As governments and the traveling public continue to respond to the corona virus outbreak in China it is spectacularly unclear who, if anyone, is coordinating a coherent global response. Hooray!
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- Not only are the health implications significant, but the political impact of the various blockades and route cuts is significant, too. Taiwan in particular is caught up in the quagmire as it is not part of mainland China and nowhere close to as affected by the outbreak. But thanks to UN memberships and the way ICAO and the World Health Organization (WHO) operate, some are treating it as such. Also, things continue to change with respect to travel in/to/through China on a seemingly hourly basis.
- Spirit AeroSystems says it’ll only deliver 216 MAX fuselages in 2020, and a return to “full” rate of 52 per month could take a couple years.
- LATAM Leaves OneWorld on 1 May 2020; right after Royal Air Maroc joins on 1 April 2020
- United Airlines is dropping service between San Francisco and Paine Field in Everett, WA
- Airbus settled its massive bribery inquiry, agreeing to a $4bn penalty. But now the real fun starts as all the details emerge on who it supposedly paid those bribes to and how they will be affected. AirAsia is one of the first to see in impact from the news.
- American Airlines may have finally solved some of its union woes. A $4.2bn deal was agreed in principle and will soon be out for ratification.
- Airbus wants to make the A220 heavier allowing it to fly farther and carry more cargo. Still no word on a stretched –500 series model, though.
- A handful of runways around the world could cause the flight management computers in certain 737NG models to crash. Just the computers, not the planes. So bizarre. But the FAA has plans to get that fixed.
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