By Scott Hamilton
June 1, 2015, c. Leeham Co. The Paris Air Show begins in two weeks. One thing that won’t happen is the launch of the Airbus A380neo.
We still think it will happen, though at a later date.
Re-engining the A380 is highly controversial. The A380 is the plane critics love to hate. You can argue whether it should have been built in the first place. You can argue whether it was 10 years too soon. You can argue whether Airbus misjudged the size of the market. You can even argue its passenger appeal. I haven’t flown on the A380 yet, so I can’t speak from personal experience on the latter. I’ve previously discussed the other points.
You can argue whether the airplane should be re-engined. Leeham News concluded in January 2014 Airbus really had no choice but to re-engine the A380 if it wants to continue offering the model. If done inexpensively (a relative term, to be sure), it makes sense given the arrival around 2020 of the Boeing 777-9. It’s when design creep happens that trouble arises. Just ask Boeing on the 747-8.
Emirates Airlines says it will buy up to 200 A380neos if Airbus proceeds. Qatar Airways expresses interest. Lufthansa Airlines said a neo is needed to keep the A380 viable in the future, though it hasn’t taken the next step of saying it will buy more.
Re-engining is hardly new. Let’s take a look. Read more
Airbus A380neo not yet a project
Drilling down into the story and checking with Airbus, as well as going back to Bregier interviews at the Paris Air Show and one we did with him at the IATA AGM in early June, it’s clear the Sunday Times was somewhat exuberant in its headline.
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53 Comments
Posted on July 21, 2015 by Scott Hamilton
Airbus, Dubai Air Show, Emirates Airlines, Leeham News and Comment, Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce
A380, A380neo, Airbus, Dubai Air Show, Emirates Airline, Fabrice Bregier, Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce, Rolls-Royce Advance engine
Bjorn’s Corner: What Paris Air Show taught us about East and West.
By Bjorn Fehrm
25 June 2015, © Leeham Co: With a few days in the office one can look back at Paris Air Show with a bit of perspective. So what are the impressions?
It was surprising how many orders Airbus and Boeing landed. Both had played down the expectations, telling that it will be a decent show but nothing close to record. Yet both were booking orders or commitments which were better than expected going into the PAS. Read more
44 Comments
Posted on June 26, 2015 by Bjorn Fehrm
AirAsia, Bjorn's Corner, Boeing, Bombardier, Comac, CSeries, Farnborough Air Show, Future aircraft, GE Aviation, Irkut, Paris Air Show, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Sukhoi, United Aircraft, YAK
737 MAX, 787, A320NEO, A330neo, Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Comac, CSeries, GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce
Pontifications: Final thoughts of the Paris Air Show
By Scott Hamilton
June 22, 2015, c. Leeham Co. The Paris Air Show was largely as expected, with a few small surprises. Boeing did better than expected via-a-vis Airbus, actually leading slightly in firm orders and tied in orders-and-options going into Thursday. This is virtually never the case, particularly at the Paris Air Show, Airbus’ “home” turf. At the same time, some Wall Street analysts noted the firm orders fell below expectations. I’m not especially concerned about whether an announcement was firm or a commitment, because the latter typically firm up, if not within the current calendar year then usually in the next. Note, for example, Boeing announced the launch of the 777X program at the 2013 Dubai Air Show was some 200 commitments, or thereabouts, but the orders didn’t firm until 2014. Airbus announced a commitment for 250 A320s from Indigo in 2014 and it will likely be firmed up this year.
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55 Comments
Posted on June 22, 2015 by Scott Hamilton
Airbus, Airlines, Boeing, Dubai Air Show, Emirates Airlines, Farnborough Air Show, GE Aviation, MOM, Paris Air Show, Pontifications, Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce
747-8F, 757, 757 replacement, 767-200ER, 777 Classic, 777F, 777X, 787-10, A300, A350-900, Airbus, Boeing, Dubai Air Show, Emirates Airline, EVA Airlines, Farnborough Air Show, IATA, John Leahy, Middle of the Market, MOM, Paris Air Show, Qatar Airways, Seattle Times, Tim Clark
Hot competition in Middle East, Airframe analysis.
By Bjorn Fehrm
Introduction
June 15, 2015, C. Leeham Co: We have previously written about the interview with Emirates Airline President and COO, Tim Clark, where he says that in the present competition for Emirates’ medium haul 330 seaters, one can see that the extreme hot conditions for Dubai International Airport can cause trouble for aircraft which are dimensioned for normal airport conditions. This will hit a dedicated medium-haul aircraft like the Boeing 787-10 harder than a long-haul aircraft turned medium-haul like the Airbus A350-900.
The latter is designed to take-off with higher weights and has therefore a larger wing and stronger engines; it has more margins in a medium-haul mission. We looked at how the engines react to hot conditions last week and will now look at the airframes.
Summary:
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8 Comments
Posted on June 15, 2015 by Bjorn Fehrm
Airbus, Boeing, Emirates Airlines, Rolls-Royce
787-10, A350-900, Airbus, Boeing, Emirates Airlines
Bjorn’s Corner: Hot competition in Middle east.
By Bjorn Fehrm
By Bjorn Fehrm
Introduction
12 June 2015, C. Leeham Co: Earlier in the week we had an interesting interview with Sir Tim Clark, , president and COO of Emirates Airline. We discussed Emirates’ requirement for a twin aisle medium/long range complement to their Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 fleets. The competition is between Boeing’s 787-10 and Airbus’ A350-900. So far the assumptions have been that the 787-10 will be hard to beat on pure costs per seat for mid-range requirements in the 300-seat segment.
The 787-10 seats 323 passengers in Boeing’s old-fashioned IAC three class seating and 331 in our more modern, normalized two class seating with 60 inch angled lie flat in Business and 32 inch economy section. The A350-900 has so far seated 313 seats in the same normalized seating standard. Recent cabin changes by Airbus can now increase that to close to 330 seats. The configuration changes were originally conceived for A350-1000 but we believe Airbus will offer these to Emirates and they will make it into the -900 catalog.
The 787-10 is lighter and would therefore be more effective on fuel but the difference is small, given the A350-900’s more modern engines. So the overall discussion was that 787-10 had found its ideal customer, in need of many seats, a solid mid-range performance and lowest cost. That was until Monday’s interview with Clark.
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43 Comments
Posted on June 12, 2015 by Bjorn Fehrm
Airbus, Airlines, Bjorn's Corner, Boeing, Emirates Airlines, GE Aviation, Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce
777, 777-300ER, 777X, 787, 787-10, A350, A350-1000, Airbus, Boeing, Emirates Airlines, Rolls-Royce
We want engine choice, say airlines at IATA
Willie Walsh, CEO of British Airways, says sole-sourcing the engine on the 747-8 cost Boeing an order. BA bought the Airbus A380 instead. Photo source: SI.WSJ.net via Google images.
June 9, 2015, c. Leeham Co. Airlines want engine choices, not sole-source on airplanes, airlines said at the International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) Annual General Meeting in Miami Beach (FL).
Sole-sourcing cost Boeing a major order for the slow-selling 747-8, said Willie Walsh, CEO of British Airways. Relations at the time between British and GE Aviation, the sole engine provider on the 747-8, were so poor BA decided instead to order the Airbus A380, where a choice between the Engine Alliance GP7200 and the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 was possible GE is a JV partner in Engine Alliance with Pratt & Whitney. BA bought Rolls.
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22 Comments
Posted on June 9, 2015 by Scott Hamilton
Airbus, Airlines, Boeing, Emirates Airlines, Engine Alliance, GE Aviation, Rolls-Royce
Aengus Kelly, AerCap, British Airways, David Joyce, Emirates Airline, Engine Alliance, GE Aviation, GP7200, IATA, International Air Transport Assn., Rolls-Royce, Tim Clark, Trent 900
Emirates A350/787 bake-off remains wide open
Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline. Photo: Skift.com via Google images.
June 9, 2015, c. Leeham Co. Competition between Airbus and Boeing remains wide open between the A350-900 and the 787-10, says the president of Emirates Airline despite an Internet report that the carrier has tilted toward Boeing.
“No, I don’t know where that’s coming from,” Clark today told Leeham News and Comment on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Assn. Annual General Meeting in Miami Beach. “If anything, the 10 is not coming up with the thrust requirements that we need. We’re working with Boeing on that, whereas the A350-900 has got bags of thrust.
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25 Comments
Posted on June 8, 2015 by Scott Hamilton
Airbus, Boeing, Emirates Airlines, Engine Alliance, Rolls-Royce
777-8, 777-9 787-10, A350-1000, A350-900, Airbus, Boeing, Engine Alliance, GP7200, Rolls-Royce, Tim Clark
A350 replacing A340-300 / 777-200ER, still on with lower fuel prices?
By Bjorn Fehrm
Subscription required.
Introduction
June 7, 2015, c. Leeham Co. We have just rounded off a series of articles around how A350 is to fly, its systems approach and lastly the conversion of Finnair’s A340/A330 pilots to A350. Finnair will replace the airlines A340-300 with the A350-900.
A question that comes up is how much more efficient is the A350 that is delivered to these airlines, and does the investment still make sense with today’s lower fuel prices? To get an answer we took the two customers that will get their A350 within the next months, Vietnam Airlines and Finnair, and we compared A350-900 to the aircraft that it will replace in their fleets, Boeing 777-200ER for Vietnam Air and Airbus A340-300 for Finnair.
We used our proprietary model to fly these aircraft over some typical routes for the airline’s, for Vietnam Airlines Saigon-London and for Finnair Helsinki-Shanghai.
Summary:
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5 Comments
Posted on June 8, 2015 by Bjorn Fehrm
Airbus, Boeing, EADS, Pratt & Whitney, Premium, Rolls-Royce
777, A330, A330neo, A350, Airbus, Boeing, Finnair, Pratt & Whitney, vietnam airlines
Pontifications: re-engining airliners and the A380
By Scott Hamilton
June 1, 2015, c. Leeham Co. The Paris Air Show begins in two weeks. One thing that won’t happen is the launch of the Airbus A380neo.
We still think it will happen, though at a later date.
Re-engining the A380 is highly controversial. The A380 is the plane critics love to hate. You can argue whether it should have been built in the first place. You can argue whether it was 10 years too soon. You can argue whether Airbus misjudged the size of the market. You can even argue its passenger appeal. I haven’t flown on the A380 yet, so I can’t speak from personal experience on the latter. I’ve previously discussed the other points.
You can argue whether the airplane should be re-engined. Leeham News concluded in January 2014 Airbus really had no choice but to re-engine the A380 if it wants to continue offering the model. If done inexpensively (a relative term, to be sure), it makes sense given the arrival around 2020 of the Boeing 777-9. It’s when design creep happens that trouble arises. Just ask Boeing on the 747-8.
Emirates Airlines says it will buy up to 200 A380neos if Airbus proceeds. Qatar Airways expresses interest. Lufthansa Airlines said a neo is needed to keep the A380 viable in the future, though it hasn’t taken the next step of saying it will buy more.
Re-engining is hardly new. Let’s take a look. Read more
138 Comments
Posted on June 1, 2015 by Scott Hamilton
Airbus, Boeing, CFM, Douglas Aircraft Co, Emirates Airlines, GE Aviation, Paris Air Show, Pontifications, Pratt & Whitney, Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce
737 Classic, 737 MAX, 737 NG, 747-500, 747-600, 747-8, 747X, A320NEO, A330neo, A380, A380neo, Airbus, Boeing, Bristol, Britannia, Constellation, Convair, CV-240, CV-340, CV-440, CV-540, CV-580, CV600, CV640, DC-7, DC-7D, DC-7T, DC-8-61, DC-8-71, Douglas Aircraft Co., L-1449, L-1549, Lockheed
Paris Air Show: Qatar and others
Subscription required.
Introduction
June 1, 2015, c. Leeham Co. It could be called the Qatar Airways Air Show.
Qatar Airways plans to have five airliners on display at the Paris Air Show in two weeks: the Airbus A319, A320, A350, A380 and the Boeing 787. The carrier hasn’t
announced whether it will provide an aerial display as it has at previous air shows, but Qatar may well have more airliners there than Airbus or Boeing.
As for manufacturers other than Airbus and Boeing, we don’t expect anything of consequence from these.
Summary
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Leave a Comment
Posted on June 1, 2015 by Scott Hamilton
Airbus, ATR, Boeing, Bombardier, CFM, Comac, Embraer, Emirates Airlines, Irkut, Mitsubishi, Paris Air Show, Pratt & Whitney, Premium, Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce, Sukhoi
787, A319, A320, A350, A380, Airbus, ATR, Boeing, CFM, Comac, Emirates Airlines, Engine Alliance, GE Engines, Irkut, Mitsubishi, Paris Air Show, Pratt & Whitney, Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce, Suhkoi, Tim Clark
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