Plane maker slumps on revenue outlook
They really need the tax loot de$pite the fourth-quarter profit of $1.23 billion.
Airlines go on jet shopping spree
But the revenue outlook is down?
"US airlines are buying too. After suffering the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, bankruptcies, and recessions, they are now strong enough financially to buy jets [and] with the price of fuel nearly 4 times what it was 10 years ago, carriers must replace old gas-guzzlers. The new planes cater to passengers’ changing habits. Instead of reading a paperback book or magazine from the airport gift shop, travelers today are surfing the Internet or reading on their Kindle or iPads. So this new generation of planes provide passengers with larger overhead bins, power outlets and USB ports, better lighting and a less-claustrophobic feel. There’s also less noise and — in many cases — individual TVs. ‘‘We want to give you a sense of as much space as possible.’’
See: Airlines squeezing in even more seating
Depends on which class you ride:
Boston Globe Boarding Pass
Not Your Father's Airline
Arrogant Australian A$$hole
Latest airline perk: Safe distance from the masses
The idea is to provide an exclusive experience — inaccessible, even invisible, to the masses in coach. It’s one way that a gap between the wealthy and everyone else has widened.
The insulting elitism drips from the words.
The special treatment now starts at check-in. American and United Airlines have both developed private rooms, located in discrete corners of their terminals in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere, that allow for a speedy check-in. Boarding passes in hand, travelers exit through hidden doors leading to the front of security lines.
They can even get valet parking at Logan.
Meanwhile, the rest of us get the joy of waiting hours before being mistreated and molested by TSA perverts.
Time for you taxpayers to be taken for a ride:
"States compete to attract new Boeing assembly plant" by Reid Wilson | Washington Post, December 02, 2013
WASHINGTON — When Boeing’s machinists union last month rejected a long-term contract proposal, the workers who voted against the aerospace giant’s offer inadvertently set off a nationwide competition — for their jobs.
Boeing had offered the new contract, which would have cut some pension benefits and given workers a $10,000 signing bonus, in exchange for a long-term commitment to build the new 777X long-haul aircraft at the company’s factories in Washington state’s Puget Sound region. But members of the International Association of Machinists voted against that deal by a 2 to 1 ratio amid anger over what they saw as an insufficient offer.
Boeing barely waited for the ink to dry on the results before it began calling other states in search of a new assembly site.
‘‘I think the first phone call that Boeing made was to Utah. We didn’t call them. They called us,’’ Governor Gary Herbert of Utah said in an interview. With potentially tens of thousands of jobs in the balance, Herbert cleared his calendar. ‘‘We adjusted our schedule to accommodate them.’’
The Boeing executive who contacted Herbert, offering the chance to compete for tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity, joked: ‘‘I’m the most popular guy in the country right now.’’
Utah is one of a dozen states the aerospace giant has contacted in recent weeks as it searches for an assembly site for the 777X....
Looks like extortion to me.
Related: States grovel before Boeing in bid for 777X jobs
How much money are they throwing at them?
Also see: Boeing’s 787 could face a new inquiry
Yeah, let's hope the new plane isn't a piece of $hit.
The states on the list have until Dec. 10 to craft proposals that, in many cases, include tax breaks and incentives valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
But the pensions have to take a cut.
On Friday, Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri called his state legislature back into session to consider a $150 million package of tax breaks in an effort to win the Boeing assembly lines. The legislature will meet Monday, and Nixon said he wants the measures passed this week....
Look at government move quick for a change!
The Puget Sound region, where Boeing was founded in 1916, remains home to more than 83,000 Boeing jobs, far more than any other state. But the aerospace giant has been slowly divesting itself from Washington state in recent years, first moving its corporate headquarters to Chicago, then opening a major construction facility in North Charleston, S.C. Boeing said this year that it would move several hundred engineering jobs to Long Beach, Calif.
The lines that produce the 777X could be next. Even before the union vote took place, top officials in states such as South Carolina and California were lobbying to host the new long-haul aircraft.
‘‘We stay in good contact with Boeing, because they obviously are a great corporate friend to South Carolina,’’ Governor Nikki Haley said in an interview. ‘‘We were in touch prior [to the vote], as it was happening.’’
In California, the ‘‘governor’s office of business and economic development maintains a strong relationship with Boeing, and we are actively working to expand all facets of their operations in California,’’ said spokesman Brook Taylor....
See: Drought Draining California Reservoirs
Maybe Boeing can fill up Brown's cup.
Herbert and Haley said they are working to increase aerospace and advanced manufacturing programs in local community and technical colleges. Nixon’s proposal in Missouri would do the same. Herbert pointed to an 800,000-square-foot facility that Boeing is operating in his state, while Haley said it was a good sign that the company recently bought an additional 500 acres near its North Charleston facility and committed an additional $1.2 billion.
Washington has pushed hard to keep the 777X line. The union’s vote to reject the contract came days after Washington legislators passed the largest corporate tax break in the nation’s history, valued at nearly $9 billion over almost three decades. Washington has also been asked for a proposal, and Governor Jay Inslee is working behind the scenes to get the union and Boeing negotiating.
Is he a governor or an corporate representative?
Related:
"Boeing workers in Washington state voted late Friday to approve an eight-year contract extension, ensuring that the company’s new 777X aircraft will be made in the Puget Sound region instead of another state. The vote was close, with 51 percent of workers in favor of the contract, said the union representing the workers, the International Association of Machinists. Local union leaders had encouraged workers to reject the contract because, they said, it had too many concessions on retirement and health care benefits (New York Times)."
Ah, you won't need those. Obummercare will take care of you -- if you can ever sign up.
‘‘The governor also is asking Boeing and the [International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers] to return to the table and renew talks about a contract. He’s done that in private conversations with both sides and has more conversations planned in the coming days,’’ said David Postman, an Inslee spokesman.
Boeing has told the states that it wants to move quickly to identify a new assembly plant.
‘‘There’s some sense of urgency,’’ Herbert said. ‘‘This is not something they want to drag out for a long period of time.’’
Yeah, want to get those tax breaks into law since they are never revoked.
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