Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Leeham News and Analysis
- Bjorn’s Corner: Air Transport’s route to 2050. Part 21. May 9, 2025
- Does an A220-500 need a new wing and engines? Part 2. May 8, 2025
- Embraer downplays tariff impact on 2025 results May 6, 2025
- JetZero readies effort for private equity fund raising May 5, 2025
- Bjorn’s Corner: Air Transport’s route to 2050. Part 20. May 2, 2025
Airbus launches long-expected A321XLR with ALC order; lessor also orders A220-300
By Judson Rollins
June 17, 2019, © Leeham News, Paris: Airbus launched its much-awaited A321XLR today with an initial order of 27 airplanes from lessor Air Lease Corp. ALC also ordered another 23 A321neos, which can optionally be taken as A321LRs. This brings ALC’s total 
Airbus order count to 387, making it Airbus’s third largest lessor.
Airbus also announced that ALC has ordered 50 A220-300s to be delivered between 2021 and 2026. ALC is the largest lessor to date to order the former C-Series aircraft. ALC executive chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy said, “We believe this aircraft will be a wonderful replacement for aging A319s, 737s, Fokker 100, BAe-146s, and other smaller jet aircraft.”
The order is structured as a letter of intent. ALC chief executive John Plueger said the LoI covers “all commercial business points” but that it will be converted to a firm order once certain terms are firmed on the A220 portion of the order.
Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer declined to discuss catalog pricing for the A321XLR.
Paris Air Show, Day One: Mitsubishi makes case for “SpaceJet” market opportunity
By Judson Rollins
June 17, 2019, © Leeham News, Paris: Senior executives from Mitsubishi Aircraft Company (MITAC) and parent Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) described the long journey to the revamped “SpaceJet” M90 and M100 aircraft. They also commented on what market role the SpaceJet could potentially fulfil, as well as potential incremental improvements to the aircraft.
MHI chairman Shunichi Miyanaga said that market conditions and competitive landscape have changed in the company’s favor as the need for regional jet replacement has grown and competition has dwindled down to just a single player, Embraer.
Paris Air Show Orders, Day 1
June 17, 2019, (c) Leeham News: Here are the orders and commitments for Day 1 of the Paris Air Show, courtesy of Airfinance Journal.
Returning MAX safely to service is Boeing’s “top priority”
June 17, 2019, © Leeham News: Boeing executives focused on its top priority, returning the grounded 737 MAX, safely to service, in its lead off briefing today at the Paris Air Show.
Greg Smith, EVP of The Boeing Co., appeared instead of CEO Dennis Muilenburg, taking the lead in recapping much of what has been known for weeks: Boeing’s regret for the 346 fatalities in the Lion Air and Ethiopian accidents, the MCAS software upgrade and working with airlines and regulators to determine the path back to recertifying the MCAS and the best curriculum for pilot training.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Kevin McAllister, Defense unit CEO Leanne Caret and Global Services unit CEO Stan Deal followed Smith in a tightly scripted set of presentations and answers to questions.
The four immediately left the stage after the Q&A instead of loitering for the usual press gaggles.
Looking at MAX beyond the grounding
June 17, 2019, © Leeham News, Paris: As the international aerospace community and media gathers here this week for the Paris Air Show, the Boeing 737 MAX is the elephant in the room.
The focus obviously is on when the MAX will return to service worldwide.
A few people are already looking beyond this, to how quickly Boeing will ramp production back up and how quickly the backlog of completed airplanes will be delivered to airlines and lessors.
The grounding appears that it will go on much longer than expected.
Pontifications: The elephant in the room
By Scott Hamilton
June 17, 2019, © Leeham News: The Paris Air Show opens today and the elephant in the room is the Boeing 737 MAX.
There is no telling when the airplane will get FAA approval to return to service. According to some news reports, Boeing will hasn’t turned over the MCAS revisions to the FAA for review, testing and approval.
The acting administrator of the FAA said he expects the MAX to be back in the air by the end of the year. Some leapt to the conclusion this means December—and it may, but let’s remember September, October and November are before the “end of the year,” too.
There’s no telling how other global regulators will act, and when, to conduct their own review and approvals. Airlines would like a global action. It’s tough to tell customers one country sees the airplane as safe but others don’t.
- Leeham News will be at the Paris Air Show this week, with coverage by Scott Hamilton, Bjorn Fehrm and Judson Rollins. All coverage will be open to all readers.
Bjorn’s Corner: Why hybrid cars work and hybrid airliners have challenges
By Bjorn Fehrm
June 14, 2019, ©. Leeham News: In last week’s Corner we discussed why aircraft with batteries as an energy source will be short ranged for decades to come. The battery energy density is too low and it won’t change appreciably over time.
Now we look at the challenges hybrid transport aircraft face when competing with today’s turbofan airliners.
The Zunum Hybrid electric airliner. Source; Zunum.
How Mitsubishi Aircraft morphed the MRJ70 into the M100 SpaceJet
By Bjorn Fehrm
June 13, 2019, © Leeham News.: Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp (MITAC) has done more than a rebranding and new livery in creating the SpaceJet out of the MRJ70.
It’s changing the design, its materials and several parts of the interior to accommodate more passengers than the MRJ70.
- Related story: How the SpaceJet came to be.
Here is a technical analysis of the aircraft, based on information released today and our own Aircraft Performance Model.
We describe the changes MITAC made to the MRJ70 to end up with the M100 SpaceJet and what these mean for passengers and operators.
Figure 1. The Mitsubishi M100 SpaceJet replacing the MRJ70. Source: Mitsubishi.
Evolving the MRJ into the SpaceJet
June 13, 2019, © Leeham News: Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. (MITAC)’s redesign of the MRJ70 and launch of the M100 SpaceJet in its place reflects a changing market environment when the MRJ program was launched more than a decade ago.
Then, MITAC—and Embraer—thought the restrictive US Scope Clause with the pilots’ unions of US major carriers would be relaxed by now.
- Related story: A technical look at the new SpaceJet.
MITAC launched the MRJ90 90-seat aircraft, to be followed by the MRJ70, a 70-seat airplane. Embraer launched the E175-E2 re-engined model of the popular E175.
Mitsubishi’s SpaceJet is the new brand for the revised MRI70 design, which has more passengers, a different wing and slightly longer fuselage than the original. Entry into service is planned for 2023. Source: Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp.
Neither complied with Scope as then defined, specifically the maximum takeoff weight of 86,000 lbs. Each exceeded this limit by about a ton.
(There are restrictions as to the number of seats and number of airplanes that can be operated by regional airline partners, too, but it’s the weight limit that’s the key issue here.)
How useful is an Airbus A321XLR? Part 2
By Bjorn Fehrm
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Introduction
June 13, 2019, © Leeham News: Last week we looked at the route structures an Airbus A321XLR could support compared with the original A321LR. We could see the A321XLR is a more flexible long-range aircraft than the A321LR.
It covers trans-Atlantic routes from Mid-US to mid-Europe and it can for several route types replace larger aircraft, thus allowing increased frequency on existing routes or the start of new thinner routes than possible with widebody aircraft.
This all assumes the economics of the A321XLR and a widebody like the Airbus A330neo or Boeing 787 are comparable. We use our Aircraft Performance Model to find out.
Summary:
- Our comparison over a typical long-range route shows the operating costs of an A321XLR and an A330-800 or 787-8 are close.
- This creates flexibility for the airlines. The A321XLR can open new, thinner routes between secondary city pairs or increase the frequency on established long-haul routes.
- It can also serve routes during off-peak hours or during the slower winter period. All that’s needed whether the route is within the range capability of the A321XLR.