Free Republic

Expect a stampede of companies handing out bonuses, raising pay, spending on capital projects and giving to charities, with the windfall from the massive corporate tax cuts passed Wednesday. In the hours after Congress the GOP tax cut plan, a handful of companies jumped to announce plans to share some of the proceeds on their employees and spend on infrastructure. AT&T was first out of the gate, saying it would give more than 200,000 unionized employees a special bonus of $1,000 once the tax bill is signed. The company also said it would increase its capital expenditures by $1 billion....

One of the broadest provisions on the Republican-backed tax bill working its way through congress this week is a massive tax cut for corporations. And if the legislation is approved, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines may put some major fleet upgrades in the pipeline. According to Bloomberg, Gary Kelly, the CEO of Southwest Airlines suggested that the tax cut "puts us in a position to think about growing faster" and "gives us an opportunity to begin to modernize our fleet." Southwest's fleet is uniquely made entirely up of variants of the Boeing 737, which makes maintenance easier for the carrier but which...

Boeing's defense arm is set to unveil a mysterious new plane - and says it will 'change future air power' The aerospace giant's defense arm teased the new craft, covered in a black cloth. It is believed to be a radical new craft using electric 'hairdryer' to allow it to land and take off vertically. Boeing will unveil their mystery aircraft on December 19th.

Executives from major airplane manufacturers Boeing and AirBus will reportedly head to Iran next week to hammer down multi-billion dollar deals to sell the Islamic Republic a new fleet of commercial planes amid a congressional crackdown on Tehran's continued use of commercial aircraft to transport weapons and terrorist fighters across the region. As controversy continues to swirl around Boeing's and AirBus's efforts to sell Iran a fleet of new jets, Congress has taken steps to mandate the U.S. government release public reports outlining Tehran's continued use of commercial aircraft for illicit terrorism purposes.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German Defence Ministry said on Monday that the European fighter jet was the leading candidate to replace its Tornado jets, which it wants to start phasing out in 2025. The ministry’s position appears to contradict that of the German air force, whose chief indicated last month that he preferred Lockheed Martin’s F-35, which meets the military’s requirements of stealth and long-distance operational capabilities. In a letter to a Greens lawmaker who had inquired about the deliberations, the ministry said the F-35 and Boeing’s F-15 and F-18 fighters were secondary options. “The indicated view of the inspector...

Lockheed Martin (LMT) announced today that its board of directors has elected Jeh C. Johnson and James D. Taiclet, Jr. to the board effective January 1, 2018. Johnson, 60, is a partner at the international law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Previously, he served as U.S. secretary of homeland security as part of an exemplary career of public service. He also served as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of the Air Force. He's currently a director of PG&E Corporation (PCG). Taiclet, 57, is chairman, president and chief executive officer...

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg was speaking on CNBC today when host Jim Cramer asked whether Boeing or SpaceX would "get a man on Mars first." "Eventually we're going to go to Mars, and I firmly believe the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing rocket," Muilenburg said, according to Fortune. Boeing is the main contractor for the first stage of NASA's giant Space Launch System , which is designed to launch astronauts on deep-space missions using the space agency's new Orion spacecraft. (United Launch Alliance, Orbital ATK and Aerojet Rocketdyne are also SLS contractors.) NASA...

On Thursday, Virgin Orbit won a contract from the Air Force to carry "technology demonstration satellites" on its LauncherOne rocket by early 2019. The LauncherOne rocket will be "air launched" from a modified Boeing 747 called "Cosmic Girl." The contract follows Branson's quiet launch earlier this month of Vox Space, a subsidiary of Virgin Orbit, that will focus on military contracts. While there is plenty of room in space, the launchpad is becoming more crowded. That's good news for the Pentagon as it looks toward increased competition and embracing new technology like reusable rockets to lower launch costs. United Launch...

Last week, Boeing confirmed the purchase by China of 300 planes for the listed price of $37 billion. This deal occurred without any backing from the infamous Export-Import Bank of the United States -- an outfit that lowers the cost of borrowing for foreign companies when they buy some American goods, such as Boeing aircraft. This is interesting because anyone listening to many lawmakers and the special interests that used to benefit from the Ex-Im Bank (e.g., Boeing, General Electric and the National Associations of Manufacturers) wouldn't know that such trade is possible in an era when the agency has...

The six fully enclosed cabins for its Boeing 777 jets feature seats that recline into flat beds and a 32-inch television. These virtual windows - which are used in some cruise ships - project the view from outside the aircraft using real-time camera technology. "Emirates pioneered the First Class private suite concept back in 2003, and today it's the industry benchmark when it comes to first class travel". Emirates, the largest airline in the world, unveiled a new first class suite on the first day of the Dubai Air Show for its Boeing 777 fleet- and said it is rolling...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long-haul carrier Emirates purchased 40 American-made Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners on Sunday at the start of the biennial Dubai Air Show, a $15.1 billion deal certain to please U.S. President Donald Trump who has touted the plane's sales as a job creator in America. The deal appeared to surprise Boeing's archrival Airbus, whose staff had attended a long-delayed news conference and left the room just moments before the announcement. Airbus has pinned hopes of continuing production of its double-decker jumbo jet on Emirates, the world's largest operator of the aircraft which took delivery of its...

It is known as the Queen of the Skies - the world's first jumbo jet that forever changed the face of plane travel. And on Tuesday United Airlines' last Boeing 747 was given a send-off befitting royalty as the last aircraft in the company's service completed its final flight. United Flight 747 took off from San Francisco airport around midday bound for Hawaii, the same route the company's first version of the aircraft flew back in 1970. Tickets for the specially chartered voyage sold out within hours of being released, according to USA Today, despite selling for upwards of $550...

In an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative, Boeing President Bertrand-Marc (Marc) Allen said the manufacturing of F15 aircraft wings and other military aircraft parts would take place inside Saudi Arabia. “We need to get you out to our al-Salam subsidiary here in the Kingdom. We’re building wings for F-15s, we’re building fuselage parts. We are doing massive conversions where we’re taking older F-15s and converting them to brand new F-15SAs,” Allen told Al Arabiya’s Maya Jureidini during an exclusive interview from Riyadh. “All of this (are) pretty advanced manufacturing, a lot of...

The administration of Pres. Donald Trump is considering whether to disallow the sale of Boeing passenger planes to Iran.  This hideous addendum to the horrendous P5+1 deal with Iran, where the U.S. was the most important signatory, was another one of Pres. Barack Obama's expressions of "goodwill" to the murderous, anti-American regime of crackpot ayatollahs.  Jonathan S. Tobin, writing at the time of the transaction with Boeing, tells us, "Not only has Boeing gotten into bed with terrorists, the same can be said of those who are counting on all the new business ties changing the nature of a terrorist...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says Singapore’s purchase of nearly $14 billion worth of Boeing aircraft will create 70,000 jobs in the U.S. Kevin McAllister, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong signed paperwork at the White House on Monday as the country’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, and Trump looked on. Lee is at the White House for talks with Trump. The agreement includes 39 airplanes: 20 777-9s and 19 787-10s. Singapore Airlines also has options for 12 more planes. The order was previously reported to an unidentified customer.

SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- U.S. aerospace giant Boeing Co. and Saab of Sweden are vying to win South Korea's next maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) contract, military sources here said Sunday. Military officials at this year's Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX) being held in Seongnam, just south of the capital city, said the two companies have respectively proposed the P-8A Poseidon and Swordfish as candidates for the contract. The planes can allow South Korea to better counter North Korea's growing underwater threat that may include submarines with the capability to launch ballistic missile. South Korea's Navy said that...

Boeing has disclosed that the expected service life extension program for the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets could include stealth features and improved avionics and mission systems in addition to a more general airframe overhaul. This more comprehensive update would not only keep the aircraft safely flying at least until 2040, but could potentially make them a capable, but low-cost alternative in many scenarios compared to the service’s up-coming F-35C Joint Strike Fighters or any future sixth generation design. On Oct. 17, 2017, Mark Sears, director of Boeing’s Super Hornet service life modification (SLM) division, told Aviation Week that the...

Defense giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin have won contracts to develop a new, large submersible capable of tackling a wide number of underwater missions. The goal is to develop a technical data package that will result in one company producing the Orca Extra-Large Unmanned Underwater vehicle (XLUUV). The XLUUV program is designed to create a long haul, long distance unmanned submarine with the capability to take on a variety of payloads, from sensors to weapons. In January 2017, DefenseNews reported that XLUUV would have a payload bay of at least 325 cubic feet. Unlike most current UUVs, which have to...

BERLIN • Germany has asked the U.S. military for classified data on two Boeing fighter jets as it looks to replace its aging Tornado warplanes, giving a potential boost to the U.S. company locked in a trade dispute with Canada and Britain. A letter sent by the German defense ministry's planning division, reviewed by Reuters, said it had identified Boeing's F-15 and F/A-18E/F fighters as potential candidates to replace the Tornado jets, which entered service in 1981. Both fighters are made in St. Louis. A classified briefing is expected to take place in mid-November, following a similar briefing provided by...

At AFA, Boeing displayed this full-scale model of its T-X contender as backdrop to an announcement by Saab that its part of the jet would be built in the U.S. (Photo: Chris Pocock) With the U.S. Air Force nearing a selection decision for its 350-airplane T-X advanced jet trainer requirement, partners Boeing and Saab used this week’s AFA Air Space and Cyber Conference to boost the American credentials of its contender. Boeing displayed a full-scale model on its stand and a large banner in the foyer that proclaimed “American Jets for American Pilots.” Saab announced that it would invest in...