansa.

"We had previously anticipated that a Chinese customer would place a significant order for the CSeries aircraft," Mr. Poirier said in a note to clients Thursday. "However, with the Chinese carriers' poor passenger traffic and profitability figures, and the announcement by the CAAC, we believe an order from a Chinese customer will not be placed in the short to medium term."

Delta's Dreamliners Become Worldliners
Open delivery slots on 787 and the purchase of a more expensive 777-200LRs is just fine with Boeing, but the question should be asked: is this part of a compensation package for a 787 delay to Northwest? Also, what role has the 787 weight gain played in influencing the missions that 787 can now perform?

Dubai-London on A380
With Emirates now the proud operator of 3 Airbus A380 aircraft, the airline kicked off direct Dubai-London service today. London is now the only European city with A380 service (period) and now with two airlines. Sydney is served by QANTAS and Singapore.

Something lighter:

Report: Planes Just As Afraid Of John Madden
WASHINGTON--The Federal Aviation Administration stated Wednesday that, according to all available evidence, airplanes are just as afraid of carrying sportscaster John Madden as he is of traveling on them. "Airliners have a not unreasonable fear that, were John Madden to board them, it would increase their chances of crashing," said FAA administrator Robert A. Sturgell, reading from the report. "While looking at John Madden, planes often express a sense of inadequacy and a heightened fear of losing control. Our studies have not found, however, that planes have any more reason to be afraid of John Madden than they do of any other grossly overweight celebrity." To help reduce planes' fears, Boeing has enrolled their fleet of commercial airliners in an education program about the realities of John Madden, which will explain exactly how he works, the meaning of the various sounds he generates, and why he may vibrate or gurgle when under way.

See Kieran Daly for more.

In other news...
I may or may not be turning 25 on Saturday.