Pontifications: Fare and market share wars

May 25, 2015, c. Leeham Co. Airline stocks took a dive last week when it appeared fare wars and eroding capacity discipline is beginning among US carriers. Southwest Airlines said it will be adding capacity at the rate… Read More

Pontifications: the A380, Airbus and Boeing

May 4, 2015, c. Leeham Co. Of all the things we write about, nothing stirs responses and readership than news–of any kind–about the Airbus A380. Last week I wrote about Malaysia Airlines putting a large number of its… Read More

Pontifications: USA to the World: “We want to fly everywhere. Period.”

Two of the Big 3 Middle Eastern carriers launched a PR counter offensive in Washington DC today. Below are my thoughts. I haven’t weighed in on the current battle between the Big 3 US airlines and the Big… Read More

Odds and Ends: Storm Warnings; Boeing photos now available to everyone; CSeries; Movin’ on up

Nov. 26, 2014:Storm Warnings: We’ve made references in recent posts about airlines on our “Storm Warning Flag” list. In 2013, we compiled the Top  Customers for Single-Aisle and Twin-Aisle Airplanes for Airbus and Boeing. Here’s our 2013 Storm… Read More

Odds and Ends: Boeing leads net orders YTD; A320neo; ExIm Bank; Frontier Air

Airbus vs Boeing orders: Airbus reported its order tally through August and while it surpassed 1,000 gross orders, it’s net orders trail Boeing significantly. This article sums things up nicely, though it doesn’t include Boeing’s last four days… Read More

After-market support becoming key to winning engine orders

Maintenance and power-by-the-hour parts and support contracts are increasingly becoming the deciding factor in deciding which engines and which airplanes will be ordered—it’s no longer a matter of engine price or even operating costs, customers of Airbus and… Read More

Bombardier CSeries delays have little impact vs competitors

Bombardier’s third CSeries Flight Test Vehicle finally became airborne March 3. FTV 3 focuses on avionics. FTV 4 will focus on the testing of the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan engine; Bombardier hasn’t announced a date when… Read More

Qatar swaps A319neo to A320neo; just 29-39 orders remain

Qatar Airways has swapped its order for the A319neo in favor of the A320neo, leaving just 29-39 orders remaining for the smallest version of the neo family. Qatar became the first customer for the A319neo when it placed… Read More

Frontier sold to Franke group; what of Republic CSeries order?

It had become one of the worst-kept secrets: Indigo Partners, the investment group managed by Bill Franke, former CEO of America West Airlines, has purchased Frontier Airlines from Republic Airways Holdings. Wall Street Journal article. Reuters article. Press… Read More

American, US Airways respond to DOJ complaint

American Airlines and US Airways filed their responses to the DOJ lawsuit seeking to block the merger. The Dallas Morning News has this synopsis. The full, 50-page US Airways response is here. There’s one element that particularly caught… Read More