The Everett Herald Nov. 27 had an interesting article assessing the break-even of the Boeing 787. The article neatly summarizes what Boeing CFO James Bell described on the 3Q earnings call. The Herald’s article is slightly out of date, not accounting for the cancellation of 24 airplanes by China Eastern and dropping the firm orders to just under 800.
Graphic (would not load in our Firefox but did load in Chrome).
Separately, the company that created PIANO–the cost-analysis tool to determine aircraft operating costs–published an assessment of the 787’s operating costs and related CO2 emissions reduction. The results were surprising.
Boeing found a way to utilize one of the first three test airplanes longer-term. These airplanes won’t be sold and have been written off. The company took #3, painted it up in the Boeing colors, outfitted it with the full interior and embarked on a world tour as a marketing and sales tool. It’s a highly creative solution to what to do with the test airplane now that testing is over. It’s only a six month tour but it’s a good move.
With bankruptcy fears swirling again around American Airlines, some questions arise what happens to the orders AA has with Airbus and Boeing if the carrier goes into Chapter 11.
This hand-wringing piece paints a dire picture for Boeing. There is a lot to argue with over this particular writing, but the piece’s headline is particularly off-the-mark. (Note that the writer of the piece and the headline writer may not be the same person.)
Aviation Week has an interesting story asking whether airframers truly listen to customers when designing airplanes.
The question is not an idle one. Airbus and Boeing constantly say they do, but Airbus is getting loads of flak from Qatar Airways and Emirates Airlines (both of whom like to negotiate in the press) over the revamped A350-1000 announced at the Paris Air Show. Qatar says the changes came as a surprise (we were told otherwise at the time by Airbus).
Airbus CEO Tom Enders since said Airbus won’t keep changing the A350’s design in response to customer comments. One can appreciate how he might be tired of this. The A350 went through five or six iterations in response to customer comments, a somewhat awkward display.
Update, 1:45pm: Aviation Capital Group announced a commitment for 35 MAXes and a firm order for 20 737-800NGs. ACG becomes the first lessor to commit to the MAX.
ACG announced a firm order for 30 Neos at the Dubai Air Show.
Update, 7:30 AM PST: Boeing says the signing will be for a “commitment” to the MAX. The photo shows it to be the 737-9.
Original Post:
It’s now official: Lion Air has been revealed it is a customer of the Boeing 737 MAX, joining American Airlines as the only two of nine disclosed customers.
We previously identified Lion Air as one of the original five airlines to announce commitments.
The revelation was made in connection with President Obama’s trip to Indonesia.
The type of MAX was not identified, but with a list price of of $21.7bn ($94m per unit), this suggests the planes could be the 737-9, the priciest of the 737 line. There is a 201/29 split for MAX and -900ERs. Options for 150 have also been revealed.
Lion Air is the largest customer for the 737-900ER.
The news article described the deal as an “order.” A signing ceremony is planned for November 18 Indonesia time, so we’ll see if the commitment has been converted to a firm order. If so, it would be the first.
Aspire Aviation in Hong Kong has done a long analysis on the Boeing 737 MAX, capturing what Boeing has said recently along with original information and data from other sources. This article may be found here.
Meantime, the image below is from Randy Tinseth’s blog and neatly illustrates points made by John Hamilton, the chief 737 program engineer, during his recent conference call with media.
Airbus has a different view, as we extensively reported here.
The MAX is still being defined, as Boeing will readily admit, but it is showing customers specifications. Boeing is not yet ready to write performance guarantees because the specifications aren’t firmed up yet. Jim Albaugh, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, was quoted at the Dubai Air Show saying he hopes to firm up the first contract perhaps by year end or early into the new year. We believe this would likely be American Airlines, the first customer for the MAX (but not the launch operator).