Challenge Boeing 777X tax breaks and adjust the US ExIm Bank rules.
This is the view of Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier.
We had the opportunity for what amounted to a one-on-one, on-the-record discussion with Bregier during the Airbus Innovation Days media briefings two weeks in Toulouse. We sat at Bregier’s dinner table, which although filled with media, was in a noisy setting, allowing us to have some elbow-to-elbow conversation on a variety of topics that couldn’t be heard in the din.
American Airlines plans to shift from continuous hubbing at three of its major cities–an operational process where flights flow throughout the day–to return to traditional peak-and-valley hubbing. But Southwest Airlines, despite many significant changes to its business model over the years, will stick with continuous hubbing which has been at the core of its business model since the airline was founded in 1971.
After attending the American Leadership Council Wednesday in Dallas, we went across town on Thursday to talk with Gary Kelly, CEO of Southwest Airlines. One of the first things we asked him was about the American shift, which we wrote about yesterday.
American Airlines will ease away from the continuous hubbing that smooths operations at key airports, increases aircraft utilization and cuts costs as it returns to the peak-and-valley hub-and-spoke system adopted decades ago under former CEO Robert Crandall.
Although this will mean higher costs and big gaps in airport activity, the increased revenue potential–called the power of the hub under Crandall–will offset the increased costs, says Derek Kerr, CFO of American.
We were at American’s Leadership Council meeting for 1,500 employees yesterday. The meeting itself was off the record but we talked with Kerr afterwards on the record.
Kerr, CFO at US Airways prior to the merger between AA and US, said that the continuous hub can’t connect as many passengers as the traditional hub, leaving revenue on the table. Continuous hubbing allowed a 45 minute ground time, which is too short–an hour is needed to maximize connections.
Re-hubbing will occur this year at Chicago, Miami and Dallas.
Southwest Airlines was a pioneer in continuous hubbing, though it wasn’t called this until perhaps a decade ago. Southwest essentially rolls the airplanes up, deplanes, enplanes and departs. At its origin, long before carry on bags, bag fees, security issues and other factors arose, Southwest “turned” its planes in as little as 10 minutes. Today turns are 30 minutes or longer, in part as planes get larger and carry-on bags slow the enplaning process. Still, Southwest eschews the term hubbing and indeed its connection percentage is far lower than American and other traditional airlines.
The de-hubbing is just one step the US Airways management team is taking to remake American following its emergence from bankruptcy last year and the merger in December.
Airbus currently is planning for the next new, clean sheet airplane around 2030 and now are focusing on incremental improvements to the existing product lines, officials said at the Innovations Days annual media briefing last week in Toulouse.
Fabrice Bregier, CEO of the Airbus commercial aircraft unit, said that “innovation is on a case3-by-case basis,” with a successor to the A320 family requiring an engine “with great benefit.” He did not define this, but previously Airbus indicated a successor needs a combined 30% airframe/engine improvement to make an entirely new airplane design worthwhile.
Kiran Rao, executive vice president, strategy and marketing.
Rao discussed the wide-body strategy for Airbus at Innovation Days on Wednesday. The following paraphrasing synopsizes his remarks.
Airbus officials say they are still evaluating whether to proceed with the A330neo, and that an announcement at the Farnborough Air Show next month is not a given.
John Leahy, COO-Customers, ticked off the considerations during the Airbus Innovation Days this week in Toulouse. These are corporate and strategic issues. A more tactical issue is what impact re-engining will have on maintenance costs, says Kiran Rao, EVP of Strategy and Marketing.
In his presentation, Rao said that the A330ceo has lower maintenance costs than the Boeing 787 (something Boeing would likely dispute), with engine maintenance costs being a notable factor.
In a sidebar press scrum after his presentation, we asked Rao about this. If the neo is equipped with either (or both) the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 TEN or GE Aviation GEnx, or derivatives, what would the impact be on the claim of maintenance cost advantage?
Klaus Roewe, SVP of the A320neo Family:
There are 2,700 A320neos in the backlog. Roewe provided a program update during the Airbus Innovation Days. Here is a paraphrased synopsis.
The 150 members of the media received an hour-long ride on A350-900 MSN002 (the “carbon fiber” liveried test plane in the Airbus fleet), a rare event.
Entry into the airplane gave a clean, spacious impression, though the Boeing 787 Sky Interior is more visually impressive. The A350, like the 787, has mood lighting.