Airbus in the global plane-making business.
Airbus easily retained its No. 1 spot in 2020 as Boeing on Tuesday reported a big decline in orders and deliveries. It handed over just 84 passenger jets to airline customers, down almost 90% from a peak in 2018. Buyers pay most of the purchase price on delivery, so Boeing has been short of cash, forcing it to raise debt and cut costs.
Both plane makers have been dented by the pandemic-driven slump in air travel. With vaccines raising hopes for a recovery, Airbus said it is preparing to increase production after slowing output last year.
Boeing, in contrast, has become more reliant on sales of cargo and military jets to ease the strain on its finances caused by the prolonged grounding of the 737 MAX and manufacturing problems that have halted deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner.
Indonesia Plane Crash Investigators Await Black Boxes to Understand What Happened to Boeing Aircraft
Pings detected as divers face sharp, heavy debris from shattered plane in Java Sea Indonesian authorities believe they have located the crash site and black boxes of a Boeing 737-500 carrying 62 people that crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff. Image: Ed Wray/Getty Images By Jan. 11, 2021 8:37 am ET
As divers approached the underwater area where they expected to find the black boxes of Indonesia’s Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the sea, it became clear their task wasn’t going to be easy.
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The U.K. approval marks a major expansion by Starlink, part of SpaceX, into Europe. Getty Images
The antennas for the satellite broadband system founded by Elon Musk, Starlink, have been granted a license by the U.K.’s communications regulator, opening the door for the company’s expansion into another major market.
Starlink is a part of SpaceX, the private space-exploration company founded by Musk, but the billionaire engineer has said that the satellite internet service is a candidate for an initial public offering.
The back story. Starlink is the
Tesla chief executive’s project to bring superfast internet to areas outside of existing broadband coverage through an array of 12,000 low-Earth satellites. SpaceX has already launched close to a thousand satellites for the company, which has begun beta-testing its service in the U.S., where the service costs $99 a month in addition to
The Indonesian airline wasn’t immediately available for comment. Boeing referred
Barron’s to a statement it released on Saturday.
“We are aware of media reports from Jakarta regarding Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182,” it said. “Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families. We are in contact with our airline customer and stand ready to support them during this difficult time.”
Although the plane involved was a different model, the latest crash is likely to remind investors of Boeing’s problems with the 737 MAX jet. That plane was grounded from March 2019 until late last year following two deadly crashes within five months.
The Sriwijaya Air plane carrying 62 people crashed into the Java Sea, losing contact with air-traffic controllers and disappearing from radar minutes after taking off from Jakarta.