Airbus only one reason for Boeing cost-cutting

The bigger danger at Boeing is not Airbus pricing, but the potential for up to 15,000 early retirements this year by engineers, technicians and touch-labor. See Scott Hamilton’s column at Forbes online. Job cuts drive margin at Boeing, analyst… Read More

Dreamliner cash positive or not?

By Bjorn Fehrm Subscription required. Introduction 31 March, 2016, ©. Leeham Co: Boeing will present its first quarter 2016 results in about three weeks. One area which will be carefully scrutinized by the aerospace analysts will be the progress… Read More

Middle of the Market or Mirage of the Market: Boeing’s lose-lose situation

March 30, 2016, © Leeham Co.: Boeing is unlikely to develop a Middle of the Market airplane for a sector that could be a “mirage,” write two aerospace analysts. Buckingham Research, in a note issued yesterday, did a… Read More

Airbus increases A350-900 range to 8,100nm

By Bjorn Fehrm Introduction March 30, 2016, ©. Leeham Co: Airbus has changed the A350-900 website data to now show the 280t Max Take-Off Weight (MTOW) as the standard MTOW. This weight variant was only reserved for the A350-900ULR… Read More

Virgin America does have some attractive attributes

March 29, 2016, © Leeham Co.: A report that JetBlue and Alaska Airlines submitted bids to buy Virgin America spurs the thought: this isn’t as wacky as it appears on the surface. When news emerged last week that… Read More

Sales slowing for larger, Airbus, Boeing twin-aisle jets

Subscription Required Introduction Boeing 777. Photo via Google images. March 28, 2016, © Leeham Co.: A downturn in the order cycle, low fuel prices and backlogs extending to 2020 and beyond combine to reduce the likelihood of much… Read More

Pontifications: Airbus USA321 a milestone for US aerospace

March 28, 2016, © Leeham Co.: The first US-built A320ceo family member took to the skies for its first flight last week. The A321ceo, destined for JetBlue, is the first assembled at the new Airbus A320 plant in… Read More

Bjorn’s Corner: Flight control, Part 3

25 March 2016, ©. Leeham Co: Last week we covered the natural stability of commercial aircraft and the most important movements the aircraft would go into if we had no pilot intervention. Now we will cover how Fly-By-Wire… Read More

PW Canada continues next-gen turboprop development despite airplane demand uncertainty

  March 24, 2016, © Leeham Co.: Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) continues development of the next generation turboprop engine, even as low oil prices reduce the attractiveness of turboprop airplanes. Few believe oil prices won’t creep back… Read More

Airbus reveal “Airspace” interior for A330neo ahead of Interiors Show

March 24, 2016, © Leeham Co.: Airbus launched its Airspace brand for a new cabin design for the A330neo, two weeks ahead of the big, international Aircraft Interiors Expo April 5-7 in Hamburg. The news made a big… Read More