Due to this deal, Boeing has now secured its largest ever European order. This is because the airline is actually going to order 122 B737 narrow-body planes from the company. This deal alone is worth about $11.4 billion at list price. However, for such a big order, it is likely that the budget carrier got a discount on the planes.

However, not all the good news goes to Boeing. Airbus found itself in the spotlight as well. In fact, this Norwegian airline branched off from its previous policy of only buying planes from Boeing. Norwegian Air Shuttle is going to purchase 100 A320 narrow-body planes from Airbus as well. This deal is worth about $9.7 billion at list price.

Of course, industry experts agree that it was important for the airline to break such a big order up. Ordering more than 200 planes from one group could take years. By splitting it up between two different manufacturers, the airline will be able to get its planes in double the time.

As a result of this announcement, Norwegian Air Shuttle shares jumped up nearly 13 percent at Nkr74.5. Overall, these are very positive results for the carrier.

The order itself was finally confirmed on Thursday. It is said to be worth more than $8.5 billion at list price. However, it is important to note that Delta Air Lines probably got a discount for buying so many planes. It is a very common practice for airlines to get discounts off the list price when buying in bulk.

These newer planes offer a lot more perks for travelers over the ones that Delta Air Lines is currently using. For example, the cabins are a lot roomier. There is also less engine noise and more room in the overhead bins. However, the biggest improvement for the airline is the fact that these planes are far more fuel-efficient. This means that the airline will save money on fueling costs.

Delta Air Lines, which is actually based in Atlanta, Georgia, said in January that it was considering the possibility of ordering up to 200 jets. On top of this, it would have the option to buy 200 more. The airline said that the timing of its delivery would be announced later this year, and it would still keep the airline’s capital spending plan on target for this year.

With this new upgrade, Delta believes that it will save about 15 to 20 percent in fuel and maintenance costs. It is now more than halfway through a three-year, $2 billion plan to upgrade its fleet.

This deal is said to be worth some $15 billion, and it is going to help the airline replace some 38 percent of its current fleet. However, that is not the only reason why this news is so big. Boeing, for a long time, has had a stranglehold on this airline, but this deal could see American Airlines buy some planes from Airbus. This would give Airbus a huge foothold in this market.

Although all of the details are not yet known, it is known that Airbus has offered American Airlines a great deal. Currently American Airlines is giving Boeing a chance to counter the offer before it is official.

Right now not much is known about the deal, but people do know the planes that American Airlines is looking into. Apparently it is interested in Airbus’s A320 airplanes. The model they are most interested in is a new A320 model that is due to come out in 2015. In terms of Boeing, they are interested in the companies very popular 737 jets.

Boeing does not have too long to come back with a counter offer if they still want the business. After all, American Airlines has already said they hope to have this order concluded by this summer.

This increase was a welcome sight to the stock market. Other experts even pointed out that the increase came despite the poor global economic climate. Even net income for the period was ahead of schedule at $1.27 billion. All of this is being compared with a loss of $86 million in the same period the previous year. However, a big part of that loss was due to a labor strike.

Boeing reported fourth quarter revenues of $9.2 billion. This is almost double that of what 2008 saw. For 2009 as a whole, Boeing’s revenues rose by 12 percent to $68.28 billion. However, their net income was only $1.31 billion. Once again the economic downturn has played a big factor in Boeing’s numbers, mostly due to the fact that airlines have had to cancel orders to make up for a lack of travel demand.

The chairman and chief executive of Boeing, Jim McNerney, said that they put a strong finish on 2009 by getting the 787 in the air. Boeing was also able to generate solid core operating performances across the company.

Despite this, the company went on to talk pessimistically for 2010. The Commercial Airplanes division of Boeing is expected to deliver between 460 and 465 planes for 2010. This is still down from the 481 delivered in 2009. These numbers do include the first few deliveries of the 787 and 747-8 planes, which are planned for the end of 2010.

Reports suggest that the pilot that was on board may have saved everyone’s life and bravely averted a big tragedy. However, overall Boeing, the manufacturer of the 777 plane that was in use, is being blamed for the crash. The manufacturer is being blamed by failing to correct an alleged design flaw that allegedly allowed ice to form in the fuel pipes and block the flow to the engines.

The passengers who were on the plane have now launched a claim for damages in a United States court. If the claim is successful, it could lead to the largest ever award for psychological injures following a plane crash. According to reports, the passengers could be entitled to $1 million each, in compensation for their injuries based on previous cases. More awards could be offered if the people can prove that their careers have been affected, because they missed work as a result of the crash.

As of right now Boeing has not commented on the legal action. The spokesman for Boeing simply said that it has been a long time Boeing policy not to comment on these kinds of legal actions.

In the airline industry, both Airbus and Boeing are constantly releasing new jets with their main selling point being fuel efficiency, and hotels are now opting for power-saving fittings such as energy efficient lights and water conservation.

But it’s not just the air travel air travel that has been forced to move towards green policies in order to reduce carbon emissions.

Car hire companies are now offering more fuel efficient cars and methods to reduce carbon emissions, if for no other reason to meet the demands of both business and vacationing customers not interested in spending huge amounts on petrol.  Companies such as Hertz, Avis and Budget now offer fleets of hybrid and flex-fuel (ethanol) cars for rent at many locations around the US and the UK.

In fact, one US car hire company, Advantage Rent-A-Car has pledged to turn 100 per cent of its rental fleet green by 2010.

Although renting a hybrid car generally costs about $5 to $15 more per day than the equivalent petrol-fuelled car, prices are expected to even out as time goes by.

Right now passenger travel will get somewhat stronger in the second half of 2009 than what it looked like in the first half. However, these numbers will still slump about 6 to 8 percent from what they were a year earlier, according to Boeing’s vice president, Randy Tinseth. He noted that there are sings that the drop in demand is finally slowing with many airlines starting to be able to restore their capacity. Chinese and Latin American markets are starting to pick back up already.

Tinseth went on to say that they are already starting to see some improvements in traffic and in traffic growth. Of course, just like what many others are saying, there is still a very long ways to go. They do view 2010 as a year of economic recovery and 2011 as a year of air travel recovery.

The comments spoken by Boeing were a boost for the Asia Pacific region. It is said that Asia, over the long term, will be able to overtake North American as the world’s largest air travel market. This will be done by growing from a 32 percent share of the market to 41 percent. Right now Asia Pacific is the largest market, in the forecast, for new airplanes in terms of market value and units required.

The budget carrier, based at Leeds Bradford, announced three new services direct from Manchester within hours of Ryanair announcing their pullout from the city, with the move costing about 600 jobs.

The move comes as Ryanair announced it was launching 14 new routes from Leeds Bradford, competing directly with Jet2.com

A war of words was sparked by the announcement, with Jet2.com boss Philip Meeson and chief executive for Ryanair questioning each others “low fare” credentials.

Ryanair announced on Monday that it was planning to axe nine out of 10 routes from Manchester, leaving the only remaining service to Dublin.

Jet2.com will open new routes to the Greek Island of Kos, Venice in Italy and Gran Canaria from the start of 2010, which will create about 250 new jobs.

The Yorkshire based airline will increase frequency of its flights in summer 2010 to Lanzarote, Dalaman, Sharm el Sheikh and Tel Aviv and a delivery of new Boeing 737’s which will bring the total fleet to 7.

Jet2.com has said that August has been the busiest month for bookings since it commenced flying over six years ago.

Philip Meeson believes the services from Manchester will be successful, saying: “It is fantastic to be able to offer people flying from Manchester a number of new holiday destinations direct from the region. No other airline currently operates a scheduled service to Kos and Venice and we are confident that these will be extremely popular routes.”

Denver based Frontier Airlines has routes to 50 cities across the US, Mexico and Costa Rica, in direct competition with Southwest and United Airlines, which also has a base in Denver.

Purchasing Frontier would give Southwest some added routes and take out one of its major competitors in its hub city.  Southwest have about 36 percent of Denver passengers and United around 37 percent.

“This provides us a great way to grow substantially in a city that is very important to us,” said Bob Jordan, Southwest’s executive vice president for strategy and planning.

If the Republic takeover bid is approved, it would bring the airline to a new level, putting it on the same level as America’s largest carriers, and could possibly win passengers over who are fed up by big-name carriers.

Southwest has said that they would maintain all of Frontier’s current market including Atlanta, which Southwest doesn’t currently fly.  Southwest would also phase out Frontier’s primarily Airbus fleet in favour of Boeing 737 aircraft.  The bit also includes Frontier’s regional carrier Lynx.

A Republic spokesman said that the two bids are not nearly as far apart as it appears because of expenses such as aircraft lease rejections under the Southwest bid, and Republic would get roughly $5 million to $6 million more under Southwest’s bid.

Analyst with Jesup & Lamont Securities said that it is unlikely Republic could match the Southwest bid.

“I seriously doubt they have the capital to do that,” she said. “This is an all-cash bid. Southwest is going to write a check.”

Steve Snyder, Frontier spokesman, said the carrier wouldn’t have any comment until it finishes reviewing Southwest’s bid.

Both airlines would need approval from federal antitrust regulators to carry out the take over, which could prove difficult for Southwest as it would eliminate a competitor in Denver.

A judge has already approved Republic’s bid, but the bankruptcy process allows other bidders to come forward, which is what Southwest did on July 30th.

Denver based Frontier airlines have been operating under bankruptcy since April last year.

Thanks to AP for the above quotes.

The planes cannot re-enter service until the repairs are made as they are small, they are deeper than the manufacturer’s guidelines, according to American.

The area where the damage was detected was an area where the jet-bridge meets with the fuselage, American spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan said on Saturday.

“There’s absolutely no safety concern,” Fagan said.

Less than a dozen flights were cancelled due to the inspections.

The inspections were undertaken on three-quarters of American Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 aircraft as a precaution after scratches were found that the airline believes may have been caused by a jet-bridge at the airport.  The discovery of other aircraft with similar scratches leads American to believe that there could be a pattern.

The airline plans to inspect more 737-800s this week.  American Airlines and its’ regional affiliate, American Eagle, have approximately 890 aircraft across their fleet.

Fagan could not say exactly when American first discovered the problem or when it alerted the Federal Aviation Administration. On the last point, Fagan would say only that FAA notification was made at the “appropriate” time.

An FAA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment left Saturday at the agency’s Washington offices.

Thanks to Wall Street Journal for the above quotes.