Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Looking ahead for 2020 and 2030 decades: Mitsubishi
Sixth in a Series
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By Scott Hamilton
July 23, 2020, © Leeham News: The Mitsubishi Aircraft (MITAC) SpaceJet program is in limbo.
MITAC parent Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) suspended development of the M100 SpaceJet in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Customers are
suppliers are in the dark about this program’s future.
MHI continues to complete certification of the M90 SpaceJet, which is simply the rebranded MRJ90. But, as LNA previously wrote, the M90 is at an economic disadvantage to the competing Embraer E-Jets.
The planned entry-into-service for the M90 is next year. However, certification process by the Japanese regulator is slow. The impact by COVID on the certification process and EIS remains to be seen.
Summary
- M100 program on hold at least until next year.
- What’s next for MHI?
- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
Restoring capacity with the A330ceo or A330neo, Part 6, Wrapup.
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By Bjorn Fehrm
Introduction
July 23, 2020, © Leeham News: Over the last four weeks, we analyzed the venerable Airbus A330, to see if the present low fuel and lease prices make the recent A330neo version less attractive than an older ceo version.
As airlines are cash injection driven in the present COVID-19 crisis, taking delivery of a new aircraft and then do a sell, lease back deal injects fresh cash to the airline. The order deposit and the Pre-Delivery-Payments, PDPs, then flows back to the airline. This is why we see airlines take new aircraft despite not really needing them right now.
The A330 has seen phenomenal growth in capability as the Gross Weight has gone from 212t to 251t over the years. We now wrap the series by looking if there is potential for another stretch in the A330? Could it grow to a true Pacific-Ocean crosser, and if so, what changes should be made?
Summary
- The A330neo now has a 251t Maximum TakeOff Weight (MTOW). Is this enough or could the aircraft gain from another MTOW hike?
- We go through the gains and the areas that need changing should the business case be there to stretch the payload-range curve further for the A330neo.
HOTR: Norwegian claims $1bn+ in damages from Boeing
HOTR072120
By the Leeham News staff
July 21, 2020, © Leeham News: Norwegian Air Shuttle said June 30 it canceled orders for 92 Boeing 737 MAXes and five 787s.
The orders still appear on Boeing’s Unfilled Orders website, which is updated monthly.
In a lawsuit filed June 20 in Cook County Circuit Court (Chicago), NAS claimed breach of contract for failure to deliver the MAXes due to grounding. It claims breach of contract for failure to delivery 787s due to the long-running issues with the Rolls-Royce engines.
As federal aid comes to end, small suppliers see “blood bath”
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By Scott Hamilton
Introduction
July 20, 2020, © Leeham News: As the Payroll Protection Plan of the US government nears expiration, a blood bath among small suppliers is all but certain unless an extension is approved by Congress.
This is the dire forecast by William Alderman of Alderman & Co. Alderman specializes in representing small suppliers and aftermarket companies wanting to exit the business. Small, in this case, is defined as revenues up to $100m.
Alderman told LNA that some of his clients don’t see business recovery for 10 years. This is a different metric than the one most often cited: air traffic returning to pre-COVID levels in 2023-24, by most accounts.
Summary
- Small companies need PPP extension.
- Small companies need working capital, fast.
- If neither is forthcoming, exiting the business in the other alternative.
Pontifications: Turbulence is not just something in the air
By Scott Hamilton
July 20, 2020, © Leeham News: The timing is coincidental. If you think the airline industry is in a wind shear now, don’t be fooled.
The industry has been in perpetual turbulence for 50 years.
At least that’s the theme of an airline executive’s new book, Turbulence.
David Banmiller began his career as a ticket agent, when hand-writing the coupons at the airport as common practice.
He retired three years ago after a career that saw him in executive positions at AirCal, American Airlines and other carriers.
He became a bankruptcy reorganization specialist as well.
Careers
Banmiller weaved through American, TWA, AirCal, the second Pan Am, Aloha and Air Jamaica. He was CEO of AirCal when it was sold to American, where he became an executive under legendary CEO Bob Crandall. Banmiller went on to become CEO of Aloha, Pan Am and Air Jamaica. He took the first two through bankruptcy reorganization and restructured Air Jamaica outside of the courts. He also served as CEO of Sun Country Airlines.
Throughout his careers, Banmiller experienced many of the downturns of the airline industry: oil price wars, 9/11, the SARS pandemic and now, from his retirement, COVID-19.
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 11. Wrapup.
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 18, 2020, ©. Leeham News: It’s time to wrap our Corner series about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We started the series on the 8th of May. A lot of knowledge has been gained since, about COVID-19 in general and when taking a scheduled flight.
Figure 1. The difference of coughing without and with a mask. Source: Simulations by Florida Atlantic University, composited and annotated by LNA.
Restoring capacity with the A330ceo or A330neo, Part 5
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By Vincent Valery
Introduction
June 18, 2020, © Leeham News: In the previous articles, we outlined Economic factors that determine whether the older A330ceo or newer A330neo is a better choice for airlines. We summarize those findings and broaden the discussion.
Summary
- Economic summary;
- The case for keeping older aircraft;
- And purchasing newer ones;
- A further factor in favor of more modern airplanes;
- Potential A330neo enhancements.
Looking ahead for 2020 and 2030 decades: UAC
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Fifth in a series.
By Bjorn Fehrm
Introduction
July 15, 2020, © Leeham News: UAC stands for United Aircraft Corporation, and is the name of the group owning the Russian aircraft industry.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the multitude of individual companies and design bureaus could no longer survive on their own. The Russian state, therefore, gathered them all in UAC to introduce necessary consolidation and reform.
While UAC has done much with the support of the Ministries of Industry and Defense, the changing political situation for Russia has made it harder for the Civilian aircraft side to achieve sales outside captive Russian markets for its jets.
Summary
- UAC is the holding company of the Russian aircraft industry since 2006. The UAC management has stopped pointless infighting and consolidated the industry, latest to a civilian and military side.
- But it’s ambitions on the civil side outside Russia is at mercy to state politics and the Kremlin has shown that world politics is more important than the development of its industries.
- This, and the rise of arch-rival and cooperation partner China, clouds the future for UAC civil aircraft.
HOTR: American’s threat to Boeing: no MAXes without financing
By the Leeham News staff
July 14, 2020, © Leeham News: Last week’s news that American Airlines told Boeing it won’t take delivery of 17 new 737 MAX-8s unless it can get financing isn’t a surprise for those in the know.
This could be a bit of negotiating in the press.
When MAX was grounded, AA had lined up Japanese financing for its next round of deliveries. The lease rate was said to be in the vicinity of 0.52%, a number that is unconfirmed. But it was a very inexpensive lease rate. Over the course of the balance of 2019, the financing expired.
An economic crisis on top of a medical one: Why airline traffic won’t fully recover until the mid-late 2020s
Open To All Readers
By Judson Rollins
Introduction
July 13, 2020, © Leeham News: As the world waits for the COVID-19 storm to abate, questions are growing over the duration of a demand downturn for airlines.
Many journalists and industry observers have been obsessively searching for “green shoots” indicating the beginning of a recovery, but much of this commentary misses the mark. For instance, much attention has been focused on capacity restoration in the US and China. However, little is known about the percentage of seats filled by Chinese carriers – and last week United Airlines told employees in an internal presentation that while US carrier capacity in July is back to 47% of 2019’s level, it believes industry traffic has only reached 28% and revenue just 19%.
Last month, investment research firm Bernstein published an analysis calling for narrowbody traffic to recover by 2023 and widebody traffic by 2025. This is consistent with most public forecasts from airlines, banks, and industry observers. The firm’s analysts said that single-aisle concentration in short-haul and domestic routes should see them returned to 2019 utilization sooner than twin-aisles due to reduced long-haul demand and lower demand in short-haul markets previously served by widebodies (e.g., in most of Asia).
LNA believes that 2024 is the earliest possible date for a return to 2019 global passenger traffic – and it could conceivably take until 2028. Many obstacles lie between the present situation and a full recovery: deployment of a successful vaccine (or vaccines), rollback of border restrictions, passenger confidence in the medical safety of air travel, and most importantly, restored willingness to pay by business and leisure travelers. Specific countries or regions – especially those with local vaccine production – may recover sooner, but a global recovery to pre-COVID traffic levels requires all these to happen at a global scale.
To be clear, LNA’s definition of “herd immunity” is that of the global medical community: population-level resistance to virus transmission that occurs because a large majority have been vaccinated or previously infected. This differs from an increasingly popular usage of the term in reference to the passive infection-oriented virus management approach taken by Sweden and other countries.
Summary
- Widespread uncertainty means downturn likely to outstrip previous ones in duration, magnitude
- Vaccine development may be expedited; global distribution will take longer
- Herd immunity to COVID-19 is a prerequisite to confidence in travel safety, reopening of borders
- Open borders, restored economic activity are keys to any rebound in business travel
- Consumer travel requires confidence in personal income, availability of lower fares