United Airlines' fleet of 14 Boeing 737 Max aircraft are set to take off again – but without paying passengers. The Chicago-based airline has received regulatory approval to ferry the otherwise-grounded narrowbodies from Los Angeles and Houston to the Arizona desert, where they will be placed in "short-term storage." United says it started the relocations today, flying the aircraft to Goodyear airport near Phoenix. The carrier has three 737 Max jets at Houston's Intercontinental airport, nine at Houston's Hobby airport and two at Los Angeles International airport, it says. The airline wants to move the aircraft away from Houston due to the threat of hurricanes, which occasionally make landfall along the Texas coast. Airport construction and space constraints at Los Angeles make that airport a less-than-ideal storage choice, United says. "Arizona is a much better place to store aircraft due to lack of humidity and other more-favourable weather conditions," says United. United's flight schedules still have the 737 Max returning to revenue service after 3 November, though exactly when regulators will clear the aircraft to fly remains subject to speculation. American Airlines' schedules also have the Max returning in November, but Southwest Airlines has been less optimistic, leaving the Max out of its schedules until 6 January. Boeing has said it hopes to submit a certification-related package to the Federal Aviation Administration in September, starting a review period that experts say could take four to six weeks.

Source: FlightGlobal

One of Air China's Airbus A330-300s has suffered serious damage during a fire at Beijing Capital airport. Air China says passenger boarding had been under way for the aircraft, which was due to operate the CA183 service to Tokyo Haneda. It says that, during the boarding process, the cargo area at the front of the aircraft "smoked" and the crew "quickly executed firefighting measures" and evacuated the passengers. "The specific cause of the incident is under investigation," says the carrier. Images from the scene circulating on social media show thick smoke billowing from the twinjet, and indicate that the crown of the fuselage has suffered substantial damage. The airport's operator states that there were no passengers on the aircraft as the emergency developed, and that the incident resulted in smoke from the cargo hold. It adds that the accident occurred at about 16:00. Preliminary indications from the social media footage suggest the aircraft involved is B-5958, a 2014 airframe powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, which had previously arrived from Singapore.

Source: FlightGlobal

Virgin Australia will axe 750 jobs and seek other cost savings after reporting an underlying loss of A$75 million ($50.7 million) for the year to 30 June. The loss is a contrast to the A$64.4 million reported in the previous fiscal year, but was expected after it warned in May that it expected the result to be down by at least A$100 million. Fuel and currency movements added A$159 million in costs over the year, while increased depreciation due to product investment and the drawdown of Tigerair Australia's Airbus A320 fleet also dragged the results down. Revenue rose by 7.6% despite the airline experiencing a "deterioration in revenue conditions" during the second half of the year. RASK improved 2.1%, while group load factor was up marginally to 80.2% as RPK growth accelerated ahead of capacity growth. Despite the fall to an underlying loss, Virgin's net profit halved to A$315 million, although that was largely due to lower charges for deferred tax assets that were recognised in the previous financial year.

Source: FlightGlobal