Free Republic

SYDNEY -- At least 50 people were injured Monday by what officials described as a "strong movement" on a Chilean plane traveling from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand. LATAM Airlines said in a statement that there was "a technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement." It did not elaborate on what happened. Passengers were met by paramedics and more than 10 emergency vehicles when the flight touched down in Auckland. About 50 people were treated at the scene for mostly mild injuries, with 13 taken to a hospital, an ambulance spokesperson said. One patient was believed to...

Australian flag carrier Qantas was forced to fly one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners between Melbourne and Sydney without a single passenger onboard but it’s belly-hold full of luggage on Friday. The airline operated the special intercity luggage shuttle in order to reunite passengers with bags that had been left behind as chaotic scenes at Australian airports heralded the start of the Easter Holidays. The flight had to be quickly chartered after Qantas was slammed in the media for leaving customers without any clothes at the start of their holidays. The Sydney-based airline said only a “small number of flights”...

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records from Boeing relating to the production of the 787 Dreamliner in South Carolina, where there have been allegations of shoddy work, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. The subpoena was issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the sources said. DOJ is also conducting a criminal investigation into the certification and design of the 737 MAX after two deadly crashes of that jetliner. The 787 subpoena significantly widens the scope of the DOJ’s scrutiny of safety issues at Boeing. The two sources who revealed the subpoena spoke on condition of anonymity because of...

It's an outcome that rival Boeing anticipated about 25 years ago when it outplayed Airbus with a brilliant bit of judo strategy (using Airbus's strength against itself), according to my 2008 book, You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing... As the Journal reported, in 2000, Airbus bet over $10 billion on the 555-seat A380 because it wanted to replace Boeing's 50 year old 747 jumbo jet. The A380 went over budget due to development delays and while passengers liked the plane, airlines preferred Boeing's 787 Dreamliner or Airbus's A350... This A380 denouement was envisioned by Boeing's...

About a year ago, a Boeing 747 operated by Delta Air Lines DAL, took off from Atlanta for a three-hour flight to Pinal Airpark, a boneyard for unwanted aircraft in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. The once celebrated giant of the sky, which had transformed international travel with its size and range, had flown its last flight for a U.S. airline. Delta has replaced its fleet of jumbo jets with Airbus A350s, one of a new breed of smaller, ultraefficient long-range airliners. Nearly every other airline in the world is doing a version of the same thing, replacing huge jets with smaller...

General Electric's (GE - Get Report) Aviation unit, one of the few businesses in which the troubled conglomerate is making money, is poised to take advantage of the engine problems suffered by a chief rival. Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC, GE's biggest competitor in airplane engines, said Monday that all 166 of the engines it built for Boeing's fleet of 787 Dreamliners must be grounded pending inspection of a faulty part. The British manufacturer's misfortune provides a rare opportunity for a win for GE, who makes the only engine interchangeable with Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000. "It's hard to make the direct connection to...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long-haul carrier Emirates purchased 40 American-made Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners on Sunday at the start of the biennial Dubai Air Show, a $15.1 billion deal certain to please U.S. President Donald Trump who has touted the plane's sales as a job creator in America. The deal appeared to surprise Boeing's archrival Airbus, whose staff had attended a long-delayed news conference and left the room just moments before the announcement. Airbus has pinned hopes of continuing production of its double-decker jumbo jet on Emirates, the world's largest operator of the aircraft which took delivery of its...

Delta Air Lines is passing on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The Atlanta carrier said it has canceled an order for the high-profile new model, after previously postponing deliveries. Delta had inherited the order for 787s through its 2008 merger with Northwest Airlines. The 787 orders were considered a significant part of Northwest’s assets at the time. The question of what Delta would do with the order had been up in the air for years. In 2010, the airline announced it had decided to defer delivery of the 18 787-8 planes until 2020 and later. Rivals United and American airlines, meanwhile,...

ANA says it will replace the engines on its fleet of Boeing 787s after a series of engine failures caused by corrosion and fatigue cracking of turbine blades. The Japanese airline plans to swap out all 100 Rolls-Royce engines currently used on its 50 Dreamliners. The process could take as long as three years, according to spokesman Yoichi Uchida. ... For now, the engines will be upgraded with brand new turbine blades. Meanwhile, ANA said it is working with Rolls-Royce to find a more permanent solution. Five engines have already been repaired with new turbines.

<p>The Federal Aviation Administration is ordering fixes on General Electric engines used on some Boeing 787 Dreamliners after it found that an icing problem can cause the engines to shut down mid-flight.</p>

Boeing and ANA (All Nippon Airways) have celebrated ANA becoming the first airline to reach its 100,000th revenue flight with the 787 Dreamliner, during a gate ceremony at Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle, US. "The 787 Dreamliner has played an important role especially in forming the backbone of our international fleet," said Osamu Shinobe, President and CEO, ANA. "Reaching the 100,000th revenue flight milestone with the 787 Dreamliner is a significant milestone for ANA. As the largest customer of the 787, we look to forward to introducing the entire family of Dreamliners into our fleet as we aim to celebrate another...

This article, Boeing 787 Dreamliner wows with near-vertical takeoff, originally appeared on CNET.com. Hold on to your stomach. Here goes the 787-9. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner is no tiny flower. The plane holds 280 passengers, has a nearly 200-foot (about 60-meter) wingspan and is over 200 feet in length. It's smaller than a 747, but you still might expect it to be a lumbering creature, raising itself into the air in a gentle arc.

(CNN)—There's a famous quote: "If you did it, it ain't braggin'." Boeing did it -- in front of a camera. An eyepopping rehearsal video Boeing released Thursday shows off its newest version of the Dreamliner aircraft — the 787-9 — performing some impressive and beautiful banks and ascents.

Norwegian is running direct, low-cost routes on a new Dreamliner plane between Gatwick, New York, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale. As with other budget flights, seat reservations, checked-in luggage and food will cost extra. The carrier suggests the flights will help spark competition between airlines—Ryanair and easyJet have both previously talked about going transatlantic—and perhaps even start a price war, but the launch has not been without hitch. Norwegian encountered fierce opposition in America over the proposition, with several US airlines, unions and the Airline Pilots Organization (ALPA) teaming up to run a media campaign over the last few months,...

Shares of Boeing (BA) climbed into the green early Monday after the jet maker unveiled fresh orders for its upcoming 777x and struck a new supply deal with a major firm in the United Arab Emirates. The Chicago-based Dreamliner maker racked up roughly $100 billion in orders with Middle Eastern carriers on the first day of the 2013 Dubai Airshow. The 342 orders in the fast-growing market doubled those awarded to rival Airbus.

Boeing Co. has suffered another setback with its 787 Dreamliner after the model’s biggest operator, ANA Holdings, says it discovered wiring defects in the fire-suppression system on three aircraft.

A Japan Airlines 787 Dreamliner flying from Boston to Tokyo turned around not long after taking off and has returned safely to Boston:

(snip, from the actual AAIB report at link below) Safety Recommendation 2013-016 It is recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration initiate action for making inert the Honeywell International RESCU406AFN fixed Emergency Locator Transmitter system in Boeing 787 aircraft until appropriate airworthiness actions can be completed. Safety Recommendation 2013-017 It is recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration, in association with other regulatory authorities, conduct a safety review of installations of Lithium-powered Emergency Locator Transmitter systems in other aircraft types and, where appropriate, initiate airworthiness action. (snip, from abcnews.go link above) The FAA didn't immediately say whether it will follow the recommendations....

The U.K. Accidents Investigation Branch said there was extensive heat damage in the upper portion of the rear fuselage of the Ethiopian Airlines plane, which caught fire while parked at Heathrow Airport in London. “However, it is clear that this heat damage is remote from the area in which the aircraft main and APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) batteries are located, and at this stage, there is no evidence of a direct causal relationship,” the agency said in a statement, adding that the initial investigation is likely to take several days. Ethiopian Airlines hasn’t grounded its three other 787 Dreamliners, the...

Smoke was detected from the aircraft after it had been parked at Heathrow for more than eight hoursContinue reading the main story Related Stories Dreamliner catches fire at Heathrow Boeing shares fall after 787 fire Dreamliner flights resume after problems Ethiopian Airlines says it is to continue operating its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners after one caught fire at London's Heathrow airport on Friday.Investigators are trying to find the cause of the blaze, which took place months after the aircraft was grounded worldwide over a battery problem.Heathrow's runways were closed for 90 minutes on Friday, and some evening flights delayed...