Top 10 Leeham News stories of 2014

Dec. 30, 2014: This was a highly active news year. Airbus launched the A330neo and A321neoLR. Boeing firmed up more than 200 orders for the 777X. Emirates canceled 70 A350 orders, a record cancellation when no customer collapse was involved. Boeing and its principal union, the IAM 751, faced off in a bitter contract vote. And on the truly dark side, Malaysian Airlines lost MH370 and MH17.

The Top 10 stories read on Leeham News included all of the above but MH17. Others made the Top 10 list. Here it is:

10. A330-800/900 performance analysis, Part 3.

Part 1 was the #11 most read story. We put these together immediately after Airbus launched the program at the Farnborough Air Show, providing the first independent market analysis of the A330neo vs the Boeing 787 and the A330 Classic.

9. A330neo prospect gains traction.

This actually fell on December 29, 2013, but within the trailing 12 months of our Top 10 list. We concluded in December 2013 that Airbus had no choice but to proceed with an A330neo. We proved correct the following July when the program was launched at the Farnborough Air Show.

8. Tonight’s IAM 751-777X contract vote.

The IAM 751 rejected a concessionary contract the preceding November by a wide margin. Boeing began shopping the 777X assembly and wing production sites around as a result. There were many within 751 who believed Boeing was bluffing, but in a dramatic reversal in a controversial revote in January, 51% of the voting membership approved a slightly revised contract proposal.

7. Investigative focus on MH370.

Each time a plane goes down, we post a summary of areas of investigative interest. This post was within a day of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 having gone missing and before we concluded that some kind of criminal act had to be involved–a position we continue to believe.

6. Comparing the A320 vs 737, the story continues.

It’s a never-ending war of words between Airbus and Boeing and we took a look at the latest between them.

5. Emirates cancels the A350 order.

This one speaks for itself.

4. Airbus wins Delta Air Lines order.

This was a Leeham News exclusive, “You read it here first” story. We had it solid and the rest of the world’s media followed our lead.

3. Airbus vs Boeing on wide-bodies.

Boeing is widely viewed to have the better wide-body product strategy, a point with which we agree, but Airbus has been selling more in recent years. We took a look.

2. Updating the A380: the prospect of a neo version.

Once again, we provided industry-leading analysis about the prospect and need for Airbus to re-engine the A380. (Business case wisdom is another issues.) It now looks like this will be green-lighted next year.

1. Airbus launches A321neoLR.

This, too, was a Leeham News exclusive, “You read it here first” story, and the world’s media followed.

 

 

3 Comments on “Top 10 Leeham News stories of 2014

  1. Congratulations. It has been quite a good job to be the first in many of the biggest stories this year.
    Best wishes for next year

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