Flight Safety Information - March 23, 2023 No. 056 In This Issue : Incident: Cebu Pacific A320 near Kota Kinabalu on Mar 22nd 2023, engine malfunction : Incident: Super A320 near Denpasar on Mar 21st 2023, loss of cabin pressure : Incident: Allegiant A320 at Bangor on Mar 20th 2023, lined up with runway edge line for departure : Southwest Airlines flight returns to airport after pilot becomes ill : Off-duty pilot on Southwest flight steps in to help after pilot becomes ill while flying : FAA issues safety alert to airlines, pilots after near miss incidents : Plane crash that killed Christian diet guru and ‘Tarzan’ actor was caused by pilot’s ‘spatial disorientation,’ NTSB report says : Survey: Tokyo has two of the world's top ten airports : Ryanair restarts talks with Boeing over new aircraft order : US moving advanced aircraft to Asia, Europe from Middle East : Sen. Bob Casey pushes bill requiring safety barriers on all domestic commercial passenger planes : Japan Airlines orders 21 Boeing 737 MAX jets Incident: Cebu Pacific A320 near Kota Kinabalu on Mar 22nd 2023, engine malfunction A Cebu Pacific Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration RP-C4106 performing flight 5J-547 from Cebu City (Philippines) to Singapore (Singapore) with 92 people on board, was enroute at FL380 about 10nm north of Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) when the left hand engine (CFM56) emitted two bangs and streaks of flames prompting the crew to descend the aircraft and divert to Kota Kinabalu for a safe landing on runway 20 about 30 minutes after leaving FL380. Kota Kinabalu Airport reported the aircraft experienced a problem with its left hand engine during its flight. A passenger reported the captain announced an engine malfunction and reported the engine emitted two loud bangs and streaks of flames and sparks. https://avherald.com/h?article=506d71f6&opt=0 Incident: Super A320 near Denpasar on Mar 21st 2023, loss of cabin pressure A Super Air Jet Airbus A320-200, registration PK-SAW performing flight IU-737 from Denpasar to Jakarta (Indonesia), had just reached the top of climb out of Denpasar at FL300 when the crew initiated an emergency descent to 10,000 feet due to the loss of cabin pressure. The aircraft continued to Jakarta where the aircraft landed safely about 90 minutes after leaving FL300. The airline reported the crew received indication that the pressure control system of the aircraft was not working properly, the crew therefore needed to descend the aircraft. As result the temperature in the cabin to be higher than it should be. https://avherald.com/h?article=506cfa15&opt=0 Incident: Allegiant A320 at Bangor on Mar 20th 2023, lined up with runway edge line for departure An Allegiant Air Airbus A320-200, registration N223NV performing flight G4-1200 from Bangor,ME to Orlando Sanford,FL (USA), had taxied onto Bangor's runway 33 via taxiway A and was departing from Bangor's runway 33, however, collided with a number of right hand runway edge lights before the aircraft moved onto the runway center line. The aircraft departed, climbed to FL340 and landed in Orlando without further incident about 3 hours after departure. The FAA reported: "AIRCRAFT STRUCK RUNWAY EDGE LIGHTS ON DEPARTURE, BANGOR, ME." and reported the damage as "UNKNOWN". The aircraft remained on the ground in Orlando for 35 hours before returning to service. https://avherald.com/h?article=506cea77&opt=0 Southwest Airlines flight returns to airport after pilot becomes ill A Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Columbus, Ohio returned to Las Vegas Wednesday morning after one of its pilots became ill, the carrier and Federal Aviation Administration say. A pilot from another airline who happened to be on board stepped up to help the second Southwest pilot in the cockpit, the airline says. According to the FAA, Southwest Airlines Flight 6013 "landed without incident at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas around 8 a.m. local time ... after one of the pilots became ill after departure." It was on its way to John Glenn Columbus International Airport. "A credentialed pilot from another airline, who was on board, entered the flight deck and assisted with radio communication while our Southwest pilot flew the aircraft. We greatly appreciate their support and assistance," Southwest said, adding that another crew then flew the plane to Columbus. 'We commend the crew for their professionalism and appreciate our customers' patience and understanding regarding the situation," Southwest said. There was no word on the condition of the Southwest pilot or the nature of his or her medical issue. The FAA is investigating. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/southwest-airlines-flight-returns-to-airport-after-pilot-becomes-ill/ Off-duty pilot on Southwest flight steps in to help after pilot becomes ill while flying An off-duty pilot who was a passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight stepped in to help the flight crew after one of the on-duty pilots had a medical emergency mid-flight. The incident began not long after Flight 6013 to Columbus, Ohio, took off from Las Vegas Wednesday, Southwest Airlines said. One of the pilots “needed medical attention,” the airline said. “A credentialed Pilot from another airline, who was on board, entered the Flight Deck and assisted with radio communication while our Southwest Pilot flew the aircraft,” said airline spokesperson Chris Perry. “We greatly appreciate their support and assistance.” FAA issues industrywide call to action following runway close calls A nurse who was also on board helped care for the pilot, the airline said, without releasing further details on the pilot’s condition. “The captain became incapacitated while enroute. He’s in the back of the aircraft right now with a flight attendant, but we need to get him on an ambulance immediately,” a member of the flight crew is heard saying in air traffic control audio from LiveATC.net. “It’s standard procedure for our Flight Crews to request assistance from traveling medical personnel during in-flight medical events involving Customers, this situation just so happened to involve one of our Employees,” the airline said. Data from the flight tracking site FlightAware.com shows the plane was in the air for about 1 hour and 17 minutes. After safety returning to Las Vegas, a backup crew boarded and the flight continued to Columbus as planned, the airline said. The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident, it said. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/23/us/southwest-airlines-off-duty-pilot-steps-in-medical-emergency/index.html FAA issues safety alert to airlines, pilots after near miss incidents The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday issued a safety alert to airlines, pilots and others about the “need for continued vigilance and attention to mitigation of safety risks” after a series of high-profile near collisions. “While the overall numbers do not reflect an increase in incidents and occurrences, the potential severity of these events is concerning,” the FAA said. Six serious runway incursions have occurred since January that prompted the agency to convene a safety summit last week. “Operators should evaluate information collected through their safety management processes, identify hazards, increase and improve safety communications with employees and enact mitigations,” the alert said. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a series of serious close calls, including a near collision in January between FedEx and Southwest Airlines planes in Austin, Texas, where the jets came within 100 feet of each other, and a runway incursion at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport involving an American Airlines plane. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last week the United States could not wait for the next “catastrophic event” before addressing the uptick in aviation close calls. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the board had previously issued seven recommendations on runway collisions that had not been acted on. “There have been far too many close calls,” Homendy said at the summit last week. “These recent incidents must serve as a wake-up call.” In a “call to action” memo last month, Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said he was forming a safety review team. In January, the FAA halted all departing passenger airline flights for nearly two hours because of a computer outage, the first nationwide ground stoppage of its kind since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The United States has not had a major fatal U.S. passenger airline crash since February 2009. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/22/faa-issues-safety-alert-to-airlines-pilots-after-near-miss-incidents.html Plane crash that killed Christian diet guru and ‘Tarzan’ actor was caused by pilot’s ‘spatial disorientation,’ NTSB report says The Tennessee plane crash that killed a Christian diet guru and six others in 2021 was caused by the pilot losing airplane control during a climb “due to spatial disorientation,” according to a National Transportation Safety Board report filed Wednesday. Dietician Gwen Shamblin Lara, her husband, actor William J. Lara, her son-in-law Brandon Hannah, and married couples Jennifer and David Martin and Jessica and Jonathan Walters, were on board the Cessna 501 when it took off from the Smyrna airport and headed for Palm Beach, Florida, on May 29, 2021. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft crashed into Percy Priest Lake in Smyrna, a community near Nashville, killing everyone onboard. Flight tracking data later revealed that the aircraft had entered the clouds and made a series of heading changes and several climbs and descends before beginning a steep, descending left turn, according to the NTSB report. The movements were consistent with the type of spatial disorientation known as somatogravic illusion, which meant the “accelerations associated with the airplane’s increasing airspeed were likely perceived by the pilot as the airplane pitching up although it was in a continuous descent,” the report said. This type of disorientation typically occurs when pilots have “unreliable or unavailable external visual references,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The pilot “likely did not effectively use his instrumentation during takeoff and climb,” the NTSB report noted. With the pilot possibly believing the plane was nose-up rather than nose-down, he couldn’t recover after the aircraft started falling at a high acceleration, investigators said. The plane then hit a shallow reservoir of the lake at a high rate of speed, according to the NTSB. About two-thirds of the plane’s wreckage has since been recovered, the report added, including both engines, the main cabin door, pieces of the main cabin windows and several fractured seat frames. The recovered wreckage showed no signs of mechanical issues, according to the report. Gwen Shamblin Lara was the founder and spiritual leader of Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood, south of Nashville. A registered dietician, she created the Weigh Down Diet, which encouraged dieters to strengthen their faith in God to lose weight. Her husband, who went by Joe Lara, was an actor best known for playing the lead role in the TV series “Tarzan: The Epic Adventures,” which ran from 1996 to 1997. The Walterses and the Martins joined Remnant Fellowship Church in the late 1990s, according to the church’s website. Hannah helped oversee the church’s youth group. After the crash, the church released a statement remembering the victims as “some of the finest and most loving people that you would ever come across.” https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/22/us/nashville-tennessee-plane-crash-ntsb-report/index.html US airlines want rival foreign carriers banned from Russian airspace US airlines want rival foreign carriers departing, landing or transitioning through America banned from using Russian airspace, according to reports. The airlines are unhappy with the spiraling costs involved with circumventing Russia when flying to destinations such as China, India and Japan. According to the Washington Post executives are complaining to government officials that foreign rivals, whose countries have good relations with Russia, are able to fly over Russia can offer cheaper tickets and quicker flights. In February, 2023, Airlines for America, an aviation association, said: “Foreign airlines using Russian airspace on flights to and from the US. are gaining a significant competitive advantage over US carriers in major markets, including China and India.” Carriers such as Air India, Emirates and China Eastern Airlines can keep costs down because they fly shorter routes from/to the States through Russian airspace. The US airlines are lobbying for their foreign rivals to face the same restrictions and avoid Russian airspace. Marli Collier, an Airlines for America spokesperson, said the US Government should “take action to ensure that foreign carriers overflying Russia do not depart, land or transit through US airports.” The Washington Post reported that the officials from US President Joe Biden’s team are currently considering a Transportation Department order that would ban Chinese airlines that fly passengers to the US from flying through Russian airspace. Delta, American Airlines, and United Airlines are understood to be leading the charge for change. As well as financial disadvantages, security and safety risks are also being raised about US citizens using foreign carriers over Russia. “When foreign airlines overfly Russian territory, even if they do not expect to land on Russian soil, they run the risk of unplanned diversions in Russia for safety, medical, mechanical or more nefarious reasons,” wrote members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Planning new routes around Russia is also posing difficulties to abide by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules. The FAA says that long-haul commercial planes must always be within 180 minutes of a suitable airport in case an emergency landing is needed. President Joe Biden announced on March 1, 2022, a ban on Russian flights from American airspace due to President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Shortly after Russia retaliated, banning US carriers and much of Europe’s fleets from its skies. https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/us-airlines-want-rival-foreign-carriers-banned-from-russian-airspace Flight Safety Foundation Establishes Asia Pacific Centre for Aviation Safety in Singapore SINGAPORE , March 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Flight Safety Foundation will set up the new Asia Pacific Centre for Aviation Safety in Singapore to help aviation stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region raise safety standards and capabilities to restart and ramp up operations safely as air travel recovers to pre-pandemic levels. Supported by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), the Centre will develop an annual work programme to meet the needs of regulators and industry in the region and undertake projects and studies to provide a deeper understanding of safety challenges and build capabilities in technology, data analytics and safety management processes. The establishment of the Centre was announced by Mr. S Iswaran, Singapore's Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade relations at the inaugural Asia Pacific Summit for Aviation Safety organized by the Foundation and CAAS. The Centre will adopt a data-driven approach in its studies and projects. Through the collection and analysis of safety data and information, the Centre seeks to provide insights and recommendations to advance safety in the region. For a start, it will work on three key projects in 2023: Regional Safety Assessment. This project will pull together available safety data across regulators and industry to identify region-specific risk areas, review safety indicators and occurrence trends, and develop targeted safety solutions. Safety Culture Leadership. This project will study the essential elements of knowledge and capability needed to maintain effective safety leadership and organizational effectiveness in the Asia-Pacific region, considering cultural differences. Pilot Competency and Training Capabilities. This project will study best practices on pilot training methodologies to better screen, recruit and train pilots to meet rising demand and support the growth of air travel. More projects will be added to the annual work programme in consultation with regulators and industry in the region. CAAS will help fund the Centre to support the initial set-up and its activities for the first five years. The Foundation has appointed Mitchell A. Fox, a former airline pilot and long-time executive with the International Civil Aviation Organization, to serve as Centre Director. He will be based in Singapore. During his 30 years with ICAO, Fox served as the Chief of the TRAINAIR Programme, Chief of the Operational Safety Section and Chief of strategic planning and regional affairs coordination within the Office of the Secretary General. He also served in the United Nations (U.N.) as the Director of Air Transport Service, managing the more than 200 aircraft that support U.N. peacekeeping missions worldwide. More information on the Asia Pacific Centre for Aviation Safety will be available soon on the Flight Safety Foundation website. Mr Han Kok Juan, Director-General of CAAS, said: "Aviation safety must be a top priority of the Asia-Pacific region as air travel recovers to pre-pandemic levels. It requires close collaboration amongst regulators and industry across countries, given its cross-border nature. The setting up of the regional safety centre is timely and provides a common platform for such collaboration. Singapore is deeply honoured to host the centre to do our part to contribute to thought leadership and aviation safety standards in the Asia-Pacific region." Dr. Hassan Shahidi, President and CEO of the Foundation, said: "As commercial aviation in the Asia Pacific region rebounds and recovers from the pandemic, it is important that all stakeholders have the resources and capabilities they need to ramp up operations safely. Working with aviation stakeholders in the region, the Centre will aim to accelerate regional aviation safety enhancements and support the safe growth of the aviation sector in the region." About Flight Safety Foundation Flight Safety Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, international organization engaged in research, education, advocacy and communications to improve aviation safety. The Foundation's mission is to connect, influence and lead global aviation safety www.flightsafety.org Media Contacts: Frank Jackman Director, Communications and Research Flight Safety Foundation +1 703.739.6700, ext. 116 jackman@flightsafety.org https://finance.yahoo.com/news/flight-safety-foundation-establishes-asia-130000405.html Survey: Tokyo has two of the world's top ten airports Haneda Airport and Narita International Airport both score highly in the 2023 World Airport Survey by Skytrax With Japan having some of the most efficient airlines in the world, it's no surprise that it’s home to some of the best airports, too. In the 2023 World Airport Survey conducted by Skytrax, Tokyo's Haneda and Narita international airports were ranked among the top ten airports in the world. This year, Haneda Airport came in third place behind Singapore Changi Airport (No 1) and Hamad International Airport (No 2) in Doha. Hamad International Airport bumped Haneda from its second place in last year’s global ranking, but Haneda was still named the world's cleanest airport and the world's best domestic airport for 2023. It was also named the world's best airport for PRM (persons with reduced mobility) and accessible facilities. Recently, Haneda opened a new complex called Haneda Airport Garden with luxury hotels and an express bus terminal. Connected to Haneda Airport's Terminal 3, it also features a rooftop spa, restaurants and shops. Perhaps this complex is too new to help boost Haneda’s ranking in this year’s survey. As for Narita International Airport, it took a bit of a dive from fifth place in 2022 to ninth this year. Narita trails behind Seoul Incheon (No 4), Paris CDG (No 5), Istanbul (No 6), Munich (No 7) and Zurich (No 8). To see the full list of the world’s 100 best airports, visit the website. https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/survey-tokyo-has-two-of-the-worlds-top-ten-airports-032323 Ryanair restarts talks with Boeing over new aircraft order Airline’s chief executive optimistic there is a ‘deal to be done’ Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said he was optimistic about striking a major new aircraft order after the low-cost airline restarted talks with Boeing in the latest sign of the revival in aviation. O’Leary said there was a “deal to be done” with negotiations between the Irish airline and Boeing in “the early stages” for a new order of Boeing 737 jets, 18 months after discussions collapsed over a disagreement on prices. “We are back talking to them, which I think is an indication there is some movement on pricing . . . I think there is a deal to be done,” he told the Financial Times. He said the new multibillion-dollar order could be for the 737 Max 10, the largest aeroplane in the family of single-aisle aircraft, or for the smaller Max 8200. The potential boost for Boeing came as its chief executive Dave Calhoun told the FT he was optimistic the worst of the jet manufacturers’ delivery problems was “in the rear-view mirror”. The company, which declined to comment on the Ryanair talks, has experienced delays and setbacks in the delivery of its aircraft in the past two years because of production problems. Ryanair is one of Boeing’s biggest and most important airline customers, and O’Leary has regularly criticised the manufacturer over prices and its record in delivering aircraft. O’Leary has accepted that the new planes will be more expensive than the “ridiculously low price” he paid for his most recent order, signed in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic when the industry was virtually grounded. Ryanair ordered 75 Max 8200 in December 2020, which analysts said would have come at a “screaming” discount, taking its total orders for the single-aisle plane to 210. O’Leary has since regularly chided Boeing for delays in the deliveries of these aircraft, but said the company has recently made “real strides” in clearing its backlog. “The supply chain is sorting itself out,” he said. Boeing, which along with arch-rival Airbus, has struggled to deliver planes and meet the resurgent demand from airlines, has in the past four months notched up orders for almost 200 of its 787 widebody aircraft. The US company last week announced orders for 78 Boeing 787s, split between state-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines and new national airline Riyadh Air. Speaking after the announcement in Saudi Arabia last week, Boeing’s Calhoun said he was confident the parts shortages that have hampered deliveries of some of the company’s best-selling jets were easing. “We are confident that by the end of this year things will be appreciably better and by the end of next year they will be behind us,” Calhoun told the FT. “I’m pretty optimistic that the big issues are now in the rear-view mirror.” Calhoun also stuck to the company’s full-year production and delivery guidance, which it announced in November. Deliveries of the 787 Dreamliners are central to Boeing’s plan to increase revenues and cash flow. Supply chain and labour shortages have dogged Boeing and the aerospace industry since airline travel returned after the Covid-induced lockdowns were lifted. Before the pandemic, Boeing and Airbus had pressed suppliers to meet higher targets in the middle of the past decade as they ramped up production to meet booming demand for aeroplanes. But Boeing slammed the brakes in 2019 when its single-aisle 737 Max was grounded worldwide following two fatal crashes, and the pandemic further damped demand. The lower production rates made suppliers reluctant to invest in hiring employees or buying machinery, which has led to bottlenecks for particular parts now that airlines are again clamouring for planes. https://www.ft.com/content/95ded6d4-2d0c-469b-b7a1-e33aebf87619 US moving advanced aircraft to Asia, Europe from Middle East The Wall Street Journal reports the move is part of a broader plan to retain modest naval and ground forces in the Middle East while countering China and Russia. The United States plans to deploy ageing A-10 attack planes to the Middle East as a replacement for more advanced combat aircraft that will be shifted to the Pacific and Europe as tensions with China and Russia intensify, a news report says. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday the move, scheduled for April, is part of a broader plan that also calls for retaining modest naval and ground forces in the Middle East region, according to American officials. Pentagon spokesman Brigadier-General Patrick Ryder told the Journal the “global force management process is dynamic, and the secretary of defence makes decisions based on threats to our forces and our national security interests”. Ryder declined to discuss the specifics of the move. The news report said some US officials have criticised the plan to switch out the advanced fighter aircraft for the older A-10 jets, saying it could weaken American military power in the Middle East. The air force’s A-10 close air support attack plane is known as “the tank killer”. “The imperative is to get the most suitable aircraft to the Pacific for the higher threat challenges,” Larry Stutzriem, a retired Air Force major general, was quoted as saying. “The A-10 is still relevant to the mission CENTCOM flies over the Middle East.” The US government has been strengthening an arc of military alliances in the Asia Pacific to better counter China, including in any future confrontation over Taiwan. The Journal report comes after a visit by China’s President Xi Jinping to Moscow to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The two called for “responsible dialogue” to resolve the Ukraine crisis with Xi acknowledging Beijing and Moscow had signed an agreement bringing ties into a “new era” of cooperation. “Right now there are changes – the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years – and we are the ones driving these changes together,” Xi told Putin. The Russian president responded: “I agree.” China’s military said on Thursday it had monitored and driven away a US destroyer that illegally entered waters around the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. The US navy disputed the Chinese claim saying the warship is conducting “routine operations” in the South China Sea and was not expelled. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/23/us-moving-advanced-aircraft-to-asia-europe-from-middle-east Sen. Bob Casey pushes bill requiring safety barriers on all domestic commercial passenger planes U.S. Bob Casey's new bill would require all commercial passenger planes in the United States have safety barriers protecting the cockpit. After watching the airline industry quibble over language in his previous legislation protecting cockpits, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey has now introduced a bill that would unequivocally require safety barriers on passenger planes. Casey’s Saracini Enhanced Aviation Safety Act would mandate that all commercial passenger planes in the United States have a barrier installed between the cockpit and cabin to avoid hijackings like the ones that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001. “We have more work to do to make air travel safer for pilots, passengers and crew members,” Casey said in a joint statement on Wednesday. In 2018, Casey, a Democrat, and former Republican Sen. Pat Toomey joined on the Saracini Aviation Act to require that barriers be installed on new planes bought by domestic commercial passenger carriers. It was named for Capt. Victor Saracini, the Bucks County pilot on United Flight 175 that was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center. A year later, though, the two senators told then-U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in a letter that airlines were arguing that the law applied to only new models of planes and not newly purchased ones, according to a 2019 report in the Beaver County Times. Casey previously described the barriers in 2016 as wire-mesh gates that would cost between $3,500 and $5,000 for airlines to install, The Times reported. U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Bucks County Republican, said in the statement that the updated act “is essential to ensure passenger safety in the air and that passengers and pilots are protected against terrorist hijackers.” Fitzpatrick and other lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan version of the bill in the House. Congress has made strides since Sept. 11, 2001, to protect passengers and pilots, but more needs to be done, said Ellen Saracini, Capt. Saracini’s widow. “As it stands today, passenger planes are not equipped to adequately protect the flight deck,” she said. “Installing secondary barriers on all commercial airplanes will protect the cockpit and ensure there will never be a repeat of that tragic day.” The bill also has the support of the Air Line Pilots Association, International, the world’s largest pilot’s union with 67,000 members. Union president Capt. Jason Ambrosi said in the statement from Casey’s office that the union has “long supported” a safety barrier and that having them installed on passenger planes “is a long overdue, cost-effective way to preserve the integrity of the flightdeck and keep crews and passengers safe.” https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2023/03/sen-bob-casey-pushes-bill-requiring-safety-barriers-on-all-domestic-commercial-passenger-planes.html Japan Airlines orders 21 Boeing 737 MAX jets The deal is worth at least $2.5 billion at list prices, Reuters previously reported, and notches a win for Boeing against European rival Airbus , which was in talks with JAL on the bestselling A320neo narrowbody jet. Reuters reported details of the deal on Wednesday, citing industry sources. The JAL order ensures a foothold for the MAX with Japan’s flagship carrier as Boeing strives to undermine Airbus’s lead in the narrowbody market. “One problem that has hobbled the (737 MAX) program is that despite good orders, there haven’t been as many high profile users. This certainly helps a lot,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with AeroDynamic Advisories. Although JAL predominantly operates Boeing planes, it delivered a shock to the aircraft industry in 2013 when it opted to buy Airbus’s A350 widebody aircraft over the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which at the time was struggling to correct technical problems. While JAL’s current fleet of 48 Dreamliners now dwarfs the 11 A350s owned by the carrier, the initial Airbus order raised questions about whether Boeing would continue to dominate the Japanese market. Those concerns were heightened by the 737 MAX crisis, which led All Nippon Airways (ANA) to delay finalizing an order for 20 MAXs first announced in January 2019. ANA and Boeing concluded the MAX deal in July. The Boeing 737-800 currently makes up the largest portion of JAL’s narrowbody fleet, with the carrier owning 47 jets and leasing another 17 737s, according to JAL. However, Airbus has gained traction in Japan’s narrowbody market, with ANA’s low-cost Peach unit operating A320s and JAL’s Jetstar Japan flying leased A320s. “It’s a battle, keeping Japan,” Aboulafia said. Boeing “seems to have scored a victory here.” https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/23/japan-airlines-orders-21-boeing-737-max-jets.html Curt Lewis