Bjorn’s Corner: The challenges of hydrogen. Part 26. Auxiliary power

February 26, 2021, ©. Leeham News: Last week we discussed auxiliary power generation for a hydrogen aircraft and found that a fuel cell system had many attractions. However, it’s more challenging to develop than a hydrogen-converted APU, and… Read More

The A350, Part 7: The A350-900ULR versus 777-200LR/A340-500

Subscription Required By Bjorn Fehrm Introduction   February 25, 2021, © Leeham News: Last week, we started analyzing the long rangers of the Airbus A350, Boeing 777, and Airbus A340 families. The A340-500 and the 777-200LR are a generation… Read More

Podcast: 10 Minutes About the Boeing Board of Directors

Feb. 23, 2021, © Leeham News: Last week, Boeing announced that two members of the Board—Arthur Collins and Susan Schwab—will retire at the end of their terms in April. No replacements have been named yet. Earlier, Ambassador Nikki… Read More

Pontifications: For Boeing, the future is a new airplane, not the status quo

 Feb. 22, 2021, © Leeham News: Tunnel-vision pundits, analysts, and even some experts say Boeing shouldn’t launch a new airplane program within the next few years. Why? They say doing so will cannibalize the 737 MAX 9 and… Read More

Differentiation in the marketplace and the time for the open rotor

Subscription Required By the Leeham News Team Introduction Feb. 22, 2021, © Leeham News: Airliners are now so efficient, one challenge facing Airbus and Boeing in competing is overcoming the laws of diminishing returns. The time may finally… Read More

Bjorn’s Corner: The challenges of hydrogen. Part 25. Auxiliary power

February 19, 2021, ©. Leeham News: Last week we discussed hydrogen aircraft propulsion and found a shaft power producing gas turbine was considerably more weight-efficient than a fuel cell powering an electric motor. Both had the same 55%… Read More

Airbus 2020, prudent navigation of a challenging environment

February 18, 2021, © Leeham News: Airbus presented its results for 2020 today. The company reported a net loss of €0.5bn at revenues of €50bn (€70.5bn 2019). Airbus’ operations delivered a result of +€1.7bn; it was then reduced… Read More

The A350, Part 6 A350-900ULR Intro

Subscription Required By Vincent Valery Introduction   Feb. 18, 2021, © Leeham News: After comparing the Airbus A350-900 and the Boeing 777-200ER on a long haul route, we turn our attention to the A350-900 Ultra Long Range variant. Summary… Read More

Built for Mars

By Scott Hamilton Feb. 17, 2021, © Leeham News: Ever since watching the movie and reading the book, The Martian, I’ve been fascinated about all things Mars. Previous movies were contrived sci-fi trash. The Martian was fiction, to… Read More

Podcast: 10 Minutes About Sustainable Air Transport

Feb. 16, 2021, © Leeham News: Electrically powered aircraft. Or hybrids. Or bio-fuels. Or hydrogen. These are the alternative suggested by environmentalists and industry to reduce carbon emissions by the airlines. Which makes sense? Which is practical? Today’s… Read More