Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Leeham News and Analysis
- 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
- Supplier Howmet exceeds expectations despite tariffs May 1, 2025
- Airbus 1Q2025 results: So far, so good, but US tariffs make future results unpredictable May 1, 2025
- Does an Airbus A220-500 need a new wing and engines? May 1, 2025
Pontifications: Transitions, clearing the decks and turmoil at Airbus
By Scott Hamilton
Nov. 26, 2018, © Leeham News: With the naming of CFO and COO officers-in-waiting, Airbus Group has completed the extreme makeover of its executive ranks.
The full transition won’t be complete until April. It’s widely been reported that these changes, including retirements and pushing out people who were not yet near retirement age, was a necessary step to settle fraud and corruption investigations undertaken by England, France, Germany and even the United States.
The latest appointments, announced last week, are for the successors of CFO Harald Wilhelm and Airbus Commercial COO Tom Williams. Dominik Asam, 49, replaces the 52 year old Wilhelm in April. Michael Schöllhorn, 53, replaces the 66 year old Williams Feb. 1. Read more
Bjorn’s Corner: Pitch stability
By Bjorn Fehrm
November 23, 2018, ©. Leeham News: In the spring I ran a series of Corners which dealt with aircraft stability on a basic level (April 13 to June 8). It covered the aircraft’s basic stability modes in normal flight and described the basic helper systems one finds on aircraft, such as yaw dampers and autopilots. But we did not go deeper into aircraft stability problems and more advanced helper systems.
Given recent events, it can be interesting to dive a bit deeper into the pitch stability of an aircraft and common helper systems.
Figure 1. The Boeing MAX 8 which introduced the MCAS system to help with pitch stability. Source: Boeing.
Delta orders more A330-900, pushes out A350-900
By Bjorn Fehrm
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Introduction
November 22, 2018, © Leeham News.: Delta and Airbus announced Friday; Delta will increase its A330-900 order from 25 to 35 aircraft and push out 10 ordered A350-900 five years, to 2025-2026.
Why this change for Delta? Can the 10 added A330-900 replace the planned A350-900? If so, will other airlines do the same?
Summary:
- Delta is a large operator of A330. With the new order, it will grow to 60 aircraft in the next five years. Through its Delta TechOps operation, it has achieved low operating costs for the A330.
- In its 251t version available from 2020, the A330-900 can cover most of Delta’s Asian destinations.
- The A350-900 is now a sub-fleet of 15 aircraft until 2025. It will be reserved for Delta’s longest Asian destinations and where higher capacity is needed.
Automation reduces foreign advantages over US
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Introduction
Nov. 19, 2018, © Leeham News: The move toward increasing automation makes US more competitive than moving work to other countries, an expert in industrial 
efficiencies said last week at a meeting sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance.
The same is true when it comes to states competing against other states, he said—something that is especially relevant as Washington State girds for expected competition from Southern states, and especially South Carolina, for the prospective Boeing New Midmarket Airplane.
Summary
- Automation reduces US labor costs.
- 60% of Boeing’s workforce is eligible for retirement in the next six years.
- Optimizing the manufacturing value chain based on finite resources.
- Pressure for speedy decisions is greater than ever.
Pontifications: A fresh look at the world’s worst aviation accident
By Scott Hamilton
Nov. 19, 2018, © Leeham News: Collision on Tenerife is a new book that dissects the worst accident in aviation history, the collision between two Boeing 747s operated by Pan American World Airways and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
The accident on Tenerife Island on March 27, 1977, killed 583 passengers and crew on the two airplanes. Only 61 survived, all on the Pan Am flight.
It was the worst death toll of any aviation accident. Read more
Bjorn’s Corner: Supersonic transport revival, Part 15. Wrap-up.
November 16, 2018, ©. Leeham News: In the last 14 Corners we have discussed the challenges facing the new SuperSonic Transport (SST) projects, 50 years after the Concorde took flight. The challenges facing projects from Aerion Supersonic, Boom Supersonic or Spike Aerospace are the same as for the Concorde.
In the wrap-up of the series, we go through the challenges and talk about which has gotten easier to solve with modern technology and which has gotten harder because of changing environmental standards.
Figure 1. The new SST project which has come the furthest, the Arion AS2. Source: Aerion Supersonic.
How useful is an NMA, Part 6
By Bjorn Fehrm
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Introduction
November 14, 2018, © Leeham News.: Last week we operated the future Boeing NMA from North American hubs. The aircraft would cover the North American market well but would have limitations when flying to South America. The coverage would be sensitive to where our hub would be, as would European coverage.
Now we finish the series by comparing the NMA to its main alternatives for range and operational economics.
Artists impression of the Boeing NMA. Source: The Air Current.
Summary:
- When comparing the NMA with its competitors, the same cabin type and ruleset must be used for all aircraft.
- Using a common ruleset and measuring over typical long range operation, the NMA will be the most economical aircraft of the compared types.
Boeing’s automatic trim for the 737 MAX was not disclosed to the Pilots
By Bjorn Fehrm
November 14, 2018, © Leeham News.: The automatic trim Boeing introduced on the 737 MAX, called MCAS, was news to us last week. Graver, it was news to the Pilots flying the MAX since 18 months as well.
Boeing and its oversight, the FAA, decided the Airlines and their Pilots had no need to know. The Lion Air accident can prove otherwise.
A330neo backlog faces challenging skyline
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Introduction
Nov. 12, 2018, © Leeham News: With the first flight of the Airbus A330-800, it’s time to take a new look at the status of the A330 program.
Summary
- Additional orders have been recorded, but the skyline remains challenged.
- Iran Air’s order for 30 ceos and neos is still on the books.
- AirAsia X has yet to confirm Farnborough’s MOU for 34 A330-900s and reportedly looks for convert some to single-aisles.
- Lessors have a big chunk.
Pontifications: Writing had been on the wall for years for Q400 sale; CRJ is next
By Scott Hamilton
Nov. 12, 2018, © Leeham News: The writing had really been on the wall for the past few years, regardless what the corporate line was: Bombardier was one day going to sell the Q400 program or shut it down.
Better to sell it and get at least some money out of it, no matter how small.
Bombardier agreed to sell the program to British Columbia-based Viking Air for a mere $300m–$250m, net of fees.
Ditto the CRJ program. It’s on life support. It’s a design dating to the 1980s, the passenger experience has long been eclipsed by the Embraer E-Jet and it will be also by Mitsubishi’s MRJ when this jet finally comes on line in 2020. Read more