About this episode
The Coronavirus is heavily impacting the airlines, the entire travel industry, and global economies in general. Airlines are cutting back on flights, looking at hiring freezes and unpaid leave, flying empty planes to avoid losing valuable airport slots, and reassigning widebodies to fly narrowbody routes. We also look at hiring at Boeing, a congressional committee preliminary report on the 737 MAX, aviation event cancellations, the first A220 assembled at the Mobile, Alabama plant, the gigantic market forecast for air taxis, and a petition to drop gender-exclusive words from FAA and ICAO publications. Coronavirus News The Coronavirus (or COVID-19) continues to take its toll on airlines and the aviation industry in general. We discuss some of the effects of the virus and the actions being taken. United trims schedules up to 20%, imposes hiring freeze amid coronavirus fears Delta’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) website Lufthansa Considers Grounding Entire Airbus A380 Fleet Airlines are burning thousands of gallons of fuel flying empty ‘ghost’ planes so they can keep their flight slots during the coronavirus outbreak IATA requests suspension of slot rules due to COVID-19 #PaxEx Podcast: Coronavirus and MAX grounding level one-two punch Emirates Offers Leave to Staff as Virus Saps Demand for Travel Southwest Airlines Has More Bad Coronavirus News for Travel Stocks The (rare) travel upside to coronavirus? You might have a swankier plane on your spring flight Trump seeks to stamp out airline bailout talk Airlines, travel and cruise industries hurt by coronavirus could get tax relief from White House In Other Aviation News… Boeing Goes on Hiring Spree in High-Stakes Gamble on 737 Max When Boeing halted 737 MAX production and redeployed workers, people wondered what all those mechanics would do. We now see that some were deployed to study and improve production processes. In addition, Boeing is looking ahead to the time when deliveries of the jet can resume, and they are staffing up to handle the task. Boeing : Congressional Report Says MAX Crashes Stemmed From Boeing’s Design Failures and Lax FAA Oversight After five public hearings over the last year into the design and certification of the 737 MAX, Democrats on the House Transportation Committee have released preliminary findings. The report notes Boeing’s engineering mistakes, a “culture of concealment,” and insufficient federal safety oversight. Aero Friedrichshafen postponed over coronavirus concerns AERO Friedrichshafen Postpones Due To Coronavirus Concerns; Sun ’n Fun Weighs In, Too AERO Friedrichshafen is the big GA show for Europe but the event scheduled for April 1-4, 2020 has been postponed. The Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg is also postponed. As of now, Sun N’ Fun will take place as planned. Airbus Receives No New Orders In February 2020 Airbus received 274 orders in January, but none in February, Boeing received no new orders in January. Airbus rolls out first A220 assembled in Mobile The first A220 assembled at the Airbus Mobile, Alabama plant rolled off the line. The A220-300 jet is due to be delivered to Delta Air Lines by September. Jets for both Delta and JetBlue Airways will be assembled in Mobile. The flying taxi market is ready for takeoff, changing the travel experience forever Flying cars, electric air taxis, urban air mobility, call it what you like, but it’s not going away anytime soon. Companies investing in this idea include Airbus, Boeing, Bell, Toyota, Uber, and Hyundai. A Morgan Stanley Research study published in January says “…autonomous urban aircraft may no longer be the stuff of comic books. Accelerating tech advances and investment could create a $1.5 trillion market by 2040.” Another study by Frost & Sullivan, sees a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of about 46% over the next 20 years with more than 430,000 units in operation by then. Petition: Help Eliminate Gender-Exclusive Words that Keep Women out of Aviation There are over 40,000 references to Airman or Airmen on the FAA’s website. ICAO’s website lists close to 2,000 airmen references. This petition asks the FAA and ICAO to remove gender-exclusive words from all their publications, on- and off-line. The petition is sponsored by the Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide (iWOAW) – a not-for-profit organization headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Mentioned Flight Safety Detectives , Episode 14: Lion Air Accident Report Analysis .