Odds and Ends: KC-787 unlikely; Qatar on A380, A350 and CSeries; more Airbus-Boeing bickering

KC-787?: Defense News has this article quoting Jim Albaugh that the prospect of a KC-787 is unlikely.

Qatar on Airbus, Bombardier: Qatar’s Akbar Al-Baker says he won’t take the Airbus A380 without a permanent fix for the wing L-brace cracks. In the same story, Al-Baker comments on the redesign of the A350. Al-Baker also said talks for the Bombardier CSeries are on hold for 6-12 months. Details in this story.

More Airbus-Boeing bickering: It’s tiresome enough that Airbus and Boeing publicly bicker over the A320 v 737, neo v MAX and 747 v A380. Now they are in a public pissing match over the 737 BBJ and the Airbus ACJ business jets. Both sides need to act like the world-class companies they are.

Here’s to flying British Airways: No comment necessary.

21 Comments on “Odds and Ends: KC-787 unlikely; Qatar on A380, A350 and CSeries; more Airbus-Boeing bickering

  1. Apart from technical considerations I guess Boeing has other priorities with its 787s Replacing the previous generation KC-46 engines with available new generation engines for the next 40 yrs seemed like a shoe in, but maybe bringing this up in 10-12 yrs is even $marter..

  2. There is not now, nor has there ever been a B-787 tanker varient. This was an airliner.net wish list of things that might (should?) be.

    Al Baker is right about Airbus. But the talks with BBD are a little misleading in your peice, Scott. It seems QR doesn’t have a problem with the C-Series, per say. They just have all their people tied up with discussions with Airbus over quality control issues.

    Boeing and Airbus are both acting like spoiled toddlers over the BBJ/CJ issue. It seems to me we are not talking about enough airplanes to make a difference one way or another about these types of jets. It only really matters to who buys them.

    • “They just have all their people tied up with discussions with Airbus over quality control issues.”
      Speaking of misleading, where did you read that?!

      The article states, “Pointing to discussions on the Airbus A320 neo, the A350 and the A380, he said: “We have limited resources … they are experts and we want to make sure they do things in an absolute perfect manner.””

      He goes on to state that he won’t accept an aircraft with a temporary solution but nowhere does it come even close to saying that his resources are tied up with Airbus over quality control issues.

  3. I should have added, we are only talking about the B-737 versions of the BBJ and the A-319 version of the CJ, not the bigger VIP/BBJ jets.

  4. I think Mr. Al Baker is absolutely right about Airbus. Why even buy them while perfectly right 777, 747-8i’s and 787 are available? The A380 are probably to big and expensive for Qatar anyway. Better start codeshares with big European and Asian A380 operators, the passengers won’t notice anyway. Even better : start a high frequency shuttle to Dubai, were big brother Emirates is happy to help Al Baker out with A380 connections all over the world.

    😉

  5. Regarding Virgin adding a cell antenna to their incoming A330s; I simply don’t get it….

    1. I don’t want the person sitting next to me talking on the phone.
    2. I don’t want to receive phone calls or hear other people’s phones ringing while flying.
    3. If for some unforeseen reason I do need to make a call while flying, virtually all operators have this capability already onboard.

    I certainly hope Virgin tells people to silence their phones and to use them in the galley area. Better yet, give me a quiet, uninterrupted ride on BA (or any other carrier which has not yet implemented these nuisances) any day!

    • CM :
      3. If for some unforeseen reason I do need to make a call while flying, virtually all operators have this capability already onboard.

      Pretty much all the airlines have given up on the “airphones” … I can’t remember when I’ve last seen a functional one on a plane. Or what capability are you referring to?

    • It will also depend on how much the airline charges for this cell service. It’s not going to be free, just like the WiFi in airplanes now. They will charge for it. I think that the cost will likely be fairly high, which will discourage the average Jane C. Chatterbox from gabbing all the way across the Atlantic. At least I hope so. I fully agree, I have no desire to sit next to that for 8 to 10 hours.

  6. I wrote an article last year on the narrow bodies (http://www.engineerstoolkit.net/what-we-fly-what-we-will-fly) and what we need is more competitors. While we have only these two players, investment is always the minimum (old airframes with new this and that – old ladies, new dresses) and both are earning a lot with their old designs. Maybe this is just marketing to be on the news and reduce space for possible competition. Wish the CSeries to be a success and with extensions entering their market. Today you can buy A or B, if you like or not.

    • Actually, there are 4 viable NB families on the market from different OEMs. The B-737NG/MAX, A-32X-CEO/NEO, C-Series CS-100/-300, and the E-Jets E-170/-175/-190/-195.

  7. Here’s too flying BA

    Apparently Virgin still see’s it’s self at the forefront of customer service, a decade or so ago Ice Cream may well have been embraced as a first for the masses flying in V economy. The seasoned traveller today would regard cell phone connectivity being as popular as allowing passengers access to the cockpit to fly the aircraft for five minutes.

    Video cameras in the toilets to view any seven mile high club antics will likely be more controversial & socially unacceptable but just may prove more popular.

  8. I find these comments from Mr. Albaugh quite revealing, “I’m not certain this airplane lends itself … to being a derivative because this is an airplane we took a lot of weight out of. We didn’t overdesign this airplane like the 707 is over designed or the 767.”
    To me, this implies that there is much more weight that can be (could have been) taken out of the 767 and the 787 has little or no more weight reduction potentials.

    It is quite obvious they have no interest in a 787 tanker. Why would they? The 787 line is going to be fully occupied for over a decade with just the existing orders they have. If they get more, which they eventually should, that pushes that date further out. If for some strange reason, the were to not get more orders, then why would the USAF be interested in buying what nobody else wants?

    Oh, they did that already, didn’t they?

  9. “Oh, they did that already, didn’t they?”

    No, in ’09 they / NG found out it was no competition,gave up and just followed OSD orders.

    • Seems the B-767 has gotten a few orders in the last few years, from NH, UPS, and FedEx to name a few.

      • Actually, the 767 has had a few orders, just as the aircraft has become increasingly less desirable in the commercial side. That seems to be the overall trend for freighters. I would expect the same to occur to the a330 in the coming years as its specs are surpassed by the a350.

  10. “Both sides need to act like the world-class companies they are”. Yes, they need to stop bickering with each other. They sound like kids quarrelling about who’s father is the strongest.

    The presentations, as reported by Stephen Trimble of Flight Global, say a lot about the spirit of the respective sales teams. Here are a few excerpts from the article:

    – “Why are they being so defensive?” Chazelle asked.
    – Taylor claimed that Airbus started the row.
    – “They started this in Shanghai,” Chazelle says.

    And here is the one I like most:

    – Boeing argues that Airbus counts three orders for military tankers in its 2011 sales numbers for business jets.

    Come on guys, be serious for a minute!

    • I think you people are all missing out on a very pertinent point here.

      Slapstick entertainment like this does not usually come so free and easy. We should all just appreciate that we are getting this.

      • bickering over toys for spoiled billionaires ( and their wives).

        • Yeah keesje. But both OEMs make a lot of money off selling those big toys.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *