Leeham News and Analysis
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Leeham News and Analysis
- AIN Media Group Agrees to Acquire Leeham News & Analysis June 17, 2025
- Five for Five: Air India crash points to systemic problems at Boeing that CEO Ortberg must fix June 15, 2025
- Airbus sees Boeing as medium-term competitor, with Comac next June 14, 2025
- Boeing bullish on 20-year forecast, despite short-term headwinds June 14, 2025
- Embraer’s 20-year market forecast under 150 seats: fewer turboprops, jets about the same June 14, 2025
Tanker face off at Farnborough
Boeing and EADS held tanker briefings this week–Monday for Boeing, Tuesday for EADS.
Boeing offered up top program officials while EADS offered up two American crewmen from its test flight program, a pilot and a boom operator. Boeing’s briefing was a standard presentation followed by Q&A; most of the briefing was taken up by the formal presentation.
EADS was an interactive briefing with reporters after a few brief remarks, with nearly the entire session devoted to Q&A.
Farnborough/Sunday-Boeing
The Boeing 787 arrived today at the Farnborough Air Show, a day before the event actually begins.
The plane, #3–the so-called “interior airplane” equipped with an interior that is more suitable for testing operations than representative of the actual 787 customer interior–arrived at 9 am UK time, after a 9 hour flight from Paine Field at Everett (WA). At least 100 people lined Farnborough Road adjacent the airport with binoculars and telephoto cameras to watch the landing.
New 787 delay possible
In a conference call this morning, Scott Fancher, the program head for the Boeing 787, announced the first deliveries to All Nippon Airways might slip to after the first of the year.
Fancher emphasized that the schedule still calls for delivery by year-end, but Boeing is raising a “cautionary” note.
French union understands “Buy American” on tanker
Update, July 19: Airbus says CGT is fourth Union out of five for Airbus in France, representing about 10 percent of Airbus employees in France.
Update, July 16: We received this from CGT: the union severed ties in 1978.Christian and Jean-Jacques were amused and laughed about the Airbus response.
Original Post:
Only a few days after EADS and Boeing (and the long-shot bid from US Aerospace-Antonov) submitted their bids for the $35bn KC-X contract to supply tankers to the US Air Force, a French union at Airbus declined to endorse the EADS bid.
The Federation des Travailleurs de la Metallurgie, or CGT, holds the position that the French military should buy its equipment from French industry and to be consistent with this position, told us that it understands the “Buy American” approach of Boeing supporters.
Airbus and EADS dismissed the CGT’s view as that held by a minority union concerned about outsourcing and off-shore jobs.
Questioning the effect of the WTO
We’re not the only ones questioning the effect of the recent WTO ruling against Airbus and its illegal subsidies.
A respected business writer from The Seattle Times has weighed in with this opinion piece.
We’ve long been cynical of the WTO and the Airbus/Boeing complaints as little more than political talking points. We’ve noted before the ineffectual rulings that Canada and Brazil illegally subsidized the Bombardier CRJ and Embraer EMB-jets, and nobody imposed sanctions.