Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Leeham News and Analysis
- Does an Airbus A220-500 need a new wing and engines? May 1, 2025
- Teamsters, Boeing have a new contract April 29, 2025
- Boeing wants to remarket China’s airplanes. It’s costly and time consuming. April 28, 2025
- Bjorn’s Corner: Air Transport’s route to 2050. Part 19. April 25, 2025
- How good is the C929? Part 2. April 24, 2025
Boeing (doesn’t) prepare to deliver first 747-8F and we look at the program; update 9/17
Update, Sept. 17: Boeing must feel snake-bit.
We had boarded our flight to ISTAT Barcelona and were still at the gate in Seattle when news erupted that the first delivery of the 747-8F to Cargolux is off. AirInsight has a commentary on this. We expect to pick up some intel on the issue, perhaps as early as the Sunday night reception but otherwise Monday or Tuesday. Watch our reporting from Barcelona.
Original Post
As Boeing prepares for delivery ceremonies for the 747-8F to Cargolux Airlines September 19—an event we will miss because of travel in Europe to the ISTAT conference—The Boeing Co., its employees, suppliers, and the airline personnel are justifiably excited.
Not only does this represent the hand-over after a two year delay in a difficult program, it represents the largest airliner Boeing has ever built, the latest and most advanced version of the venerable 747 but it also represents what is almost certainly the last 747 model that will ever be built.
As cool and as whiz-bang as the 747-8 is (though obviously, Lufthansa’s 747-8I will have more panache than a freighter), our thoughts go in a different direction.
Boeing’s Albaugh, others discuss aerospace jobs, related issues
Jim Albaugh, the CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, is also chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association. He and several executives in aerospace plus the CEO of AIA held a press conference in Washington (DC) today to comment on the prospective cuts in the defense budget and the impact overall on aerospace jobs.
The other people are: David Hess, president and CEO of United Technologies (parent of Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky and other companies) and vice chairman of AIA; Marion Blakey, AIA president and CEO; Charles A. Gray. VP and COO of Frontier Electronic Systems; Dawne Hickton, vice chair, president and CEO of RTI International Metals; and Richard McNeel, chairman, president and CEO of LORD Corp.
Here is a synopsis of their comments:
Boeing at APEX, Pratt & Whitney’s dilemma
Over at our affiliate, AirInsight, there is a 27 minute video of Randy Tinseth, VP of Marketing at Boeing, making a presentation and our think piece about Pratt & Whitney’s dilemma following the launch of the Boeing 737 MAX.
See both pieces here.
Additional: Aspire Aviation today published a long piece about the 777X. See the story here. Update, Sept. 14: Aeroturbopower comments on the fuel burn analysis for the 777X. Update, 230pm PDT: Jon Ostrower has this article on 777X.
Odds and Ends: ARJ-21, C919, MAX, 777X
There are several stories of note today:
Aviation Week: China’s turboprops exports lead the way.
Aviation Week: Plan for C919 hits snags.
FlightGlobal: Caution welcomed on Boeing’s 737 MAX.
FlightGlobal: Emirates presses Boeing for better 777.
Seattle Times: WA State has to keep 737 MAX.
737-9 Mission creep, Odds and Ends and 500,000
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh was clear: he wants changes to the 737 MAX to be kept to a minimum.
This will keep the R&D cost down–a figure Corporate CFO James Bell said on the 2Q earnings call would be 10%-15% that of an entirely new airplane ($10bn-$12bn, depending on who’s figuring; it is unclear how much of the R&D is paid by CFM).
But there is pressure to add range to the 737-MAX 9 (henceforth we’ll be referring to individual models of the MAX series as the -7, -8 and -9 and the family as a whole as just MAX). The 737-9 falls short of a true 757 replacement in range.
Air Show in Everett
During the Labor Day Weekend, the Historic Flight* based at Paine Field in Everett (WA) held its annual air show. All the warbirds owned by the foundation are airworthy. It’s a small collection but the air show brings in a variety of other planes, nearly all of which are airworthy.
Here are a few of the planes, photos we took this weekend.
This restored Boeing 40C is the oldest Boeing aircraft flying. It’s owned by a company in Oregon.
This ME262 is airworthy. It is a replica, one of five, built from the original blueprints.
Assessing the 737-900ER vs Airbus NEO
AeroTurboPower has an interesting piece looking at the fuel burn and cash costs of the 737-900ER vs the A320neo and A321neo.
The post is noteworthy as an independent analysis to Airbus or Boeing. Boeing, of course, claims the 737-900ER is more efficient that either the A321 Legacy or A321neo.
737MAX costs vs A320neo
AirInsight takes a look at the Boeing claims of 4%-7% cost advantages of the 737MAX vs the A320neo. The analysis comes to a slightly different conclusion than Boeing.
Boeing wants earlier EIS for 737MAX
Boeing yesterday announced a 2017 entry-into-service date for the 737 MAX, perhaps as much as two years after the advertised October 2015 EIS for the Airbus A320neo, but officials have challenged the development team to accelerate this time line.
We earlier reported that Boeing wanted an EIS of 2016/17, but in the press conference Tuesday, Jim Albaugh, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes talked only of 2017. After the formal event, Nicole Piasecki, VP of Business Development and Strategic Integration, told a small group of reporters that Boeing wants to advance that date.
“Jim wants to under-promise and over-deliver, so he is challenging the team to bring the airplane to market as soon as possible,” she said. “Given our recent track record, we’re being very conservative—not conservative, we’re being very prudent, I should say—and disciplined to make sure that whatever we talk to our customers about, we actually have a plan to deliver on. I think you’ll see improvements on the 2017, but again our team is very disciplined and we’re going to make sure we have a plan before we make a commitment.”