The Wall Street Journal reports that The Boeing Company has secured an order for 150 of its MAX aircraft to India’s Akasa Air, which will increase the airline’s order book to more than 200 as it seeks international expansion.
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Aerospace America reports Elysian Aircraft, a Netherlands-based company, is planning to launch a “90-passenger, prop-driven electric plane that would have a range of 800 kilometers” by 2033. The design includes a “fossil fuel turbogenerator in its tail cone to recharge the batteries and power the motors driving the propellers in the event a plane was diverted or delayed.” The key feature is an “unusually wide wingspan” of 43 meters, allowing the batteries to be placed inside the wings, reducing fuselage weight.
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The New York Times reports, “Federal regulators on Tuesday said Boeing was revising its instructions for how airlines should inspect its 737 Max 9, delaying the manufacturer’s effort to get the jet back in the air after a panel in one of the planes blew out during a flight late last week.” The Federal Aviation Administration said the planemaker “would change the instructions it had released on Monday based on feedback, but the agency did not provide more details.” The FAA said, “Upon receiving the revised version of instructions from Boeing, the F.A.A. will conduct a thorough review. The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service.”
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SPACE reported, “SpaceX launched 23 more of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit on Sunday (Jan. 7).” As planned, “the Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff,” touching down on a drone ship off the coast of Florida. “The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit… .”
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The New York Times reported that on Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered Alaska Airlines and United Airlines “to stop using some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes until they were inspected, less than a day after one of those planes lost a chunk of its body in midair, terrifying passengers until the plane landed safely.”
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Reuters reports that Akasa Air “is set to close an order for around 150 Boeing 737 MAX narrowbody planes, two sources said, its latest bid to tap the travel boom in the world’s fastest-growing aviation market.” Contract negotiations “are ongoing and a deal is expected to be announced at Wings India, the country’s largest civil aviation event scheduled for Jan. 18-21.” Akasa “is India’s newest airline and has garnered market share of 4% since it started flying in 2022, against IndiGo’s 60% and Tata Group airlines’ combined 26%.”
Full Story (Reuters)