Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Leeham News and Analysis
- Bjorn’s Corner: Air Transport’s route to 2050. Part 21. May 9, 2025
- Does an A220-500 need a new wing and engines? Part 2. May 8, 2025
- Embraer downplays tariff impact on 2025 results May 6, 2025
- 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
Odds and Ends: Judge smacks down American; ailing Hong Kong Airlines
We were traveling Wednesday so we’re a little behind on this:
American Airlines: The judge overseeing American’s bankruptcy denied a request to void labor contracts, particularly the pilot contract. This is a huge blow to management–and would seem a boost for the US Airways merger effort.
Hong Kong Airlines: This financially ailing carrier, under growth restrictions by the authorities, may cancel its order for the Airbus A380. The airline was supposed to firm up an order for the Boeing 747-8I that was announced as an “Unidentified” commitment during the Paris Air Show last year, but it never did.
787-10 to come later than suggested
The Boeing 787-10 will come much later than most suggestions, according to this article by Bloomberg.It was widely thought that Boeing Commercial would go to the Board by year-end to seek an Authority to Offer (ATO) the plane by year-end of next year, with an EIS perhaps around 2016.
Boeing officials bragged that this model would have superior economics and would be an “A330-300 killer.” It would also replace the 777-200ER.
Now, according to Bloomberg, no move to the Board is apparently imminent and the prospect of the EIS moves to the end of this decade.
What does this mean for the 777X? Does this mean the X timeline moves up? Boeing has been saying it’s not in a hurry due to what it believes to be uncertainty over the Airbus A350-1000.
Update: Boeing contacted us to say that nothing has changed in its timeline as outlined in the news article.
Odds and Ends: More on 100-149 seat jet market; aircraft op cost comparisons; Super Guppy
100-149 Seat Market: AirInsight has more on its study of the 100-149 Seat Market analysis and why it will be turbulent in the next five years.
Cost Comparisons: Aspire Aviation has a long article on the Cathay Pacific Airways earnings but to us the most interesting parts are the operating cost comparisons between various CX fleet types. It’s all buried in the article.
Super-Guppy: The Puget Sound Business Journal has a video from inside the NASA Boeing Super Guppy. 
Based on the old Boeing Stratocruiser, the Super Guppy is a specialty airplane originally designed to transport Atlas rockets. Later, Airbus used them to transport fuselage sections around Europe to final assembly in Toulouse. This is probably the last operating variant of any B-377/C-97/KC-97. It’s the last of the Super Guppies. With the retirement of the NASA Shuttle fleet, we wonder what will become of this airplane.
Boeing and SPEEA: the debate heats up
Boeing’s engineers’ union, SPEEA, has been pretty vocal in its campaign to members with internal statements, its website and on Twitter–the latter certainly read by media.
Boeing now has launched a public website of its own.
Odds and Ends: Seeking an injunction against A320 sharklet sales; more
A320 Sharklets: Remember the lawsuits between Aviation Partners and Airbus over winglets and sharklets? AP wants an injunction against A320 sharklet sales. That sure got Airbus’ attention.
American and US Airways: Bloomberg has a long piece on US Airways’ effort to acquire American Airlines.
Emirates Airlines: The fast-growing carrier is about to become the world’s third largest.
Airbus and US Spending: Airbus wants to double its US supply-chain sourcing to $24bn.
Boeing BWB: This article has some pictures of Boeing’s latest version of the Blended Wing Body research model.
Boeing appears to finally drop 737-600
Boeing has updated its price list and for the first time, the price for the 737-600 is missing. Boeing hasn’t sold a 737-600 since 2005. In June, Boeing told us the model was still being offered. Not any more, apparently. We’ve sent an inquiry to Boeing for an official statement.
Update, 12:30pm: Boeing gave us this statement at 0900 but we’ve been away from the computer until now:
- Should customers request to order a Next-Generation 737-600, BCA Sales will work with the customer to meet their requirements.
- The Next-Generation 737-600 model will continue to be supported by the 737 Program.
We note that this statement doesn’t really confirm or deny the discontinuation of the 737-600 offering.
Update, 3:45pm: Linda Lee, the 737 program spokesperson, got back to us with this slightly expanded response from that offered by a non-program spokesman earlier today. Lee said:
| Old $mm | New $mm | Diff$mm | % Diff | |
| B737-600 | 59.4 | 0 | -59.4 | -100% |
| B737-7 MAX | 77.7 | 82 | 4.3 | 6% |
| B737-700 | 70.9 | 74.8 | 3.9 | 6% |
| B737-8 MAX | 95.2 | 100.5 | 5.3 | 6% |
| B737-800 | 84.4 | 89.1 | 4.7 | 6% |
| B737-9 MAX | 101.7 | 107.3 | 5.6 | 6% |
| B737-900ER | 89.6 | 94.6 | 5.0 | 6% |
| B747-8 | 332.9 | 351.4 | 18.5 | 6% |
| B747-8F | 333.5 | 352 | 18.5 | 6% |
| B767-200ER | 151.5 | 160.2 | 8.7 | 6% |
| B767-300ER | 173.1 | 182.8 | 9.7 | 6% |
| B767-300ERF | 175.4 | 185.4 | 10.0 | 6% |
| B767-400ER | 190.2 | 200.8 | 10.6 | 6% |
| B777-200ER | 244.7 | 258.8 | 14.1 | 6% |
| B777-200F | 280.1 | 295.7 | 15.6 | 6% |
| B777-200LR | 275.8 | 291.2 | 15.4 | 6% |
| B777-300ER | 298.3 | 315 | 16.7 | 6% |
| B787-8 | 193.5 | 206.8 | 13.3 | 7% |
| B787-9 | 227.8 | 243.6 | 15.8 | 7% |
Odds and Ends: RR vs Air France; Kingfisher Airlines; Phuket
RR vs Air France: We’ve written about this before–Air France wants to maintain the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines on the Airbus A350s it wants to buy, but RR wants to maintain the engines. The dispute has been holding up confirming the order for a year. The Wall Street Journal has this update.
Kingfisher Airlines: The carrier continues its long spiral down. Lessors want airplanes back. The government is holding onto the airplanes in lieu of the airlines’ airport payments which are in default. ATR long ago canceled the orders it had with Kingfisher. Airbus is the other big loser.
Phuket: Emirates Airlines adds Phuket, Thailand, to its route network. We’ve always loved this name. But we’ve always wondered: is it pronounced with a soft U or a hard U? Fokker is a close runner-up.
Update, 1:30 PM PDT: One of the first images from Mars, courtesy of Mr. Sulu (George Takei on Facebook):
