Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Pontifications: Biden’s new “Buy American” policy may hit Lockheed Martin-Airbus plans to compete in KC-Y tanker bid
By Scott Hamilton
Aug. 2, 2021, © Leeham News: A move by the Biden Administration may have unintended consequences in the KC-Y Bridge Tanker procurement by the US Air Force.
The Bridge Tanker is the Air Force’s second round to replace the aging Boeing KC-135 fleet. Between 140-160 airplanes will be purchased under KC-Y. The Air Force awarded a contract to Boeing in the previous KC-X procurement for 179 tankers based on the 767-200ER platform.
President Joe Biden announced last week that the US will adopt a rule under its Buy American policy that American content must be increased from 55% to 60% immediately and ultimately 75%.
If adopted, the rule appears to all but preclude an expected proposal by a partnership between Lockheed Martin and Airbus (LMA) to offer the KC-330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT). This is based on the A330-200 platform.
Lockheed Martin did not respond to a request for comment.
Airbus delivers strong 1H2021 and launches A350 Freighter
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 29, 2020, © Leeham News: Airbus presented its results for the first half of 2021 today. The company reported a profit of €2.7bn on a turnover of €24.6bn, a very strong result from the -€0.9bn of last year. Yesterday, the Airbus board gave the go-ahead for the A350 freighter with planned entry into service 2025.
The strong result came from deliveries of 297 commercial aircraft, 100 more than the 196 of 1H2020. Net orders were 38 aircraft (1H2020 196). Guidance for 2021 was increased to 600 airliner deliveries with operating profit at €4bn and Free Cash Flow of €2bn.
Artist impression of the A350 Freighter. Credit: la-livery.net
HOTR: About those 737 MAXes in inventory….
By the Leeham News staff
July 29, 2021, © Leeham News: Boeing said yesterday that it delivered about 130 737 MAXes since the recertification of the aircraft last November.
It won’t reveal exactly how many came from the inventory of nearly 450 airplanes that were produced but which went straight into storage during the grounding.
Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission paint a misleading picture.
At December 31, Boeing reported that there were about 425 MAXes in inventory. At March 31, this figure was 400. On June 30, the number was 390. The aggregate reduction is 60, suggesting 70 deliveries were new production airplanes.
Not so, as it turns out.
A history of jet freighter aircraft
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By Vincent Valery
Introduction
A Cathay Pacific 747-8F
July 29, 2021, © Leeham News: Last week, LNA compared the performance of the 777F against the A350F, launched today. As a follow-up, we thought it relevant to look at the history of freighter aircraft derived from passenger jets at the major OEMs.
Shortly after the dawn of the jet age, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas started selling freighter variants of their 707 and DC-8, respectively. Most aircraft families developed later at both OEMs would receive a freighter variant in one form or another.
We will stick for our analysis to Freighter aircraft delivered off the assembly line at the world’s Western OEMs: Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonnell Douglas.
Summary
- What is a Freighter aircraft?
- A minor but worthwhile market after initial euphoria;
- Single-aisle against twin-aisle;
- A Queen of the Freighters;
- An OEM’s fortress is another’s weakness.
(Updated with CEO comments) Boeing ekes out profits in 2Q, 1H; BCA continues loss
July 28, 2021, © Leeham News: The Boeing Co. today reported a slim profit for the second quarter and first half of 2021. But Boeing Commercial Airplanes still is in a loss-making position, though considerable progress was made in reversing losses for the past two years.
Boeing did not take a forward loss on the 787 program, as feared in some quarters (but not LNA). Due to halting deliveries because of a production issue, Boeing lowered the production rate below 5/mo, to an unannounced figure, leading some to speculate the company would take a forward loss today.
LNA learned the rate might go as low as 2/mo for some weeks.
The press release is here. Boeing’s earnings call will be at 10:30 AM EDT. The webcast may be heard here. The earnings call presentation is here.
Pontifications: Earnings previews for Boeing, Airbus
By Scott Hamilton
July 26, 2021, © Leeham News: Boeing and Airbus report second-quarter/first-half earnings on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Boeing continues to have a rocky year. Although 737 MAX deliveries and production are picking up, 787 deliveries remain suspended. There are now more than 100 787s in inventory, with deliveries largely suspended since October. Production anomalies required rework and inspections combine to suspend deliveries.
The Federal Aviation Administration wants more detail about Boeing’s inspection and rework program. Even though the FAA restored on June 19 to Boeing what’s called “ticketing” authority to certify individual aircraft, the airplanes remain undelivered. The FAA continues to retain ticketing responsibility for the MAX deliveries.
How good will an Airbus A350F be? Part 2.
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By Bjorn Fehrm
Introduction
July 22, 2021, © Leeham News: Last week, we compared the probable data for an Airbus A350 freighter with the market-leading Boeing 777F. We found the 777F is a heavy-duty freighter with a very high payload capability.
Airbus has to use the A350-1000 toolbox to design something similar. The aircraft would be shorter than a -1000, however, to optimize its efficiency. How much better in efficiency than the 777F would it be? We put both in our performance model and fly them from China to the US.
Summary
- An Airbus A350 freighter has to come close to the 104t payload of the 777F.
- Can it do that, it has convincing economics compared with the 777F.
De-carbonisation of air transport is ON
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 20, 2021, © Leeham News: Last week was a game-changing week for air transport. Three events synchronized to trigger it.
EU presented 13 policies to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with concrete steps in-between. On the same day, the airframe and engine OEM’s CTOs said in a Farnborough Connect webcast: “It’s a commitment problem, not a technical problem to achieve the EU goals.”
This happened against a backdrop of European floodings, which made all discussions about climate change or not moot. Super-organized Germany lost over 100 persons to typhoon like rains, never seen before, that produced scenes like these: https://twitter.com/Aviation_Intel/status/1416215953080205321?s=20
Figure 1. Farnborough Connect, from top-left: Moderator Johnson, Boeing’s Hussein, GE’s Lorence, Rolls-Royce’s Stein, SAFRAN’s Dalbier, Raytheon Technologies’ Russel, and Airbus’ Klauke.
Pontifications: Two re-fleeting campaign give Airbus and Boeing each an edge
By Scott Hamilton
July 19, 2021, © Leeham News: There are two re-fleeting campaigns coming up that are significant and in which Airbus and Boeing each have the incumbent advantage.
The successor to Alitalia, Italia Trasporti Aereo (ITA), will restructure with a single aircraft provider. Airfinance Journal reported last week that ITA will begin operations with 52 aircraft: 45 single-aisle airplanes and seven twin-aisle aircraft, drawn from the Alitalia fleet. Another 26 aircraft will be added in 2022.
Airbus is the dominant incumbent aircraft provider. There are 12 Boeing 777 Classics that were with Alitalia.
This competition should be Airbus’s to lose.
How good is an Airbus A350 freighter?
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By Bjorn Fehrm
Introduction
July 15, 2021, © Leeham News: Airbus is working on a freighter of the A350 to compete with Boeing’s larger freighters, such as the 777F.
The 777F is quite a different aircraft than the 777-200LR, which shares its external dimensions, and the 777-300ER that has donated a lot of the internal structure. So will the A350 freighter be based on the A350-900, as the rumors say, or A350-1000? And how good will it be compared to the 777F?
We use our performance model to find out.
Summary
- The A350-900 is the rumored base for the new Airbus freighter that shall compete with the Boeing 777F.
- Is it the correct assumption? When we look under the hood with our performance model, we see it isn’t.