Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Market sees 737 sales lagging, but matches 2010–so far
Here is a story we did for Commercial Aviation Online.
| Date: | 12/07/2011 11:40 |
| Source: | Commercial Aviation Online |
| Location: | Seattle |
| By: | Scott Hamilton |
Boeing took a drubbing in the headlines from the Paris Air Show as Airbus racked up more than 600 orders for its A320neo family while there were few announcements for the rival 737.
Many of the neo orders and some of the 737 orders have yet to be converted to firm contracts, largely a formality, but through June, Airbus is ahead of Boeing in this market segment. Boeing reported 141 gross orders and 104 net orders for the 737. Airbus reports 706 gross orders and 618 net orders for its A320 family.
A321neo best to replace 757: AirInsight
AirInsight today published a short report comparing the Boeing 737-900ER with the Airbus A321neo and concluded the neo is the best choice to replace the Boeing 757.
See the AirInsight synopsis here.
The report is particularly timely with the pending American Airlines decision we’ve all read so much about.
How will Boeing profit from tanker contract?
Just whenever you think there’s nothing more to write about the air force aerial tanker, more news pops up.
The news that Boeing would first lose $300m on the initial KC-46A tanker contract, and now perhaps another $400m (will there be still more to come?), isn’t particularly surprising.This is on top of the $600m the USAF (read that “taxpayers” agreed to absorb of the first $1bn in excess program costs.
In fact, when the first loss projection was announced, Wall Street aerospace analysts noted the news but shrugged it off as falling under the “what did you expect?” category. We didn’t even both to write about it, except in passing.
Airbus affirms A350-800 future, but skeptics doubt it
Airbus confirmed at the Paris Air Show what we reported two weeks earlier, and that is the A350-1000 was going to be rescheduled to allow Rolls-Royce and Airbus to tweak the airplane for more power, longer range and higher payload.
At the same time, Airbus announced an 18 month rescheduling of the A350-800 to divert resources to the A350-900, the first of the three models planned to enter service, now promised for late 2013–a slide of at least a half year already.
In conjunction with the -800’s rescheduling, Airbus announced that 42 orders shifted from the -800 to the -900. While slightly more than 100 orders remain and Airbus denied market questions about whether the -800 will survive, one aerospace analyst would view cancellation of the -800 in a positive light.
Here is the story we did last week for Commercial Aviation Online.
Countdown at American for huge order
American Airlines is believed ready to decide on replacing as many as 250 narrow-bodies in its fleet as early as this week.
The Wall Street Journal published this report Sunday outlining the stakes.
We suggested recently that AA could split the order, sticking with Boeing for the 737-800 to replace more than 200 aging MD-80s; and the Airbus A321neo to replace the more than 100 Boeing 757s.
The competition is a tough one, as The WSJ article details. As for the aircraft, we’re not sure adding A320 Legacy airplanes to the fleet in place of the 737-800, in and of itself, makes a lot of sense unless (1) American needs more airplanes quicker than Boeing can provide to replace the gas-guzzling MD-80s and (2) it’s tied to a deal for the A320/321 neo.
AirInsight will publish a report Tuesday (July 12) examining the economics of which airplane best replaces American’s 757s: the 737-900ER or the A321neo.
“I (heart) A380”
People in the aviation business have a warped sense of humor (except for one aerospace company, apparently, which could be characterized as the Grinch of Aerospace).
At the Paris Air Show, Airbus planned a big roll-out of its new A380 promotion.
Airbus image
But it didn’t quite work out that way.
Airbus will consider A320 production higher than 44/mo: Enders
Here’s a story we did from the Paris Air Show for Commercial Aviation Online.
| Date: | 30/06/2011 11:43 |
| Source: | Commercial Aviation Online |
| Location: | Paris |
| By: | Scott Hamilton |
Airbus and Boeing are boosting production of their bread-and-butter single-aisle aircraft, the A320 and 737, to unprecedented rates. Airbus is planning to go to 42 per month and is considering 44; Boeing has announced taking its rates to 42 per month.
Airbus came away from the Paris Air Show with more than 1,000 orders and commitments for the A320neo family, an unprecedented sales success in commercial aviation, since the programme launch in December 2010.
In an interview following the closing air show Airbus press conference, Enders has already moved on from the stunning sales. Instead of being on a euphoric high, Enders acted as if this had been just another day at the office.
Boeing’s Shanahan talks about new programs, shifting development in-house
We sat down with Pat Shanahan, who heads up Boeing airplane programs, at the Paris Air Show for a short conversation.
One of the messages top executives have repeatedly said in recent months is that they will not do two new airplane programs, following the challenging and unhappy experiences on the 787 and 747-8 developments. We asked about this and more.