Airbus may have booked close to 900 orders for the A320neo family by the time the air show ends tomorrow, a plane that Boeing says merely reaches “parity” with the 737-800.
Airbus, of course, hotly disputes Boeing’s computations and says if the A320 were so deficient to the 737-800, why would airlines and lessors buy so many of them?
Boeing retains full confidence in the 777 despite the frontal attack by Airbus with its A350 family. News, first broken by Leeham News June 5 in this forum, that Airbus and Rolls-Royce will revise slightly the design of the A350-1000 and the engine powering this model—the direct competitor to the 777-300ER—doesn’t seem to faze Boeing.
Officials have held off any decisions on what to do about the future of the 777 until they fully understand the competitive threat posed by the A350-1000. Company CEO Jim McNerney and Jim Albaugh, the CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, others at Boeing and some executives of airlines and lessors said for the better part of a year the -1000 as designed fell short of the performance promised by Airbus.
Paris Air Show: The chief technology officer for Airbus parent EADS is skeptical of composites for the A320 class of airplane while Boeing considers the material to be the “baseline preference” for what officials call the New Small Airplane (NSA).
The emerging new metal alloys seem to attract more favor at EADS while Boeing officials are intrigued but still leaning toward the bet they made with the composite 787, which structurally is 52% composite with the fuselage and wings made of the substance.
Visions that Boeing could create a production “supersite” appear to be little more than a “super-dream,” it turns out.
Mike Bair, vice president of Advanced 737 Product Development, first revealed his vision for a production supersite shortly after he was replaced as head of the 787 program by Pat Shanahan, who was imported from what was then known as Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems. Bair had been in charge of the 787’s vision and production and following serious delays originating with production and design issues, Bair was moved to head future airplane program development.
A supersite is where the assembly line is surrounded by the key producers and supply chain within a short drive and preferably on a massive, single site.
Scott Fancher, VP in charge of the Boeing 787 program, believes delivery of the first Boeing 787 will, at long last, be achieved in the third quarter.
In a briefing in advance of the Paris Air Show, Fancher told media that the tasks remaining to be completed before first delivery to launch customer ANA are declining every day. While Fancher could not assure the media that the Federal Aviation Administration will certify the airplane on the schedule Boeing envisions, neither did he reveal whether there are any potential show-stoppers.