Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Boeing, others up SAF plans in Washington State
Credit: Boeing.
Announced on Thursday at Boeing Future of Flight, the museum located adjacent to Boeing’s Everett production facility, the Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator (CSAA) aims to ramp the region’s SAF production capacity to one billion gallons per year by 2035.
Bjorn’s Corner: Faster aircraft development. Part 22. Serial Production.
By Bjorn Fehrm and Henry Tam.
January 9, 2026, ©. Leeham News: We do a series about ideas on how the long development times for large airliners can be shortened. New projects talk about cutting development time and reaching certification and production faster than previous projects.
The series will discuss the typical development cycles for an FAA Part 25 aircraft, called a transport category aircraft, and what different ideas there are to reduce the development times.
We will use the Gantt plan in Figure 1 as a base for our discussions. We have completed flight testing of the flight test aircraft and obtained a design Type Certificate (TC). We now examine the production preparations and the serial production phase.
Figure 1. A generic new Part 25 airliner development plan. Source: Leeham Co. Click to see better.
Boeing is on its way back, but there’s a long way to go
Subscription Required
By Scott Hamilton and Karl Sinclair
Jan. 8, 2026, © Leeham News: Boeing is on its way back.
Not to its glory days of engineering prowess. This won’t happen until Boeing develops a new airplane, and just how advanced it will be.
Boeing hopes the long-delay certification of the 737-7 MAX will occur this year. Launch customer Southwest Airlines looks for entry into service in 2027. Credit: Boeing.
But it’s on its way back to returning to a profitable, reliable company that puts safety and quality first.
That said, there is still a long way to go. By LNA’s estimation, it will be well into the next decade before Boeing’s balance sheet bears any resemblance to its 2018 financial picture of solid profits and low debt. That was the last year before Boeing entered what became six years of one crisis after another. Boeing ended 2018 with a “mere” $10bn in long-term debt. Revenues hit $101bn with an operating profit of $10.4bn and operating cash flow of $15.3bn.
Boeing ended the third quarter last year with more than $50bn in long-term debt, and near-breakeven if slight positive cash flow. Full-year 2025 results will be announced at the end of this month.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes in 2018 produced about 60% of the company’s revenues.
This year will build on Boeing’s momentum from last year. As always, especially in Boeing’s case, any Outlook is contingent on things outside of the company’s control upsetting the business.
Here’s how LNA sees the 2026 Outlook for Boeing.
Comments Open Forum
Jan. 6, 2026: LNA is creating this Comments Open Forum to allow Readers opportunities to comment about any post (note, we said “Post”, not any “Topic”). All comments will be held for review and Moderation per our new policy. The Open Forum enables Readers to Comment on paywall articles (to the extent the paywall preview is open to all readers). LNA is increasingly shifting to paywall from freewall articles, but we are not becoming exclusively paywall.
Maintain civility and follow Reader Comment rules.
A new Open Forum will be posted weekly.
Airbus adds emphasis for A220 to regional airlines; adding high-density version
Subscription Required
By Scott Hamilton
Jan. 6, 2026, © Leeham News: Airbus is tweaking the marketing messaging for the A220 to boost sales for regional airline operations.
Marketing for the A220 began as the C Series when Bombardier launched the program in 2008. Bombardier positioned the 100-seat CS100 as a replacement for the Airbus A318 and Boeing 737-500/600. The 130-seat CS300 was designed to replace the Airbus A319 and Boeing 737-700. The Airbus and Boeing airplanes are considered mainline aircraft as opposed to regional airliners.
The A220-100 is a “necessary” part of the family, Airbus says. Credit: Airbus.
Bombardier also design a larger CS500, but didn’t launch the program. The CS500 would be a direct competitor to the A320 and 737-800/8.
Airbus continued this marketing approach when it agreed to purchase control of the C Series program in 2017, renaming it the A220-100 and A220-300. Airbus says it’s a matter of when, not if, it will proceed with the A220-500.
However, at an event hosted by the European Regional Airlines Association, Airbus told regional carriers the A220 is a choice airplane for them if they have ambitions to spread their wings, so to speak.
Benjamin Peiron, VP Single Aisle Marketing for Airbus, told LNA in an interview last month that this message didn’t represent a shift in marketing strategy. “It’s more focused, I would say. If we look at the operator base of A220, it’s about half composed of legacy carriers, [like] Air France, Delta, Air Canada. About one third is from so-called regional airlines, whatever the exact definition is. The rest is hybrid low-cost or equivalent.”
Airbus gets new CEO for Commercial Aircraft; faces supply chain issues, decisions on A220 Stretch, Open Fan engine
Subscription Required
By Scott Hamilton and Bjorn Fehrm
Jan. 5, 2026, © Leeham News: The big news at Airbus at the start of this year is the new president and chief executive officer for Airbus Commercial Aircraft: Lars Wagner.
Wagner succeeds an Airbus lifer, Christian Scherer, who retired from his position on Dec. 31. He remains with Airbus for another six months in a transition capacity. Wagner joined Airbus in November to begin a transition period. He previously was the CEO of MTU Aero Engines AG. He joined MTU from Airbus in 2015, holding various positions until he was recruited by Airbus to succeed Scherer.
Lars Wagner took over as CEO of Airbus Commercial Aircraft on Jan. 1. Credit: Airbus.
Immediate challenges facing Wagner include stubborn supply chain issues as Airbus seeks to ramp up production of the A320 family to 75/mo by 2027; the A220 family to 12/mo this year, the A350 to 12/mo by 2028, and 5/mo A330 by 2029.
Airbus’ supply chain—as with Boeing, Embraer, the engine makers, and the suppliers within their own chain—remains stressed for a variety of reasons.
In fact, quality control issues on A320 fuselage panels that became public on Dec. 1 illustrate just one of the many challenges the 50-year-old Wagner faces. Those problems, and others, prevented Airbus from meeting its delivery target of 823 aircraft for 2025.
Two other major issues facing Wagner, but in the coming near-term years, are whether to stretch the A220-300 into an aircraft the size of the A320neo; and whether to select the GE/Safran CFM International RISE Open Fan engine for the A320 replacement in the coming decade.
Group CEO Guillaume Faury said during the Paris Air Show last year an engine decision will be made by 2027 or 2028, and a program launch will be in 2030. A RISE demonstrator engine is to be mounted on an A380 next year to begin flight testing.
Scherer was the leading proponent of both projects, arguing that a market leader should not wait for the competition to move but rather jump them to stay the leader.
Boeing captures 33% of single-aisle sector, maintains big lead for wide-bodies
Subscription Required
By Scott Hamilton
Jan. 2, 2026, © Leeham News: Boeing’s 2011 decision to launch another derivative of the 737, a slow response to the Airbus A321neo, and the series of crises involving the 737 MAX beginning on March 10, 2019, caused a dramatic drop in market share that places Boeing at a distant No. 2 to Airbus.
The total program orders give Airbus a 54% share of the market for the A320neo family to Boeing’s 33% for the MAX. Adding the A220 into Airbus’ share, the European company has captured 58% of the single aisle market, an analysis of data from the companies as of Dec. 5 reveals.
China’s COMAC C919 captures 7% of the single-aisle market, according to data analyzed from Cirium and other sources. Embraer, with its two-class 100-seat E190-E2 and 120-seat E195-E2, captures a mere 2% of the 100-240 seat sector.
Russia’s Sukhoi MC-21 is not included in this analysis because the market is closed to Airbus, Boeing, and Embraer due to international sanctions on Russia due to the Ukraine war.
New policy for Reader Comments on LNA
Jan. 1, 2026, © Leeham News: We have implemented a change for accepting Reader Comments. Due to a small group of readers who consistently fail to observe Reader Comment Rules, despite warnings and in some cases suspensions, all Comments are held for moderator review before publication. Any violations in the Reader Comment rules found during moderation may result in editing before publication or rejection of the comment.
Publication of Comments will be delayed, pending how quickly the review is accomplished and the time zones of the commenter.
“Rise and Fall of Boeing and the Way Back” picked by Royal Aeronautical Society as a top book for Christmas
By Scott Hamilton
My book, “The Rise and Fall of Boeing and the Way Back”, has been named as one of its top picks of aviation books by the Royal Aeronautical Society for Christmas 2025.
“Following on from his previous Air Wars, which looked at Airbus vs Boeing rivalry, aviation journalist and analyst Scott Hamilton brings commercial aerospace up to date with a look at the rollercoaster ride that has been Boeing’s fortunes over recent years. How did a brand that personified American engineering excellence become so distrusted by customers, politicians, and even the general public? And more important – what are the ways back from this?” The RAS wrote.
This is the second time one of my books has been so named. (I’ve only written two books.) The first, “Air Wars, the Global Combat Between Airbus and Boeing”, was chosen when it was published in 2021.
“Rise and Fall” continues the story begun with “Air Wars.”
“Rise and Fall” may be purchased here.
“Air Wars” may be purchased here.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Ilulissat, Greenland, on Scott Hamilton’s holiday at the beginning of a cruise through the Northwest Passage.
Dec. 23, 2025, © Leeham News: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Leeham News and AIN Media Group.
Barring breaking news, LNA begins its holiday vacation today. We will return on Jan. 2, 2026, with the first in a six week long series of Outlook 2026.