Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Leeham News and Analysis
- Bjorn’s Corner: Air Transport’s route to 2050. Part 27. June 20, 2025
- Pontifications: A Personal Note June 19, 2025
- Airbus books 142 firm orders as Boeing retracts from the Paris Air Show June 19, 2025
- AIN Media Group Agrees to Acquire Leeham News & Analysis June 17, 2025
- Five for Five: Air India crash points to systemic problems at Boeing that CEO Ortberg must fix June 15, 2025
Boeing sees 4% increase in aircraft demand in next 20 years
Boeing forecasts a demand for 36,770 new airplanes during the next 20 years, an increase of 4.2%, in its Current Market Outlook. The value of this demand, which covers the entire commercial aviation line from regional jets and up, is $5.2 trillion.
The company released its annual forecast today, for the period ending 2033.
As with previous forecasts, the single-aisle demand constitutes the vast majority, with a requirement for 25,680 airplanes to cover retirement and growth, the latter being driven by the proliferation of the low cost carriers worldwide. The “heart of the market” for the single aisles has moved up to 160 seats, says Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing. This is the 737-800/8 and A320ceo/neo-sized airplane. The Comac C919 and Irkut MC-21 will join this sector when they enter service later this decade.
Is the A330neo engine Rolls Royce’s first carbon fan model?
The Airbus A330neo program has come a long way since our 29th of December article “A330neo prospect gains traction.” With the Farnborough Air Show days away, we understand there are now Airbus internal job postings for engineers to join the program. The speculation then reduces to “when” the program will be announced, not “if.” Another would be what improvements are foreseen for the Boeing 787-derived engines that may power the neo.
Rolls Royce reportedly gains exclusivity
Reuters recently reported that Rolls Royce might get an exclusive engine deal for the A330neo. There are many reasons Airbus might give Rolls Royce or General Electric exclusivity on an engine for the A330neo, especially if Airbus sees the likely sales of the updated aircraft to stay below 500 units. The reasons can range from how much of the $2B estimated program cost the engine manufacturer would pay to what efficiency improvements they would undertake on top of what is already on the way for their 787 engines. There is every reason to believe the GEnx-1B can match the fuel consumption performance of a further developed Trent T1000-TEN. We understand Rolls Royce will leverage developments from the A350 TXWB engines but GE can just as easily leverage developments from the LEAP program.
The picture shows the Rolls Royce Trent 1000 carbon fibre fan demonstrator engine from the companies ALPS (Advanced Low Pressure System) program. Is this also the looks of the Rolls Royce A330neo engine?
Air New Zealand shows off first 787-9
Air New Zealand and Boeing displayed the industry’s first 787-9, of which ANZ is the launch customer, in a media show-and-tell today.
ANZ touted its black-painted exterior and black-decorated interior for what it called a game-changing airplane that is better than the 787-8. Officials noted this is the first time an airplane stretch has more range than the shorter version.
Air New Zealand is the launch customer for the Boeing 787-9. It displayed the plane July 9 in a show-and-tell for international media. Photo by Scott Hamilton.
Boeing officials pointed to a more efficient production system, better engineering and lessons learned from the 787-8 program that produced an airplane that is expected to at least match the current dispatch reliability of the 787-8, if not better it, upon entry-into-service in the coming weeks. The 787-8 had a difficult EIS and a lower-than-expected dispatch reliability. Lessons learned should overcome all these disappointments.
Comparing the A330 and 777 Classic backlogs
Airbus has a major image problem with its A330 backlog: the aviation industry looks at the backlog and sees “two years worth of production,” assuming on its face that after 2016, there are no orders. Therefore the program is in dire straits.
It’s not that simple, as we’ve pointed out: firm orders extend to 2019, though heavily front-loaded to the near term–and certainly Airbus does have issues with the backlog.
The same industry looks at the Boeing 777 backlog, hears Boeing say it has three years worth of backlog and six years to fill a production gap to EIS of the 777X, blithely asserting there is no problem. This assumes 100% conversion of options, letters of intent and option LOIs.
We’ve previously plotted out the production gaps of both airplanes. Below we plot the orders, options, LOIs and option LOIs (Airbus does not list option LOIs) from the Ascend data base as of July 1. The plot lines are actually very similar near-term.
Boeing should “dual source” 737 fuselage work–right here in Puget Sound
Boeing’s 737 line suffered a second disruption when a train carrying fuselages from Spirit AeroSystems derailed in Montana, sending three of six down an embankment and into a river.
Source: PBS.
The disruption may be short-lived, but nonetheless highlights the issue of relying on Spirit as a sole-source supplier for 737 fuselages. This is the second time in two years there has been a disruption for the 737 line. A tornado struck the Spirit plant in 2012, closing the facility for a short time. Damage was slight, but had the twister been more of a direct hit, the impact on Boeing would have been severe.
With Boeing planning to bring production of the 737 line to 47/mo by 2018 and pondering rate 52 and even rate 60, the company should consider creating a second fuselage production line–and it should be right here in Puget Sound.
Boeing’s production gap challenge for the 777 Classic
Wall Street aerospace analysts are becoming increasingly concerned that Boeing will fall short of its goal to maintain 777 production rates at the current 8.3/mo through the introduction of the 777X, planned for entry-into-service in 2020.
One analyst predicts a rate reduction from 8.3/mo to seven and then to five as 2020 gets closer. Others are beginning to hint that they won’t be far behind in lowering expectations. But don’t tell this to Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing for Boeing.
“We have things in the pipeline and we’re working on those,” he told us July 1. “We’re confident the sales will come home and we’re confident we’ll bridge the gap.”
The struggling Boeing 747-8
News reports that Boeing is promoting the 747-8I to Emirates Airlines prompted some to leap to conclusions that the struggling program is about to get a sorely needed shot in the arm. We don’t think so.
For one thing, Emirates president Tim Clark immediately poured cold water on the idea. In the process, in the same report, he said the 747-8 can’t match the Airbus A380 economics.
For another thing, we believe Emirates is trending toward a two-aircraft type fleet for which there is no room for a third–whether it is the Airbus A350 or the 747-8I. It’s clear the Emirates business model is built around the A380 and the Boeing 777-300ER/777X.
New airplanes nearing fruition? A330neo, 757RS buzz increasing
Development of two airplanes–the Airbus A330neo and a replacement for the Boeing 757–may be pushing to the forefront, according to two news articles yesterday.
Reuters reports that a decision whether to proceed with the Airbus A330neo could come before the Farnborough Air Show, even if a formal launch isn’t announced at the international event next month.
Bloomberg reports that Boeing may be nearing the launch of a 757 replacement sooner than expected.
A330neo
We’ve written extensively about both prospective airplanes, with the A330neo concept one of many subjects from the Airbus Innovation Days. The Reuters article reports what we have been hearing for some time: the airplane could be announced at Farnborough–but it might not be, either. What is new is the increasing likelihood Rolls-Royce will become the sole-source supplier. Aviation Week originally reported this prospect.