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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/boeing-ceo-737-max-safest-jet-190430104658605.html
Boeing CEO: 737 Max will be our safest jet
Boeing's boss assures investors 737 Max will be back soon after two crashes within months forced airlines to ground it.
30 Apr 2019
more on United States
Boeing has held its first annual shareholders' meeting since two of its 737 Max aircraft crashed within five months, killing nearly 350 people in total.
The company hopes to reintroduce the model with improvements next month.
It insists the plane will be one of the safest ever to fly, but not everyone is comfortable with Boeing's response.
Al Jazeera's John Hendren reports from Chicago.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...lert-was--not-activated-as-intended--11492658
Boeing says optional 737 MAX alert was 'not activated as intended'
FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo shows Boeing 737 MAX airplanes parked on the tarmac at the Boeing Factory in Renton, Washington, U.S. March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo
30 Apr 2019 11:25PM
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SINGAPORE: Boeing said an alert for angle-of-attack (AOA) sensors on its 737 MAX jets was "not activated as intended" for some customers, responding to reports it failed to tell Southwest Airlines and the US regulator that the optional feature was deactivated before a crash in Indonesia in October.
Erroneous AOA sensor readings that led to aggressive nose-down inputs by a computer have been linked to deadly 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, according to preliminary reports from investigators.
Boeing offered customers two optional paid features relating to AOA. The first was an AOA DISAGREE alert when the two sensors disagreed and the second was an indicator giving pilots a gauge of the actual angle.
Southwest, the largest 737 MAX customer, in November told Reuters the alert was installed and it planned to add the indicator as well following the Lion Air crash in Indonesia.
The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported that unbeknown to Southwest and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the alerts were not activated on the carrier's 737 MAX jets.
"After the Lion Air event, Southwest was notified by Boeing that the AOA disagree lights were inoperable without the optional AOA indicators on the MAX aircraft," a Southwest spokesman said on Tuesday (Apr 30).
Boeing said on Monday that the disagree alert had been intended to be a standalone feature on the 737 MAX, but it was "not operable on all airplanes because the feature was not activated as intended".
"The disagree alert was tied or linked into the angle-of-attack indicator, which is an optional feature on the MAX," the manufacturer said in a statement. "Unless an airline opted for the angle-of-attack indicator, the disagree alert was not operable ... Boeing did not intentionally or otherwise deactivate the disagree alert on its MAX airplanes."
When Reuters contacted several 737 MAX operators about the optional features in November, only American Airlines and Singapore Airlines Ltd offshoot SilkAir confirmed they had installed both the alert and the indicator.
Canada's WestJet Airlines Ltd and Dubai's flydubai said they had installed the alert and Air Canada said it planned to install the indicator. Boeing said the disagree alert was not considered a safety feature and was not necessary for the safe operation of the plane. However, the company said following software modifications all new 737 MAX aircraft would have an activated and operable disagree alert and an optional angle-of-attack indicator, while current 737 MAX planes would have the ability to activate the disagree alert.
Boeing CEO and Chairman Dennis Muilenburg promised on Monday to win back the public's trust after facing tough questions following the two crashes.
A FAA spokeswoman declined to comment.
Source: Reuters
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Scoot to stop flying to four cities due to weak demand and aircraft shortage
Kiara Xavier 2019-04-30 Current Affairs
Singapore’s low-cost airline Scoot will be suspending its flights to four cities in Asia “due to a combination of weak demand and a shortage of aircraft resources”, it announced on Monday (29 April).
The cities that the airline mentioned are Lucknow in the north of India; Kalibo, the main airport to the popular Philippine island Boracay; Quanzhou in China’s Fujian province and Male, the capital of Maldives. All these affected cities are served by the airline’s Airbus A320 aircraft.
It said that Scoot is experiencing aircraft shortage as it won’t be able to receive SilkAir’s Boeing 737-800NG aircraft for the financial year of 2019/2020 after the grounding of SilkAir’s Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet.
The announcement also revealed that the last flights departing Singapore to Lucknow and Kalibo end in June, Quanzhou ends in August and Male stops in October.
However, it will operate additional flights to Lucknow in June and to Kalibo for selected periods until the suspension of service, it said.
Currently, Scoot operates three flights a week to Lucknow, Kalibo and Quanzhou, while it travels four times weekly to Male.
Following the news of the suspension, the airline said that it had contacted customers with existing booking to explain their options.
Affected customers can choose to either rebook their flight to the same destination departing before the planned suspension date or to a different destination within the same county, at no additional charges.
But, if customers opt to rebook to a different destination, it must be done within seven days of the original departure date.
If they don’t wish to pick any of these options, then they can obtain a 100 per cent refund on their booking via their original mode of payment or a 120 percent refund via a Scoot Travel Voucher.
Despite the suspension of the flights, the airline said that it will still continue to undertake the routes SilkAir had earlier committed to transfer over.
These routes are:
Boeing CEO: 737 Max will be our safest jet
Boeing's boss assures investors 737 Max will be back soon after two crashes within months forced airlines to ground it.
30 Apr 2019
more on United States
- 16-year-old migrant boy dies in US government custody in Texastoday
- Barr cancels House testimony, escalating battle with US Congresstoday
- Federal Reserve holds rates steady despite Trump's jawboningtoday
- Tension grows between US and Russia over Venezuela standofftoday
Boeing has held its first annual shareholders' meeting since two of its 737 Max aircraft crashed within five months, killing nearly 350 people in total.
The company hopes to reintroduce the model with improvements next month.
It insists the plane will be one of the safest ever to fly, but not everyone is comfortable with Boeing's response.
Al Jazeera's John Hendren reports from Chicago.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...lert-was--not-activated-as-intended--11492658
Boeing says optional 737 MAX alert was 'not activated as intended'
FILE PHOTO: An aerial photo shows Boeing 737 MAX airplanes parked on the tarmac at the Boeing Factory in Renton, Washington, U.S. March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo
30 Apr 2019 11:25PM
Share this content
Bookmark
SINGAPORE: Boeing said an alert for angle-of-attack (AOA) sensors on its 737 MAX jets was "not activated as intended" for some customers, responding to reports it failed to tell Southwest Airlines and the US regulator that the optional feature was deactivated before a crash in Indonesia in October.
Erroneous AOA sensor readings that led to aggressive nose-down inputs by a computer have been linked to deadly 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, according to preliminary reports from investigators.
Boeing offered customers two optional paid features relating to AOA. The first was an AOA DISAGREE alert when the two sensors disagreed and the second was an indicator giving pilots a gauge of the actual angle.
Southwest, the largest 737 MAX customer, in November told Reuters the alert was installed and it planned to add the indicator as well following the Lion Air crash in Indonesia.
The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported that unbeknown to Southwest and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the alerts were not activated on the carrier's 737 MAX jets.
"After the Lion Air event, Southwest was notified by Boeing that the AOA disagree lights were inoperable without the optional AOA indicators on the MAX aircraft," a Southwest spokesman said on Tuesday (Apr 30).
Boeing said on Monday that the disagree alert had been intended to be a standalone feature on the 737 MAX, but it was "not operable on all airplanes because the feature was not activated as intended".
"The disagree alert was tied or linked into the angle-of-attack indicator, which is an optional feature on the MAX," the manufacturer said in a statement. "Unless an airline opted for the angle-of-attack indicator, the disagree alert was not operable ... Boeing did not intentionally or otherwise deactivate the disagree alert on its MAX airplanes."
When Reuters contacted several 737 MAX operators about the optional features in November, only American Airlines and Singapore Airlines Ltd offshoot SilkAir confirmed they had installed both the alert and the indicator.
Canada's WestJet Airlines Ltd and Dubai's flydubai said they had installed the alert and Air Canada said it planned to install the indicator. Boeing said the disagree alert was not considered a safety feature and was not necessary for the safe operation of the plane. However, the company said following software modifications all new 737 MAX aircraft would have an activated and operable disagree alert and an optional angle-of-attack indicator, while current 737 MAX planes would have the ability to activate the disagree alert.
Boeing CEO and Chairman Dennis Muilenburg promised on Monday to win back the public's trust after facing tough questions following the two crashes.
A FAA spokeswoman declined to comment.
Source: Reuters
Tagged Topics
Share this content
Scoot to stop flying to four cities due to weak demand and aircraft shortage
Kiara Xavier 2019-04-30 Current Affairs
Singapore’s low-cost airline Scoot will be suspending its flights to four cities in Asia “due to a combination of weak demand and a shortage of aircraft resources”, it announced on Monday (29 April).
The cities that the airline mentioned are Lucknow in the north of India; Kalibo, the main airport to the popular Philippine island Boracay; Quanzhou in China’s Fujian province and Male, the capital of Maldives. All these affected cities are served by the airline’s Airbus A320 aircraft.
It said that Scoot is experiencing aircraft shortage as it won’t be able to receive SilkAir’s Boeing 737-800NG aircraft for the financial year of 2019/2020 after the grounding of SilkAir’s Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet.
The announcement also revealed that the last flights departing Singapore to Lucknow and Kalibo end in June, Quanzhou ends in August and Male stops in October.
However, it will operate additional flights to Lucknow in June and to Kalibo for selected periods until the suspension of service, it said.
Currently, Scoot operates three flights a week to Lucknow, Kalibo and Quanzhou, while it travels four times weekly to Male.
Following the news of the suspension, the airline said that it had contacted customers with existing booking to explain their options.
Affected customers can choose to either rebook their flight to the same destination departing before the planned suspension date or to a different destination within the same county, at no additional charges.
But, if customers opt to rebook to a different destination, it must be done within seven days of the original departure date.
If they don’t wish to pick any of these options, then they can obtain a 100 per cent refund on their booking via their original mode of payment or a 120 percent refund via a Scoot Travel Voucher.
Despite the suspension of the flights, the airline said that it will still continue to undertake the routes SilkAir had earlier committed to transfer over.
These routes are:
- Luang Prabang and Vientiane in Laos, in April 2019
- Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam in India, between May 2019 and October 2019
- Changsha, Fuzhou, Kunming and Wuhan in China, between May 2019 and June 2019
- Chiang Mai in Thailand, in October 2019
- Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, in December 2019
- Balikpapan, Lombok, Makassar, Manado, Semarang and Yogyakarta in Indonesia, between May 2020 and July 2020
