Odds and Ends: E-190 v Superjet v BBD in Russia; China’s aviation; WestJet’s speed dating; Crandall speaks

E-190 v Superjet v Bombardier: With the finding that the pilot of the demo flight of the Sukhoi SSJ 100 Superjet simply flew into a mountain in Indonesia, rather than there being a problem with the airplane, the cloud has been lifted from the aircraft. So the direct match-up of the SSJ vs the Embraer E-190 can now be compared and this article does so. Bombardier’s CRJ-900 and CRJ-1000 also compete.

China’s Aviation: Airbus and Boeing think China pose the greatest threat in the future, but this analyst is less enthusiastic.

WestJet of Canada: The low cost carrier took a bold step to order up to 45 Bombardier Q400s to feed itself. Now it’s using speed dating to decide where to fly the airplanes.

Crandall speaks on AA-US merger: Former American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall weighs in on the merger between American Airlines and US Airways.

Vote for the Best Airplane/Airport Movie

All the nominations seem in, and we’ve added a few of our own. Now it’s time to vote for the Best Airplane/Airport Movies (limited to commercially-based airplanes this time).

There is a separate poll for the Worst Airplane/Airport Movie. Some movies appear on both lists, reflecting differences of opinion.

We’re going to hide the results until voting is done.

Vote for the Worst Airplane/Airport Movie

The nominations are in. Now it’s time to vote for the Worst Airplane/Airport Movie. There is a separate poll for the Best Airplane/Airport Movie. A few movies appear on both lists, reflecting a difference in opinions.

We’re going to hide the results until voting is complete.

Odds and Ends: CSeries and London City Airport; new life for BAe-146; SPEEA’s next step

It’s Christmas Eve but there is some news despite this being a slow day.

CSeries and London City Airport: The downtown airport is a highly challenging one. Aircraft have a challenging approach. The runway is short. British Airways operates the Airbus A318 to New York with a refueling stop westbound. Bombardier says its CSeries can do the trip non-stop. This article provides some detail.

New Life for BAe-146: This airplane didn’t have much to recommend it. In its original 3×3 configuration, it was a cramped airplane. It had four engines. The original engines were unreliable. But here’s a new life for them.

SPEEA’s next step: The Boeing engineers’ union takes another step to prepare for a strike, beginning Feb. 1.

Ed Colodny on US Airways mergers: He headed Allegheny Airlines and US Air for years, guiding the carrier through four mergers–including Piedmont Airlines, which critics widely considered that he screwed up, and PSA, which US did screw up. The Street gets his thoughts on the potential American Airlines merger.

GEnx PIPs slip a bit: The Performance Improvement Package program for the GEnx engine that powers the Boeing 787 and 747-8 has slipped a bit, according to this article.

Nominations Wanted for the Best airliner/airport type movie

Let’s lighten up over the Christmas holiday and get some good reader participation.

How about submitting as many nominations as you want for the Best Movies involving airliners and/or airports. These can be as recent as Denzel Washington’s “Flight” or as old as…whatever.

These can be dramas such as The High and the Mighty or spoofs such as Airplane. We’re also going to allow Island in the Sky, which although a war movie used DC-3s/C-47s, which of course are airliners. The Terminal is an example of an “airport” movie. The Castaway, while having an airplane a key element and having a major scene at the Memphis Airport, isn’t really a movie that falls into either category.

Make your case in nominating these movies. When it appears nominations have petered off, we’ll compile them into a poll for voting.

We also have a separate poll for the Worst Airplane Movie.

Nominations Wanted for the Worst airplane/airport movies

Let’s lighten up over the Christmas holiday and get some good reader participation.

How about submitting as many nominations as you want for the Worst Movies involving airliners and/or airports. These can be as recent as Denzel Washington’s “Flight” or as old as…whatever.

These can be dramas such as Airport 77 or Airport 79: The Concorde or spoofs such as Airplane 2. Or they can be really ridiculous plots such as Snakes on a Plane. (You can guess a few of our nominations for Worst Airplane Movies….)

Make your case in nominating these movies. When it appears nominations have petered off, we’ll compile them into a poll for voting.

We also have Nominations for the Best Airplane/Airport movies.

Odds and Ends: Mystery Photo #7; Ipad father; SPEEA ups strike prep; end of the world

This is the start of Christmas weekend (none of this “Happy Holidays” stuff) and we don’t expect much news between now and the first of the year. But we’re around and may post if so inspired.

Here’s Mystery Photo #7: What is the artist rendering of this flying machine?

Mystery #7

IPad Father: And since it is Christmas and some of us old poops might be getting some newfangled toys, this video is instructive.

SPEEA Ups Strike Prep: And a Happy New Year to you, Boeing: SPEEA is increasing its preparations for a strike beginning Feb. 1. See this story. We hope somehow cooler heads prevail on both sides.

The end of the World: Today, of course, is the end of the world, according to the Mayan calendar–or so some proclaim. CNN Travel has these suggestions in keeping with this spirit. And y’all think we have a warped sense of things.

And here was the forecast for today:

Boeing’s Charleston land buy is bad news for Washington State

Update, Dec. 21: A story on this topic:

Charleston Post-Courier: a much longer, in-depth piece than its original report linked below.

Original Post:

Boeing has agreed to buy a lot more land in Charleston (SC) to expand its plant there over time.

Charleston 1

Charleston 2

Illustrations via Charleston Post-Courier.

We believe Boeing is preparing to eventually locate new airplane programs in Charleston rather than Washington State. This would be the successor to the 737 MAX, potentially the 777X and we would not be at all surprised to see the 787-10 assembled in Charleston.

The contentious SPEEA negotiations aren’t going to help matters. We also believe Washington’s strict environmental laws are a factor, which seem on a track to get stricter with the move to clean up Puget Sound to save the fish.

Our estimated timeline is over the next 10-20 years (sooner if the 787-10 is placed in Charleston).

This is entirely our assessment–we can’t say we know anything about this. But the old adage is that if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, then it’s a duck. And this sure quacks to us.

Odds and Ends: CSeries picks up; Air Canada’s Rouge; A380 v 747-8; Allegiant Air

CSeries picks up: Bombardier is ending the year with some upbeat news for the CSeries. First was an LOI for up to 30 CS100s from an unidentified customer. Next the wings arrived to be assembled onto FTV1 (Flight Test Vehicle 1). Then today it converted the MOU for 10+10 CSeries from AirBaltic to a firm order. BBD now has more than 350 orders and commitments for the aircraft. Update: Aviation Week has this item comparing early CSeries orders and E-Jet orders. CSeries stacks up pretty well.

Air Canada’s Rouge: Aspire Aviation has this column on the future of Rouge and the creation of WestJet’s Encore airline, and the impact on Canada’s aviation.

A380 v 747-8: AirInsight has this analysis comparing the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8. We discussed portions of this earlier, when the ad wars broke out between Airbus and Boeing, but this is more expansive.

Allegiant Air Acquires A320s: Allegiant Air is on a shopping spree again, this time acquiring nine Airbus A320s from Iberia Airlines.

American to decide on merger Jan. 9, Bloomberg says

American Airlines’ Board of Directors will meet on Jan. 9 to decide whether to merge with US Airways, according to this report by Bloomberg News.

The outcome, of course, has ramifications beyond those employees of both airlines. These include, in no particular order:

  • A shift in the oneworld and Star Alliances. US Airways is part of the Star Alliance, though its route system is hardly a key part. Since US says it will adopt the AA name, look for US to move into the oneworld alliance. An AA-US merger strengthens AA’s East Coast reach, but other than this we’ve not seen a great deal of routes that US brings to AA. On the other hand, AA brings a lot more to US.
  • Airports will see revisions to facilities as both airlines consolidate.
  • Some cities will see reductions in service as duplications are eliminated.
  • If the US management is the one that emerges in charge (as we hope), then this will be a major plus for the future of the new American Airlines. If AA’s management is the survivor, we’re much less sanguine about AA’s future.
  • Airbus and Boeing should both benefit. Before bankruptcy, American placed orders for hundreds of current generation A320s and 737NGs as well as the re-engined models. US has a large order for A320ceos and A330s, but no A320neos. American’s fleet replacement need is so large that it probably needs both single-aisle OEMs. We could see some adjustment in the orders, which never were firmed up, and taking into account the US outstanding orders. But we’d be surprised if the new AA were to cancel entirely American’s Airbus or Boeing orders.
  • Nor do we see US canceling its A350 orders in favor of AA’s outstanding 777 order. US is one of the remaining A350-800 customers and this might be upgraded to the A350-900. But we think there was a fair chance of this happening anyway.