Category Archives: Boeing

US Boeing workers continue midwest strike after rejecting latest contract offer

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Nearly three-month strike includes 3,200 machinists at plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed

Boeing workers at three midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed voted Sunday to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago.

The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in Mascoutah, Illinois, and the Missouri cities of St Louis and St Charles is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners but threatens to complicate the aerospace company’s progress in regaining its financial footing.

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US Boeing defense workers slated to strike after rejecting latest offer

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Over 3,200 union machinists around St Louis expected to strike at midnight on Monday as they seek new contract

More than 3,200 unionized workers who assemble Boeing’s fighter jets in the St Louis area rejected Boeing’s latest offer on Sunday and will strike at midnight on Monday, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union said.

“IAM District 837 members ... deserve a contract that reflects their skill, dedication, and the critical role they play in our nation’s defense,” the union’s business representative, Tom Boelling, said.

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Boeing fighter jet workers poised to strike after rejecting contract offer

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Plane maker expects over 3,200 union workers at three St Louis-area plants to strike after overwhelming no vote

Boeing Co expects more than 3,200 union workers at three St Louis-area plants that produce US fighter jets to strike after they rejected a proposed contract on Sunday that included a 20% wage increase over four years.

The International Machinists and Aerospace Workers union said the vote by District 837 members was overwhelmingly against the proposed contract. The existing contract was to expire at 11.59pm central time on Sunday, but the union said a “cooling off” period would keep a strike from beginning for another week, until 4 August.

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Air India finds ‘no issues’ with fuel switches on other Boeings after crash

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US report says investigators looking at actions of plane’s captain before plane crash that killed 260 people

Air India has said it found “no issues” with the fuel switches on its other Boeing planes after the fatal crash that killed 260 people last month, as a US report suggested investigators have turned their attention to the actions of the plane’s captain.

A preliminary report into the incident, released last week, found that the switches that controlled fuel going into the engines had been turned off “one after another” just after the plane took off from Ahmedabad airport.

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Indian regulator orders airlines to check Boeing fuel switches after plane crash report

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Air India cautions investigation into Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash is in early stages as speculation about cause grows

India’s aviation regulator has ordered the country’s airlines to examine fuel switches on Boeing aircraft, after a preliminary report on the Air India flight 171 crash in June showed the fuel supply had been cut seconds after takeoff.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said it had issued the order after several domestic and international airlines began making their own inspections of the locking mechanisms attached to the switches.

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‘We needed somewhere to mourn’: Indians in London keep vigil for victims of air disaster

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Gujarati communities in the capital gather to commemorate more than 270 victims who died in Ahmedabad air crash

As the late afternoon sun streamed into a small square behind the Indian High Commission in London on Sunday, a crowd of 200 people gathered for a vigil – one of several held around the UK this weekend to remember those who died in the Air India disaster.

Candles were placed beneath a bust of Jawaharlal Nehru and attenders listened to inter-faith leaders and members from the Gujarati community who had come to reflect on a shocking week of loss.

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Trump announces more than $200bn of deals between US and UAE

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Pledge to strengthen ties with Gulf state includes a $14.5bn agreement with Boeing, GE Aerospace and Etihad Airways

Donald Trump has announced deals totaling more than $200bn between the United States and the United Arab Emirates, including a $14.5bn commitment among Boeing, GE Aerospace and Etihad Airways, as he pledged to strengthen ties between the US and the Gulf state during a multiday trip to the Middle East.

The White House said on Thursday that Boeing and GE had received a commitment from Etihad Airways to invest $14.5bn to buy 28 US-made Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft powered by GE engines.

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Trump says planned gift of luxury plane from Qatar is a very ‘transparent’ deal

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News of present known as ‘flying palace’ from royal family to replace Air Force One has ignited accusations of bribery and corruption

Donald Trump has indicated he is ready to accept a luxury plane being offered to the US president as a gift from Qatar’s royal family, almost immediately igniting accusations of bribery and corruption as well as commensurate criticism.

A statement from Qatar on Sunday acknowledged it had held discussions with the US about “the possible transfer” of a plane to be used temporarily by Trump as his presidential aircraft, usurping Air Force One. The emirate’s statement denied a final decision over the transfer had been made – or that it was a gift.

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Boeing hopes to find new buyers for up to 50 planes returned by China

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Airplane manufacturer says it is lobbying Donald Trump over ‘unfortunate’ decision to impose tariffs

Boeing will try to divert as many as 50 planes ordered by Chinese airlines to customers elsewhere after steep tariffs prompted by Donald Trump’s trade war.

The US manufacturer said it was confident it could find other buyers for the planes, but said it was lobbying Trump personally to resolve an “unfortunate situation”.

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Boeing investors brace for fallout from Trump tariffs

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Jets intended for Chinese airline returned to US, raising fears for planemaker as results near

Investors in Boeing are braced to learn the full impact of Donald Trump’s trade war, amid fears the US planemaker could be hit harder than first expected after jets intended for a Chinese airline were returned to the US.

A Boeing 737 Max 8 plane intended for use by a Chinese airline returned to the US on Monday from Boeing’s China finishing centre, according to flight data cited by Reuters. It followed the arrival in the US on Sunday of another 737 Max painted in the livery of China’s Xiamen Airlines at Boeing’s US production hub in Seattle.

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South Korea orders emergency safety inspection of airline operations after Jeju Air crash

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Authorities announce probe as shocked citizens began a second day of official mourning

South Korea’s acting president has ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire airline operations, while authorities plan a separate check of all Boeing 737-800s, after 179 people died in a Jeju Air crash involving the aircraft on Sunday.

As shocked citizens began a second day of official mourning and flags flew at half-mast, the government said it would carry out the audit of all 101 of the aircraft in domestic operation, with US investigators, possibly including Boeing, joining the probe.

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US sends investigators to help establish cause of South Korea plane crash

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Team from NTSB, FAA and manufacturer Boeing to assist investigation of Jeju Air crash that killed 179

The US is sending air accident investigators to South Korea to help determine what went wrong with the Jeju Air plane that crash-landed at Muan airport and skidded into a barrier early on Sunday, killing 179.

The team of investigators includes the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing, which manufactured the 17-year-old aircraft.

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Ryanair profits plunge amid lower fares and Boeing delays

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Problems with delivery of 737 aircraft left airline ‘over-crewed and over-costed’, says CEO Michael O’Leary

Ryanair’s profits have dropped by nearly a fifth, as lower peak-season fares met higher costs that the airline blamed partly on problems at Boeing.

Summer fares were down by an average 7% as Ryanair cut prices to keep its planes full, carrying 9% more passengers from April to September this year than last.

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Striking Boeing workers to vote on deal offering 38% pay rise and bigger bonus

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More than 30,000 workers have been on strike since September and rejected two earlier offers from company

Striking Boeing workers will vote on an improved contract offer on Monday, which includes a 38% pay rise over four years and a bigger signing bonus, their union said on Thursday.

More than 30,000 factory workers who produce Boeing’s strongest-selling 737 Max commercial jet and other planes have been on strike since 13 September and have rejected two earlier offers from Boeing.

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Boeing faces new scrutiny as US aviation agency opens safety review

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Three-month audit by FAA was not triggered by a specific event but is part of its oversight of safety culture

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday it will open a three-month review of Boeing’s compliance with safety regulations, continuing the agency’s closer oversight of the company since a panel blew off a Boeing jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

The FAA said its review will examine key areas of safety processes at Boeing to make sure that they “result in timely, accurate safety-related information for FAA use”.

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Boeing accused of being ‘unprepared’ for federal mediation as strike continues

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Union members ‘frustrated’ that company was allegedly unwilling to discuss wages and pensions in negotiations

Union officials have accused Boeing of being “unprepared” after talks resumed to end the US’s largest strike.

Boeing workers will be joined on picket lines by the president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), Brian Bryant on Thursday a day after the company announced plans to furlough “large numbers” of employees.

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Boeing workers walk off the job after vote to strike and rejecting pay deal

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US Pacific north-west region workers voted 96% in favor of the strike and walked off the job early on Friday

Tens of thousands of Boeing workers walked off the job early on Friday after voting overwhelmingly to strike for higher pay, halting production of the planemaker’s strongest-selling jet as it wrestles with chronic output delays and mounting debt.

The company said on Friday it was ready to talk and “get back to the table to reach a new agreement” as striking workers picketed.

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Boeing’s Starliner lands on Earth – without its astronauts

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Nasa’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who flew Starliner amid technical failures, will remain at ISS until February

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft landed in a New Mexico desert late on Friday, months after its original departure date and without the two astronauts it carried when it launched in early June.

Starliner returned to Earth seemingly without a hitch, a Nasa live stream showed, nailing the critical final phase of its mission.

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‘Not stranded in space’: how Nasa lost control of Boeing Starliner narrative

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Technical issues and poor comms led many to believe two astronauts are lost in space, but a return date is imminent

It should have been a welcome public relations triumph for Boeing, an opportunity to show that even if panels were falling from its aircraft, it could still fly humans into space and return them safely to Earth.

And for a while at least, it looked like it had been successful. The majestic June launch of the much-delayed and over-budget Starliner capsule from Florida, ferrying two Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station, offered a glimpse of a bright new future in the heavens for the troubled aerospace giant.

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Boeing will plead guilty to criminal fraud over 737 Max crashes, justice department says

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The deal, which still requires the approval of a federal judge, will see the company pay a fine of almost $250m and invest at least $455m in improving safety

Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two deadly crashes of 737 Max jetliners, after the government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years, the US the government said in court filing late on Sunday.

Federal prosecutors gave Boeing the choice this week of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence, or facing a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the US.

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