Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Airbus cut production rates by a third
By Scott Hamilton
Production of the A320 and A220 in Mobile is paused. Airbus hasn’t decided what to do about A220 rates, yet.
April 8, 2020, © Leeham News: Airbus today said it will cut production of the A320, A330, and A350 lines due to COVID-19.
The new rates are:
- A320 to rate 40 per month (from 60-63);
- A330 to rate 2 per month (from 3.5)
- A350 to rate 6 per month (from 10)
Congressional delegation urges Boeing to take federal funding
April 7, 2020, (c) Leeham News: The Democratic members of the Washington State Congressional delegation urged Boeing CEO David Calhoun to take federal emergency 
funding to protect employee wages.
The Republican members did not sign the letter.
Calhoun previously said if an equity stake is required, Boeing would reject it and seek funding through other unspecified options.
The letter is below.
HOTR: American sees virtually no travel for up to 7 months
By the Leeham News staff
April 7, 2020, © Leeham News: “Nobody’s traveling in the next 30 or 60 days,” said Vasu Raja, American Airlines Group Inc.’s senior vice president for network strategy. “But nobody is really making any plans to go travel in the next 90 to 150 days, either.
So reported the Wall Street Journal Sunday.
That basically takes you through the end of the year.
Singapore will suspend its Changi Airport Terminal 2 for 18 months from May 1. (Associated Press.)
Pontifications: Assessing the impact of COVID-19: today’s take
By Scott Hamilton
April 6, 2020, © Leeham News: It’s going to be quite a while before there is a clear understanding how coronavirus will change commercial aviation.
LNA already touched on impacts to Airbus, Boeing and Embraer. None of it is good. For Boeing, burdened with the additional stress of the 737 MAX, is in the worst position. Even when the MAX is recertified, there won’t be many—or any—customers in a position to take delivery of the airplane.
Bearing in mind that what’s true today will change in a day, or even an hour, let’s take a rundown of where things seem to stand now.
Shall passenger airliners run as freighters during the COVID-19 crisis?
By Bjorn Fehrm
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Introduction
April 6, 2020, © Leeham News: With the COVID-19 pandemic, the passenger traffic has ground to a halt in many countries. The airliners are parked and their crews sit idle.
At the same time, the air freight market booms. From a decline in demand in the first months of the year, there isn’t enough freighter capacity right now. The freight that traveled in the bellies of the passenger jets had to find new ways and as this was almost half the world’s air cargo, the dedicated freighters can’t absorb the volumes.
Is it time to fly passenger airliners as substitute freighters? Some airlines are doing this on a spot basis. Apart from injecting capacity for needed medical supply freight, does it make economic sense? We run a series of articles on the subject.
Figure 1. Delta flies an A350-900 as a belly freighter between Shanghai and Chicago three times a week from March 30. Source: Delta.
Summary:
- Freight prices soar as capacity collapses when airlines ground passenger jets.
- For the airlines, the cost equation changes with an abundance of free capacity at remaining fixed costs.
- Does it make economic sense to run passenger airliners as freighters in this situation?
Bjorn’s Corner: Why e in ePlane shall stand for environment, Part 16. Bio fuels.
April 3, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In this week’s Corner, we go deeper into bio-based carbon-neutral fuels. We described the two variants of bio-based and synthetic alternative fuels last week and gave an overview of the pros and cons of synthetic fuel.
Now we dig deeper into bio-based airliner jet fuels, an already existing carbon-neutral fuel type.
Figure 1. United is using biofuel for its operations from LAX. Source: United Airlines.
Engine maker, lessor see Boeing’s next airplane as a single-aisle design
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Now open to all readers.
By Scott Hamilton
“The NMA is gone. Long live the NMA.”–lessor CEO. Photo: Leeham Co.
April 2, 2020, © Leeham News: Boeing’s New Midmarket Airplane, or a new concept, is the last thing on the plate right now.
But Boeing’s future product strategy nevertheless requires long-term thinking even as the short- to medium-term is in chaos.
Interviews were conducted March 2 at a major aerospace conference in Austin (TX), just days before the coronavirus crisis exploded exponentially across the globe.
The CEO of the major lessor, Avolon, declared the NMA dead and predicted a new single-aisle airplane will be Boeing’s next project.
An executive of Pratt & Whitney offered a similar view.
Summary
- “The NMA is gone. Long live the NMA. That moment has passed.
- Back to the 757 replacement concept and, now, A321XLR competitor.
- Single-aisle vs light twin-aisle is part of the challenge.
- New airplane must be “dramatically” more efficient than MAX, neo.
- 2030 decade is the quickest this dramatic improvement can be achieved.
Pratt & Whitney committed to advanced GTF for Airbus
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By Scott Hamilton
March 30, 2020, © Leeham News: Pratt & Whitney is concurrently developing what might be termed the next generation GTF. This is an advancement over the current engine, but with more thrust and better fuel economics.
Deurloo eschews the usual Performance Improvement Package (PIP) moniker, however.
“We have been discussing with Airbus for some time, an improvement to the current configuration or our expected configuration,” Deurloo said. “I think that’s a testament to the geared architecture. It’s given us some runway to do a little bit more on that engine.
PW has been in conversation with Airbus for the last few years about an engine that will take configuration at the end of this year, and put in an improvement.
Summary
- New name, better economics, better durability.
- Designed for the A321XLR, but greater flexibility.
- Fixing current issues.
Pontifications: Critical step in Boeing MAX recertification target: May
By Scott Hamilton
March 30, 2020, © Leeham News: Barring further issues, the FAA Type Inspection Authorization for the MAX is targeted for the second half of May, LNA learned.
This is a critical step in recertifying the airplane.
Also barring more unexpected events in a year filled with them, Boeing should resume production of the 737 MAX in May, LNA confirmed.
Bjorn’s Corner: Why e in ePlane shall stand for environment, Part 15. Carbon-neutral fuels.
March 27, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In this week’s Corner, we analyze the use of carbon-neutral fuels for airliner use.
Almost all variants of carbon-neutral fuels have the “drop-in” advantage, they can replace our regular jet fuel in a mixed capacity or entirely with none or minimal changes to our present aircraft and their engines.
It’s a big subject, and I will use the next Corners to explain the key alternatives, their production process, and what benefits and problems they bring.
Figure 1. airbp is distributing bio-jet fuel produced by Neste. Source: BP