Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Leeham News and Analysis
- RTX Q1 2025 Earnings: GTF Talk Takes A Back Seat To Tariffs April 22, 2025
- Tariffs Tumult Takes Over GE Aerospace Q1 2025 Earnings Call April 22, 2025
- Boeing reports mixed results of latest employee survey, but middle management and officers remain key obstacles April 22, 2025
- Hopes for 1Q financial progress turns into bumpy ride for Boeing April 21, 2025
- Bjorn’s Corner: Air Transport’s route to 2050. Part 18. April 18, 2025
Customers to watch on production trends
Here is a piece we did for Commercial Aviation Online:
The debate continues whether production rates on the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families should be reduced.
Both manufacturers are in a tug-of-war with their supply chain over rates should be reduced in 2010 and aerospace analysts seem ignored by the Big Two airframers.
Random Thoughts/Update, Good bye Line 2
Update, 9:20 AM: Flightblogger just posted this: Boeing to buy Vought, Line 2 to go there. This is step one in the allusion below to big news coming out of Boeing that affects Puget Sound.
Original Post:
ANA and the 787
All Nippon Airways, launch customer of the much-delayed Boeing 787, upped its orders from 50 to 55. We can’t help but wonder if it’s going to pay anything at all for these five airplanes or whether these will be free for compensation.
Big news out of Boeing coming?
Here in the Puget Sound we are hearing a lot of buzz that there will be big news out of Boeing’s HQ in Chicago as early as Friday that will be of more than passing interest here. We’ve had three sources on this one.
Podcast: Paris Air Show, A Look Back
Addison Schonland, Richard Aboulafia and I did a podcast late yesterday, talking about the commercial orders at the Air Show, Airbus, Bombardier, the tanker program, UAVs and last but not least we took bets on whether the first flight of the 787 would happen on June 30. The answers are very interesting in light of this morning’s news.
Launch aid for the A350
This is the seventh in a series of reports from the EADS media day and the Paris Air Show.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Airbus is almost certain to tap launch aid from its member states (France, Germany, Britain and a miffed Spain) of $4bn-$5bn for launch aid for the A350.
787 FF June 28: Aviation Week; Umm, June 30: Flightblogger
Aviation Week magazine today reported that Sunday, June 28, is the likely day for the first flight of the Boeing 787. Read the story here.
Bloomberg has a good piece on “the $15 billion dilemma” faced by Boeing to respond to the Airbus A350. This story may be found here.
Update, June 20: Flightblogger reports June 30 now targeted for first flight.
Bits and Pieces
This is the sixth of a series of posts from the EAD media day and the Paris Air Show….
There are always bits and pieces picked up at these things that don’t fit anywhere else.
Boeing KC-7A7 tanker briefing
This is the fourth in a series of reports from the EADS media day and the Paris Air Show. We will be off-line Wednesday while returning to to USA.
Source: Winds of Change. Rendering of the KC-767 and KC-777.
Source: Catch 4 All: Comparisons of KC-777, KC-30, KC-767, KC-135 footprints.
Boeing held a dedicated tanker briefing Tuesday (June 16) to add detail to the announcement Monday by IDS President Jim Albaugh, who said the company’s tanker program has been remained KC-7A7. This designation reflects the ambiguity of what airplane Boeing will offer: a 767-based or a 777-based aircraft.
Deja vu all over again
The third in series of articles from the EADS media day and the Paris Air Show….
Your competitor has designed a new airplane that promises to be 20% more efficient than yours. You are involved in a costly new airplane program already that is billions of dollars over budget and years late. So hoping to avoid taking on another entirely new airplane program you decide to re-wing yours and hang some new-generation engines on it to be competitive.
That’s what Airbus did when Boeing announced its 787. The popular A330 received a new wing and new engines and called the A350. It was a dud.
KC-777 ready to go?
Update, 6:00PM Paris Time:
By now readers probably have seen the news from the Air Show on this topic: Boeing is prepared to offer either a 777-based tanker or a 767-based tanker, depending on the RFP requirements. Bloomberg News has a good summary of the IDS briefing on this topic. It may be found here. As far as the factual reporting goes, we don’t have anything to add to the Bloomberg piece. There is a full tanker briefing tomorrow, at which the media has been promised more detail.
Barring any more downpours like we had today to further dampen the spirits of aviation, we will be there..
Original Post:
This is the second in a series of articles from the EADS Media Day and the Paris Air show….
There was an interesting buzz at the Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards dinner on the eve of the launch of the Paris Air Show.
Word was circulating that Boeing will announce at its Integrated Defense Systems briefing at 11 am June 15 that the company is prepared to offer the USAF a tanker based on the 777-200F should the new Draft Request for Proposals outline requirements for a larger medium tanker than Boeing’s previous KC-767-200AT offering.
Airbus delivery level in 2010, 2011 questionable
The first in a series of reports from the EADS media day and the Paris Air Show…..
Airbus will deliver about the same number of airplanes this year as it did in 2008–roughly 480–but the numbers for 2010 and “perhaps” 2011 are much less certain, said EADS CEO Louis Gallois and the company’s annual media day June 13.