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By Bjorn Fehrm
May 5, 2022, © Leeham News: Last week, we looked at what the closure of Russian airspace would mean for North European airlines that fly to Asia destinations like Japan, Korea, or Mainland China.
Our example was Finnair’s route from Helsinki to Tokyo and what it would mean for it cost-wise to fly over the North pole and then down to Tokyo instead of over Russia.
We now continue the analysis with what the air space closure means for a West European airline like Air France. We check the cost increase to fly from Paris to Seoul in South Korea when you can’t use Russian and Ukrainian air space.
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By Vincent Valery
May 3, 2022, © Leeham News: Most passenger airlines incurred severe losses in 2020. However, last year, LNA showed that most lessors had a far less challenging 2020 than their customers. Many lessors managed to turn a profit in 2020.
As a future LNA article will show, the financial fortunes of most passenger airlines significantly improved in 2021 compared with 2020. We will now analyze how the largest lessors that publish their accounts performed in 2021.
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By Scott Hamilton
May 2, 2022, © Leeham News: Kansas Modification Center’s launch customer order for its Boeing 777-300ER freighter conversion pits the start-up against the established IAI Bedek and another start-up, Mammoth Freighters.
A fourth 777 P2F program, by the supplemental carrier Eastern Airlines, doesn’t involve a full freighter conversion with a cargo door.
Kansas Mod, or KMC, is paired with the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), which is the aerospace research arm of Wichita State University in Kansas. NIAR is paired with WERX, a WSU program that trains engineers. Together, this is known as NIAR WERX. This cumbersome combination will be referred to as KMC.
Jim Gibbs, the CEO of Kansas Modification Center, announced a firm order for three 777-300ER conversions and options for seven more last week at the Aviation Week MRO Americas exhibition in Dallas. Backbone Freighter Leasing, an affiliation of Dr. Peters Group, a European lessor, placed the order. The 10 aircraft were operated by Emirates Airline. Dr. Peters Group is best known as a lessor of Airbus A380s.
Christian Mailly of the Peters group said KMC said Backbone considered the IAI and Mammoth programs but developed a trust with KMC that gives confidence that the conversions can be delivered on time. The firm orders are scheduled for delivery in 2024-2025; options are slotted in for delivery in 2025, 2026, and 2027.
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By Bjorn Fehrm
April 28, 2022, © Leeham News: Last week, we started an article series that looks at the impact of the closure of the Russian airspace for Western airlines.
We start with analyzing how Finnair’s cost base changes as it routes Helsinki to Tokyo has to fly over the north pole and then down to Tokyo instead of over Russia. How will this affect the airline’s costs and the payload carrying capacity of the aircraft?
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By Scott Hamilton
April 25, 2022, © Leeham News: Airbus is charging ahead with its ZEROe ecoAviation research and development, focused on hydrogen (H2) power while supporting efforts for Sustainable Aviation Fuel in the meantime. Airbus targets 2035 for a commercial airliner, which will almost certainly be a turboprop—not a jet.
Boeing previously said it believes Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is the near-term answer for greening up commercial aviation. By 2030, all its aircraft will be capable of 100% SAF use. Airbus is heading down this path, too.
Airbus believes H2 is the best solution to achieving zero emissions. Battery-powered airplanes and eVTOLs and battery-hybrids are other alternatives. Each has big technical and/or supply challenges to overcome.
In a webinar last week, Amanda Simpson, VP of Research and Technology for Airbus, said designing an entirely new airplane for H2 opens the possibility of an entirely new, high-tech wing design for which other research has been underway. A “Wing of Tomorrow” has been under development for years. Airbus already is pursuing an UpNext eXtra Performance Wing. For shorthand, LNA will identify this as the UNePW.
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By Vincent Valery
Introduction
April 21, 2022, © Leeham News: In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United Kingdom decided to ban Aeroflot and other Russian airlines from its airspace.
A tit-for-tat escalation led to what would have been unthinkable only weeks prior: Western European and North American commercial airlines can’t fly through Russian airspace. Flight restrictions are essentially back to those that existed for many carriers at the height of the Cold War.
The closure of Russian airspace to Western carriers will impact many routes, notably between Western Europe and East Asia. Flights are now longer, increasing fuel burn and reducing payload capabilities.
While passenger airlines have caught most of the attention, the impact is also severe for cargo airlines. As a result, LNA thought it relevant to start a series about the effects of Russian airspace closure on several standard commercial airline routes.
We will start by providing historical context and listing the impacted passenger airlines.
Summary
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By the Leeham News Team
April 19, 2022, © Leeham News: Following 737 MAX grounding, Boeing was found to have exerted undue influence on their ODA unit and its members.
ODA stands for Organization Designation Authorization. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) designates personnel employed by a company to be its official on-site representatives. The MAX crisis put a spotlight on the Boeing-FAA ODA relationship. Faults were found and the uninformed in many cases thought the existence of ODAs was a scandal. But it’s a system that’s been around for decades, and it’s not limited to Boeing.
Let’s look at exactly what that means as we try to understand the impact on certification schedules at Boeing.
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By Bjorn Fehrm
April 14, 2022, © Leeham News: Last week, we speculated that Airbus might decide to upgrade the present A330-200F freighter to a neo variant based on the longer -900 fuselage.
To understand how competitive it would be, we compare its economics to the 787, 767-300F, and A330-200F freighters.
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By Bjorn Fehrm
April 7, 2022, © Leeham News: Last week, we started a discussion on what should be Airbus’ response to a 787 freighter. We have seen in a series of articles that the 787 freighter would beat the present A330 freighter, and the question is, will Airbus leave this segment to Boeing, or will it respond?
We look at what’s involved for Airbus to upgrade the present A330-200F to a neo freighter and what performance it would have compared to a 787 freighter.
Summary