AIRBUS
A350 showcases in Singapore
Airbus will showcase its A350 aircraft in Singapore next month, the first full display of the wide-body airliner at an international air show, as the plane maker seeks to build on Asian orders. The A350 would be on static display as well as fly on February 11 and 12 at the Singapore Airshow, the firm said last week. Airbus first flew the jet on June 14 last year and conducted a fly-by days later at the Paris Air Show, the industry’s highest-profile gathering. Asian carriers including Singapore Airlines and Japan Airlines have ordered 244 A350s, and the region accounts for 30 percent of the jet’s sales. The company has begun assembly of the first customer A350-900 due to be handed over to Qatar Airways by year-end. The appearance in Singapore suggests that flight tests have advanced enough for Airbus to take the A350 out for a few days. – Bloomberg
BOEING
Brazil fighter deal ‘a big loss’
Boeing’s failure to win a $4 billion (R44bn)-plus fighter jet deal in Brazil was a lost opportunity that would lead it to scale back planned investments in the country, although it still saw excellent opportunities in cargo, defence and biofuels, the US plane maker said on Friday. Until June last year the firm was the front runner to supply at least 36 jets to the Brazilian Air Force – a significant current defence contract. “It’s a lost opportunity for the US-Brazil relationship and for Boeing,” said Donna Hrinak, its president in Brazil. Boeing lost the contract when President Dilma Rousseff was infuriated by revelations that the US National Security Agency spied on her communications. Last month she said she had chosen Sweden’s Saab to supply the jets in what several of her aides described as a direct snub to Washington. – Reuters