Airbus Innovation Days, Part 5: wide body twin development

Kiran Rao, executive vice president, strategy and marketing. Rao discussed the wide-body strategy for Airbus at Innovation Days on Wednesday. The following paraphrasing synopsizes his remarks. More than 3,500 wide bodies have been sold by Airbus, starting with… Read More

Airbus Innovation Days, Part 4: A330neo announcement at Farnborough not a sure bet; CEO questions market forecast

Bregier sees hundreds, not 1,100-1,200, market potential for A330neo–perhaps not enough to justify program. A330neo needs to match operating cost of 787-8, officials say. New engines will up maintenance costs. Airbus officials say they are still evaluating whether… Read More

Airbus Innovation Days, Part 3: the A320neo

Klaus Roewe, SVP of the A320neo Family: There are 2,700 A320neos in the backlog. Roewe provided a program update during the Airbus Innovation Days. Here is a paraphrased synopsis. The first flight remains on target for 3Q2014. Final… Read More

Airbus Innovation Days: A350 Media Test Flight Review

The 150 members of the media received an hour-long ride on A350-900 MSN002 (the “carbon fiber” liveried test plane in the Airbus fleet), a rare event. Entry into the airplane gave a clean, spacious impression, though the Boeing… Read More

Analyzing the Emirates order cancellations

The cancelled order for 70 Airbus A350s before the company’s annual Innovation Days was a surprise and an embarrassment that took the edge off what was intended to be a two day promotion of Airbus programs. The cancellation… Read More

Airbus Innovation Days, Part 2: No order bubble and a lot more

Airbus lifted the embargo on John Leahy’s presentation, allowing immediate publication. There is no aircraft order bubble, says John Leahy, COO-Customers of Airbus. Emerging markets and passenger traffic doubling every 15 years, bolstered by GDP growth, means orders… Read More

Airbus Innovation Days, Part 1: Leahy speaks about Emirates A350 order cancellation

We’re at the Airbus Innovation Days Wednesday-Thursday, with most of the information embargoed until Thursday evening. However, the following was not embargoed. John Leahy, COO-Customers of Airbus, called the Emirates Airlines cancellation “not good news commercially,” but noted… Read More

Emirates cancels A350 order, could be boost for slow-selling 777 Classic

Airbus announced Wednesday morning French time that Emirates Airlines canceled its firm order for 70 A350 XWBs. In a statement, Airbus said: Airbus confirms that Emirates Airline has decided to cancel its order of 70 A350 XWB aircraft…. Read More

Appraisal firm sees little impact on Classic values from A330neo

With apparent momentum building for the launch of the Airbus A330neo, widely expected at the Farnborough Air Show, the appraisal firm Collateral Verification Tuesday issued a note expressing the likely affect on values of the A330 Classic. Impacts… Read More

Counting options, Letters of Intent

Should manufacturers be counting options and letters of intent toward program certainty? We’ve always thought this was pretty cheeky, but in reality there is a reasonable foundation and history for doing so. Years ago Boeing regularly ridiculed Airbus… Read More