Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Airbus 1H2025 results: A solid first half except for 60 gliders
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 31, 2025, © Leeham News: Airbus CEO Guillame Faury and CFO Thomas Toepfer presented the Airbus first half 2025 results yesterday. The Airbus performance is very much to plan, except there are 60 A320/A321 gliders standing on the aprons, missing engines.
“The lion’s share of these engines are CFM LEAPs, but Pratt & Whitney GTFs are also missing,” said Faury. “Our plan, supported by the engine OEMs, is to be at zero gliders by year-end”.
Except for delivering 60 A320/A321 less than planned, Airbus is executing to plan. “We are on plan with A320/A321 production. Finished airframes are standing waiting for engines,” continued Faury. “Overall, our divisions are on track with their actions and deliveries during the first half of 2025. Our guidance for 2025 is unchanged”.
What’s the next new aircraft, Part 5
By Scott Hamilton and Bjorn Fehrm
July 31, 2025, © Leeham News: We wrap up our five-part series today on What’s the Next New Airplane in the coming decades. We now look at Airplanes 9-13 in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1. The 13 airliners we look at in the series. Source: Leeham Co.
These are the (9) COMAC 929, (10) Eco-version of New Light Twin, (11) CFM Open Fan single aisle, (12) the Boeing 787 re-engine, and (13) the Airbus A350 re-engine.
Odds and Ends from Boeing, Textron, China and the US DOT
By the Leeham News and AIN Teams
July 30, 2025, © Leeham News: It’s time for a few odds and ends in aerospace.
- Boeing and tariffs.
- Textron and the small cargo airplane SkyCourier.
- China certifies the first eVTOL.
- The DOT watchdog focuses on the Newark ATC meltdowns
Boeing on tariffs
Boeing is optimistic that evolving tariff policy by the Trump Administration will continue to exempt aerospace products.
On the Boeing earnings call on July 29, CEO Kelly Ortberg said Boeing previously estimated the impact from tariffs imposed by the US on imported parts would be about $500m.
“One of the key areas for us is the equipment we import from Japan. Getting this Japan [tariff] agreement in place will be helpful for us going forward. We understand that to include zero-for-zero, no input tariffs.
“We still need to see what happens with Italy. We import some fuselage components from Alenia in Italy, so hopefully that will also result in zero-for-zero. My understanding is that is the kind of the baseline negotiation strategy as they go through these bilaterals that we will end up in a zero-for-zero, but [there is] still work yet to do,” Ortberg said.
The trade agreement negotiated in the first Trump Administration between the US, Mexico and Canada is called USMCA. Ortberg said this agreement is very important because of the amount Boeing imports from Mexico and Canada. The second Trump Administration upended the USMCA with new tariff demands.
“As they revisit that USMCA, hopefully, that stays in the same trade situation that we’re in today. We don’t see additional tariffs going forward. But if we continue to see this zero-for-zero, I think we’ll be able to beat that $500 million bogey that we’ve established here.”
Ortberg becomes more cautious about 737 MAX production ramp timing
By Scott Hamilton
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg. Credit: Getty Images.
July 30, 2025, © Leeham News: Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg began to walk back just a bit about the timeline to ramp up production of the 737 MAX during the 2Q2025/1H2025 earnings call.
It’s the first time that LNA has seen a little equivocation.
In previous interviews and earnings calls, Ortberg said that once the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approves, Boeing would ramp up production of the 737 MAX every six months in increments of five.
For example, Boeing is currently producing the MAX at a rate of 38/mo (although July may fall short, according to tracking by Planespotters). The next rate, subject to FAA approval, is 42/mo (yes, this is only four, not five, but this is the figure Boeing has said). After that, Ortberg has said repeatedly that rate breaks in increments of five would be every six months. LNA was skeptical from the start.
Jamie Baker and Mark Streeter, the airline analysts for JP Morgan, came up with an apt term when discussing the Southwest Airlines guidance that applies equally here: “Very Aggressive and Seemingly Unobtainable (or VASU for short).”
In response to questions from an analyst, Ortberg began walking back on the 2Q earnings call yesterday.
Boeing’s CEO Kelly Ortberg, “Our recovery plan is taking hold.”
By Karl Sinclair
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg. Credit: Getty Images.
July 29, 2025, © Leeham News: The Boeing Company (BA) President and CEO Kelly Ortberg is confident that, despite there still being work to do, he likes the direction that the company is headed in.
“We’re making steady progress to stabilize our business, strengthen development program execution, and change our culture to set up for the future,” he said on the 1H2025 earnings call.
While the company still reported a loss for the quarter, it was less than expected, and there were signs of improvement in areas that were projected to take longer to turn around.
Related Article
• Boeing 1H2025: Turnaround underway
Despite projections in the first quarter that 2025 would be a loss-making year for the company, along with a substantial drain on cash reserves, management was pleased to note that things were progressing along in a timely and orderly manner.
“I’m pretty pleased with where we are through the first half and through my first year. I’m not surprised with the performance of the company and the recovery. We’ve got great people in the company,” said Ortberg.
Boeing is first and foremost a commercial aircraft manufacturer. The company will go as that division does.
Boeing 1H2025: Turnaround underway, led by revenue jump at Boeing Commercial and positive results at Defense
By Karl Sinclair
First half 2025 financial results.
July 29, 2025, © Leeham News: The Boeing Company (BA) released 1H2025 results, and while the corporation still posted a net loss of ($643) for the first six months of 2025, strong revenues at Boeing Commercial Aircraft (BCA) indicate that the company has turned the corner and is back on track.
Revenues leapt $8.8bn, year-over-year (YoY), as did margins, which increased $1.747bn. This resulted in positive earnings of $285m for the period, a turnaround of $1.461bn.
The net loss for the period was driven by interest expense of $1.418bn, an increase of $176 YoY. However, results are a marked improvement over 2024, when the company had a loss of $1.794bn. Service revenues showed a marginal increase, while sales of products increased $8.507bn.
Boeing Commences 777-8 Freighter Production
July 28, 2025, (c) AIN: Boeing has officially begun series production of the 777-8 Freighter at its widebody factory in Everett, Washington. About 100 Boeing employees gathered inside the 777X Composite Spar Shop on July 21 to observe as a robotic arm ceremoniously drilled the first hole in a 777-8F wing spar.
It is the first of 938 holes that will be drilled into every wing spar assembled at that location, explained Ben Linder, vice president and chief engineer for Boeing’s 777 and 777-8F programs. Drilling all 938 holes with the automated robot arm, which Boeing calls the Spar Assembly Robotic Cell (SPAC), will take five eight-hour shifts, he told reporters at the Everett facility.
The full story may be found on AIN here.
What’s the next new aircraft, Part 4
By Bjorn Fehrm
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July 28, 2025, © Leeham News: In Part 4 of our five-part series on examining the potential next generation of aircraft in the coming decades, we take a closer look at Aircraft 5 to 8 in our Figure 1.
Figure 1. The 13 airliners we look at in the series. Source: Leeham Co.
These are the (5) GE, NASA, and Boeing hybrid airliner, (6) Airbus ZEROe hydrogen airliner, (7) Boeing’s NMA, and (8) the Boeing New Light Twin.
We examine the market for these aircraft, their technological challenges, and their potential future.
Bjorn’s Corner: Air Transport’s route to 2050. Part 32. Epilogue.
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 25, 2025, ©. Leeham News: In October last year, we began a series on how air transport is performing against the emission goals for the year 2050.
The ambition to reduce and eventually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions began in earnest 11 years ago, when Airbus flew the Airbus E-Fan at the 2014 Farnborough Air Show (Figure 1).
Figure 1. The Airbus E-fan flying at the 2014 Farnborough Air Show. Source: Wikipedia.
The result of this inspiring flight, which utilized technology that emitted no CO2 or other greenhouse gases (if the batteries were charged with green electricity), was an avalanche of projects from established players as well as upstarts. The optimistic view was that there was a solution to the emissions from airliners.
MTU powers ahead with strong growth amid clarity on tariff impact
By Tom Batchelor
Jul 24, 2025, © Leeham News: German engine manufacturer MTU has posted a 40% rise in operating profit for the first half of 2025 amid what outgoing CEO Lars Wagner called “robust growth” across both commercial OEM and MRO segments.
Adjusted EBIT rose by 40% to €657 million ($773 million) in H1 2025, compared with €470 million in the first half of 2024, with adjusted revenue of €4.1 billion, an increase of 21%, versus €3.4 billion in the first half of 2024.
Wagner said it was an “exceptionally strong” performance for the first six months of the year.
For the second quarter, MTU posted an adjusted EBIT of €357 million euros, higher than Q2 2024’s €252 million and comfortably beating analysts’ consensus estimate of €300m.
Adjusted revenue stood at €2 billion, up from €1.8 billion in Q2 2025.