Indian Air crash puts focus on infrastructure, safety
The crash of Air India on Saturday raised concerns on safety and the whether the infrastructure can keep up with the booming airline industry.
It was not clear what caused Saturday’s crash, but pilots and aviation experts say regulatory oversight of safety and quality control are often poor. Staff training standards are also falling, they say.
Although India has had few major accidents in recent years, some half a dozen mid-air misses over the past year has underscored that safety issues exist.
Analyst: Boeing will opt for new narrowbody
A Wall Street Analyst predicts that Boeing will replace its Boeing 737 with a new aircraft with next generation engines.
Morgan Stanley’s Heidi Wood says she expects the company will spend as much as $13 billion to develop the new jet instead of a less costly but inferior move to outfit the existing 737 with next-generation engines. The all-new aircraft — possibly twin-aisled to allow faster loading of passengers — could be ready to enter service by 2017 or 2018, Wood says in a May 19 note to her clients.
UPS to begin pilot furloughs this weekend
UPS furloughed 54 of its pilots on Sunday and may cut an additional 250 pilots by the end of the year.
UPS said in February that it would begin furloughing “at least” 300 pilots in phases beginning this month unless it could “find a solution with the pilots’ union that would avert or mitigate the layoffs before they take effect” (ATWOnline, Feb. 9).
(Photo: clif1066/Flickr Creative Commons)
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