Leeham News and Analysis
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Deutsche Aircraft: supply chain resilience for a new era of production
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By Charlotte Bailey
Deutsche Aircraft is resurrecting the D328 turboprop as the D328eco, but with five other roles collectively called the D328MR (Multi-Role). Credit: Deutsche Aircraft.
Dec. 17, 2025, © Leeham News, Hamburg: As supply chain pressures continue to bite across the aerospace industry, smaller OEMs find themselves presented with additional opportunities. Speaking at December 2025’s Hamburg Aviation Forum, Deutsche Aircraft CEO Nico Neumann elaborated on the challenges ahead as the company prepares to put its re-imagined D328eco into production.
As the German OEM prepares to bring its updated regional turboprop to market (in the form of the D328eco), “the demand is there, but now we have to find ways to deliver,” stated Neumann.
Production of the original 32-passenger D328 ceased in the early 2000s. Deutsche Aircraft acquired the type certificate from former manufacturer Fairchild Dornier in 2006. Only 107 D328s were built, followed by another 110 D328Jets. For the last two decades, it has continued to support between 40-50 328s and around two dozen 328 Jets in service. However, with the OEM anticipating 2027 type certification and entry into service for its upcoming 40-passenger D328eco, manufacturing considerations are already underway.
Alternative energy companies certification seen in two years
By Scott Hamilton
Billy Nolen, former acting administrator of the FAA. Credit: ZeroAvia.
Dec. 16, 2025, © Leeham News, Washington (DC): A former acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration predicts that alternative technology aircraft will be plying the US skies in two years.
Billy Nolen was acting administrator from April 1, 2022, to June 2023. He predicts that three companies will be certified. He did not name the companies, but referred to supersonic and hybrid propulsion.
Nolen appeared at the monthly meeting of the AeroClub Washington (DC) on Dec. 2 along with three other former top FAA officials.
“I am optimistic about, I believe that in two years, we will probably have three companies that will be certified. We will continue to show the use cases. You’ve got other forms of hybrid propulsion. We’ll have supersonic travel. It could come at a better time,” he said.
Nolen was named in March as Senior Strategy & Regulatory Advisor of ZeroAvia, which is developing hydrogen-powered aircraft. He is the chief regulatory officer for Archer, an eVTOL company. His resume does not list an affiliation with Boom SuperSonic, which is developing an 88-passenger SST designed to be capable of using 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Boom’s potential certification, however, will go beyond the two-year horizon Nolen suggested.
Nolen also said Artificial Intelligence (AI) will become increasingly common and that the FAA will benefit from it.
“AI is here. If we use it wisely, we will have an agency that in two years’ time will have the structure, the tools, the capabilities, the talent, and most importantly, the money that needs to go into the national economy.”
Electric taxi solution aims for 2027 certification
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By Charlotte Bailey
Dec. 15, 2025, © Leeham News: US startup Green Taxi Aerospace is optimistic about receiving 2027 FAA certification for its all-electric, APU-powered taxi system, a solution it says can save up to 5%-20% of the fuel burn of a short-haul flight. Having submitted its certification plan to the regulator a few weeks ago, the company is currently working with Delta Air Lines and Embraer to launch its retrofitted concept with the E175 regional jet.
Although many aerospace sustainability initiatives are focusing on the efficiencies of engine optimisation, SAF, or alternative propulsion, Green Taxi believes “there is nothing else that can save this [level of fuel reduction] that we can have deployed in under five years.” CEO and founder David Valaer explained, “A jet engine is not designed to run on the ground, where its fuel flow is about 60% at idle.” This additional power on the ground also causes additional wear on the brake components, something he describes as akin to unnecessarily “driving a car with the gas pedal halfway down.”
Valaer appeared at the Sustain Aero Lan Future Aero Festival conference this month in Amsterdam.
Bjorn’s Corner: Faster aircraft development. Part 20. Flight Testing.
by Bjorn Fehrm and Henry Tam
December 12, 2025, ©. Leeham News: We do a series about ideas on how the long development times for large airliners can be shortened. New projects talk about cutting development time and reaching certification and production faster than previous projects.
The series will discuss the typical development cycles for an FAA Part 25 aircraft, called a transport category aircraft, and what different ideas there are to reduce the development times.
We will use the Gantt plan in Figure 1 as a base for our discussions. We have completed the articles on Prototype Manufacturing and Ground Vibration Tests (GVT). We now conduct the program’s flight tests with the manufactured test aircraft.
Figure 1. A generic new Part 25 airliner development plan. Source: Leeham Co. Click to see better.
Airbus: Digitalization helping drive enhanced supply chain resilience
By Charlotte Bailey
Dec. 11, 2025, © Leeham News, Hamburg: “Aerospace is entering into a defining new era. Demand is rising, sustainability is non-negotiable, and resilience has become as crucial as performance.”
Benoit Schultz. Credit: Airbus.
Speaking on the opening day of the 2025 Hamburg Aviation Forum in Hamburg, Germany, newly appointed Airbus chief procurement officer Benoit Schultz reflected on the aerospace industry’s ongoing work to mitigate an evolving landscape of challenges.
Crucially, endeavours to strengthen a global supply chain come at a time when new threats challenge the resilience of a sector that has, over the last five years, faced ample Covid-related complexities.
“In recent years, the aviation industry has undergone the most severe test in its history,” explained Schultz. And although the industry has also “become even more global” over the last several years, something Schultz believes has “added to [its] strength,” this also brings trade-offs. “We have learned that complex does not always mean robust, and that global can also become a vulnerability,” he continued. “This lesson has driven a shift in mindset from efficiency at all costs to resilience and robustness as a strategic imperative.”
Notably, Schultz believes that “the speed of change is accelerating,” driven by a combination of national political instability, the complexity of trade barriers, and rising geopolitical tensions hindering access to raw materials, parts and technologies. The ability to manage these ongoing risks is especially crucial projected increased demand for aircraft. Airbus’ annual Global Market Forecast, published in June 2025, identified a worldwide fleet of some 50,000 operational aircraft in the next two decades (of which new deliveries will comprise around 45%).
Avolon: Looking to long-term eco-aviation investment opportunities
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By Charlotte Bailey
Dec. 11, 2025, © Leeham News: With around 50% of the world’s operational commercial aircraft owned by lessors, companies such as Avolon are keeping
a weather eye on the technologies that could power the fleet of the future.
And as the aircraft purchased today are likely to be operating well into the 2050s, understanding the impact of upcoming sustainability incentives and technologies is already a relevant consideration.
Books for Christmas gifts
By Scott Hamilton
Dec. 9, 2025, © Leeham News: I thought 2025 was rather light on good, new aviation books (my own, The Rise and Fall of Boeing and the Way Back, being an obvious exception!). So, there will be a couple of non-aviation books on this year’s list and some that were published earlier but which I read this year.
Skies of Thunder
Skies of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission Over the Roof of the World, by Caroline Alexander (2024).
This is a book for which misplaced expectations will drive the reader’s enjoyment. The title and the cover imply the focus is on flying the Hump, the massive airlift of World War II over the Himalaya Mountains from India into China. In reality, this book is more focused on the greater China-Burma-India theatre. Alexander describes the politics within the United States military and War Department, all the way up to President Roosevelt; and between the US and Britain, which had very different views of the viability of supporting China’s leader, Chiang Kai- Shek, whose corruption was legendary even in real time, and whose motives were more about maintaining his position vis-à-vis the Chinese Communists.
The CBI theatre didn’t get the attention that the European/African war against Germany and Italy did, nor the war against the Japanese. It’s an interesting story filled with descriptions of the characters involved. If your expectations are thus set, this is a good read.
However, for a far more detailed description of the Hump war, 2012’s China’s Wings by Gregory Crouch is the better book.
Supply chain continues to bedevil Airbus, Boeing
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By Scott Hamilton
Dec. 8, 2025, © Leeham News: Supply chain difficulties continue to bedevil Airbus and Boeing deliveries this year.
Embraer also has had some impact from supply chain disruptions, but at a much lower rate.
November deliveries by Airbus and Boeing are lower than in September and October. Boeing delivered 53 and 55 aircraft, respectively—but only 42 in November.
Airbus and Boeing are struggling to meet production goals because the supply chain still can’t delivery parts and engines on time. In some cases, quality also is a factor. Photo Credit: Airbus.
Airbus delivered 78 aircraft in October and 73 in September. Defective panels delivered by a supplier, which Airbus did not identify, for the A320 family were discovered, impacting total November deliveries (72) and anticipated December deliveries. Airbus now expects to deliver 790 aircraft this year compared with its original guidance of 823. Airbus delivered 84 aircraft in November last year. Airbus needs to deliver 133 aircraft this month to meet its revised, lower goal.
In addition, delays in receiving interiors, mainly from Collins and Safran but also from others, caused Airbus and Boeing to delay widebody deliveries. Continuing shortages of engines from Pratt & Whitney and CFM (GE and Safran) for the GTF and LEAP impacted Airbus, Boeing and Embraer. PW continues to divert new production GTFs to AOG (Aircraft on Ground) A220s, A320s and E-Jets. A strike at GE interrupted CFM LEAP deliveries.
Airbus and Boeing want to increase production rates next year and in following years. The supply chain is the driving factor.
Aerospace analyst Ken Herbert from RBC Capital Markets raises some caution from the supply chain in his survey for the second half of 2025. In a report issued on Dec. 4, Herbert wrote, “Just when confidence in the aerospace OE outlook appears to have inflected, we get a reminder from Airbus (ELAC software, metal fuselage panel quality escape) that the industry is still dependent on a relatively fragile supply chain, and we believe the supply chain will remain part of the A&D narrative for the foreseeable future.”
Bjorn’s Corner: Faster aircraft development. Part 19. Flight Test Aircraft Assembly.
December 5, 2025, ©. Leeham News: We do a series on ways to shorten the long development times for large airliners. New projects aim to cut development time and achieve certification and production faster than previous projects.
The series will discuss the typical development cycles for an FAA Part 25 aircraft, called a transport category aircraft, and the different approaches to reducing development time.
We will use the Gantt plan in Figure 1 as a base for our discussions. We have exited the Detailed Design phase after conducting Critical Design Reviews, CDRs, and now enter into Prototype Manufacturing. After reviewing the acceptance and testing of the first parts and systems from suppliers, we now discuss putting together the first flight-test aircraft.
Figure 1. A generic new Part 25 airliner development plan. Source: Leeham Co. Click to see better.
** Special thanks to Ron Everlove for helping with this article **
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