Lufthansa is close to concluding a multibillion-dollar order for the new Airbus A380 superjumbo jetliner, despite the industry downturn after Sept. 11, Jürgen Weber, the German airline's chief executive, said yesterday.
Sales of everything from commercial jetliners to industrial machinery declined.
At its peak, the Soviet industry produced 250 passenger jetliners a year; now it produces a few dozen at best.
The airline industry suffered a further blow today, after a Scandinavian Airlines Systems commercial jetliner carrying 104 passengers and 6 crew members collided with a small plane and crashed into a hangar at Linate airport in Milan.
Still, the NTSB findings are likely to raise new safety expectations for the nascent commercial space industry, requiring some of the routine cockpit technology found in jetliners to prevent pilot error from causing a catastrophic accident.
Chris Tarry, an independent analyst who has followed the airline industry for two decades, said the model was largely the result of improved jetliner range and Dubai's fortuitous location midway between Europe and Asia.
We will work closely with regulators, operators and industry partners to ensure that the safety of the world's commercial jetliners continues at the highest levels".
Much of the industry, in fact, has tried to imitate Southwest, down to its 737 jetliners, but can't seem to get it right.
They were also debating whether the government should be given a greater say over schedules and air fares in return for federal help, and the degree to which the industry should be shielded from liability claims stemming from the crashes of the hijacked jetliners.
Several industry officials said they thought Boeing's airborne laser system, which would equip a modified 747 jetliner with a laser to shoot down missiles shortly after they are launched, might be killed.
