Top 10 Stories in 2015

  • HOLIDAY SCHEDULE: Unless there is major, breaking news, Leeham News and Comment is taking the Christmas-New Year’s holidays off. We resume our normal publishing scheduled Jan. 4, 2016.
  • So what do we have? Mitsubishi holding an MRJ briefing on Christmas Eve, Tokyo time. There’s no webcast or dial-in number but we’ll look for the stories coming out of this briefing and post something just for the record.

Here are the Top 10 stories on Leeham News and Comment for 2015:

  1. Malaysia Airlines fleet restructuring. LNC received the solicitation listing directly from the airline. We reported it. International news services picked up the story. The airline tried to minimize it. One trade magazine cast aspersions on the story. Since then, the airline began disposing of aircraft in its restructuring.
  2. Emirates gets pitch for 100 Boeing 747-8s. With the 747-8 sales tanking, a last ditch effort was being made to sell 100 747-8s to Emirates Airline, which had always rejected the airplane previously. Boeing denied it was making the pitch. We didn’t say Boeing was. The pitcher was GE, the maker of the engines. The pitch went nowhere.
  3. Airbus, Singapore in talks for ultra-long range A350-900. We didn’t break this news, but the outlet that did was largely overlooked. At the time, no one else picked up on the story. Singapore later ordered the airplane.
  4. Boeing shows 737-8ERX concept in response to Airbus A321LR. With sales of the Boeing 737-9 a poor second to the Airbus A321neo, and following the launch of the A321LR, Boeing began showing a concept called the 737-8ERX. The Extended Range 737-8 wouldn’t carry many passengers in a typical overseas configuration–LNC figured around 134 compared with the A321LR’s 164–but there might be a niche. The snarks at Airliners.net claimed the 8ERX was an LNC fantasy, but we saw a copy of the Boeing presentation about this airplane. The 8ERX probably will become the basis for a long range BBJ, with a commercial version option. It could become a sale-able program in 2016.
  5. Airbus vs Boeing wide-bodies. We took a high-level look at the two product line strategies.
  6. Updating the prospect of an A380neo. This was an extensive, deep dive into what would be involved in creating an A380neo. Oddly, the story originally posted in February 2014, but it nonetheless was one of the top reads in 2015.
  7. A320 v 737: the sales winner is… Another 2014 piece (from November) was also a top read in 2015.
  8. Airbus launches A321LR. 2015 must be a slow news year. This is another 2014 story (from October), in which LNC broke this news in a global exclusive.
  9. Airbus, Boeing production rate forecasts through 2020. We return to a 2015 story with this one. We’ll be providing an annual update in February.
  10. A321neo configuration and A320 production. Airbus introduced a 240 seat version of the A321neo. We looked at the reconfiguration and how this was achieved. Airbus also announced a production rate increase.

10 Comments on “Top 10 Stories in 2015

  1. 2015 Was an interesting year. Best wishes to all for 2016!

    Maybe some Top 10 Stories in 2016 will also originate from 2015?

    I think new in top 10 Stories 2016 will be the growing insight Boeing has a portfolio issue in the key 300-350 seat / 8000NM segment, that they dominated for the last 20 years with the 777s.

    The 789-779 gap Boeing denies & tries to fill with regional 787-10s, ULR 777-8s and cheap -300ER’s.

    http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z160/keesje_pics/Boeing%20Airbus%20Widebody%20family%20keesje_zpsh0ffp31i.jpg

  2. I would put the Space X first stage return at the top of the list.

    The rest are relatively routine day in day out of the Aviation and Space Industry.

    • Jeff Bezos would say about Space X- so what- and he did! having achieved the same task before.
      Check it out on You Tube
      bit.ly/1OpyW5N

      • Kind of a Ho hum though not a inconsequential accomplishment

        Space X put a payload into orbit which is a stellar achievement each time its done by anyone and the first stage went much higher and much faster with a vastly larger rocket that came back down out of a not sub orbital height (100 miles plus for Space X) .

        I believe Space X has done the same thing with its Grasshopper test bed as Bezos did (before he did it) and 6 times!

        Bezos also is a test article, Space X first stage return is the real thing being integral part of the rocket with no changes (other than miner tweaks)

        Space X is as if the Wright Brothers had not only done the first flight, but had ailerons and the rear tail configuration as well.

        I put it up there with the moon landings, first man into space.

        • Grasshopper went up half a mile at it’s highest flight. Blue Origin went up over 60 miles and into space launching a capsule. Nothing really ho-hum about it!

  3. By “Top 10 stories on Leeham News and Comment for 2015”, I assume you mean those that generated the most clicks and/or comments, not the most significant or interesting per se.

    What would Scott Hamilton’s and Bjorn Fehrm’s “Top Ten on LNC” be in their own estimation of overall significance or interest?

    ps: I’m not trying to make you work during the Holidays 🙂

    • You are correct, the Top 10 is based on the readership views.

      And I’m not going to work during the holidays (if I can help it)….

      Hamilton

  4. Now if Scot would just have an end of the year Pontifications for the followers!

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