Going on hiatus

Due do a number of special projects with near-term deadlines, this column will be a hiatus for a while. In the meantime, please see our affiliate, AirInsight, for commentary and news.

Advancing NEO puts pressure on Boeing

Here’s the last of three stories on the Boeing 737, the A320neo and the new Boeing airplane.

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Boeing’s message changes on 737NG v A320neo

Here’s an article we did on changing messaging at Boeing about the 737 and the A320neo.

Date: 11/04/2011 10:07
Source: Commercial Aviation Online
Location: Seattle
By: Scott Hamilton

Boeing’s messaging on the 737 against the Airbus A320neo has changed subtly in recent weeks. Does this signal a slight shift in Boeing’s intentions whether to proceed with a new airplane in the 737/757 class?

Boeing dismisses the business case for the A320neo, until recently saying the 737-800NG has only a 2-3% cash operating cost deficit today versus the projected NEO economics. By the time the A320neo entered service what was originally announced as Spring 2016, Boeing officials were confident that they could improve the economics of the 737-800 by at least that amount, retaining a fleet advantage of one engine type and a lighter airplane.

But Boeing’s message has shifted slightly.

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Odds and Ends: Entertaining recap on Leahy and NEO

1. Entertaining look at Leahy and A320neo

Max Kingsley-Jones, editor of Airline Business, has this amusing take on Airbus COO John Leahy and Leahy’s view of his latest toy, the A320neo.

Last week we received a couple of inquiries and comments about the investment Airbus has made in the NEO and whether this will be worth it. Figures publicly issued by Airbus were that the investment in NEO is about $1.5bn.

What is not discussed but which is widely known within insider circles is that the engine makers, Pratt & Whitney and CFM, are footing most of the bill. We don’t know the split between the engine OEMs and Airbus, but we understand the engine share is not insignificant. Thus, the actual financial risk to Airbus is, by R&D standards, pretty small. We remarked to one who inquired that NEO will probably have one of the best ROIs for Airbus of any program.

Aviation Week’s Robert Wall has this story about the NEO, emerging from the Airbus 320neo briefing last week.

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Reports from the Airbus neo event

Our partner at AirInsight, Addison Schonland, has posted additional reports from his attendance to the Airbus neo event April 5.

Tom Williams, EVP briefing.

John Leahy’s briefing. This is different than the one-on-one interview Addison had.

Keeping the A320 in production to 2030 decade.

 

Airbus, the NEO program and an interview with John Leahy

Airbus held a media day today about the A320neo; we were scheduled to go to Toulouse for this event but circumstances required we stay in Seattle, so our partner at AirInsight, Addison Schonland, made the journey.

He obtained an exclusive interview with John Leahy, COO Customers. Here is his report. Addison will have additional reports later in the week.

Odds and Ends: Three drivers for Bombardier; PW GTF gains momentum

1. JP Morgan looks at Bombardier

Aerospace analyst Joe Nadol has an interesting take on Bombardier and the next 12 months. Nadol begins with, “We believe Bombardier may be better positioned now than at any time in the 10+ years we’ve followed the stock,” and continues:

*  Three Important BBD Drivers: 1) CSeries, 2) CSeries, 3) CSeries. With the business jet and train businesses both poised for solid earnings growth, the CSeries is now clearly set as the key likely driver of the stock. There are two primary issues here. The first is demand, and we believe the program needs to start racking up more orders this year, even by the Paris Air Show in June. We believe there is a high level of interest, and we are fairly confident Bombardier will sell more aircraft. The partnership with Comac that Bombardier announced last week seems to foreshadow meaningful Chinese orders. Bombardier also has nearly $12 bil in financing for CSeries aircraft available from Chinese sources. The second issue is execution. Management noted that Bombardier still expects to fly the aircraft next year and also highlighted some recently achieved milestones for the engine. However, Flight reported in recent weeks that the date for first flight may have slipped by a few months into next fall, so the program does appear to be experiencing at least the normal level of fits and starts. Thus far, the CSeries appears on track overall, but execution obviously remains a major overhang given the complexity of the program and the well-known problems the industry has had meeting cost and schedule targets in recent years.

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Boeing WTO panel report released; podcast with Airbus and Boeing

The WTO released the public version of its report on the illegal subsidies for Boeing. There are plenty of stories on the Internet to choose from, so we won’t recap it all here. We have said and still say a pox on both houses.

But here is a 10 minute podcast by AirInsight of an interview with Airbus’ Alan McArtor, Chairman of Airbus Americas.

Here is a slightly longer podcast with Boeing’s top WTO official.

Indigo selected PW GTF for NEO

Indigo Airlines of India selected the PW P1000G Geared Turbo Fan for its order of 150 Airbus A320neos.

We’re at the PW Media Day and will be filing additional reports today. Up to this point, most of the activities have been associated with military and space programs, which we don’t follow closely.

We did confirm that PW is providing the PW 4000 for the KC-46A tanker. There had been some minor speculation that the secretive Boeing bid might have included plans for a 767-sized GTF; this isn’t the case.

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Odds and Ends: Orient Aviation’s profile of John Leahy

This is an abbreviated Odds and Ends; we are traveling this week and next and we’re not sure if we’ll have the chance to update while we are on the road. Meantime:

Orient Aviation magazine has a cover story profile of John Leahy, COO of Customers, and it’s a good one.

FlightGlobal has a long piece about the new competitors to Airbus and Boeing.

This is a frightening story about construction at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

An Australian TV station has a special on the Qantas A380/Rolls-Royce incident.

George Talbot of The Mobile Press-Register takes a look at how all the analysts and pontificaters were flummoxed by the Boeing win on the tanker.