Pontifications: Twelve new designs in 10 years spurred orders

Aug. 8, 2016, © Leeham Co.: The book:bill for Airbus and Boeing this year will be hard-pressed to reach one. Airbus has a better shot, given lower production rates. But the recent years of record-setting orders are over… Read More

State officials need to act now, ahead of lean times coming at Boeing Everett

August 4, 2016 (c) Leeham Co.: With the news that Boeing may terminate the 747-8 program, effective around 2019 when the current backlog expires, the obvious question arises: what happens to the assembly line space now occupied by the… Read More

747 production may end: Boeing

July 27, 2016: For the first time in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Boeing said production of the iconic 747 may end. In a 10Q quarterly filing today, concurrent with the 2Q2017 earnings release, Boeing said:

Dearth of wide-body order hang over Airbus, Boeing

Subscription Required Introduction July 25, 2016, © Leeham Co.: It wasn’t a good two weeks for wide-body airplanes. Week 1: Virtually no new orders for wide-bodies were announced at the Farnborough Air Show. Airbus, responding to a leak… Read More

Boeing announces $2bn in new charges

July 21, 2016, © Leeham Co.: Boeing today announced $1.66bn in new after tax charges to its 787 and 747-8 commercial programs and a $393m after tax charge for its KC-46A USAF tanker program. “On a pretax basis… Read More

Pontifications: Airbus faces conundrum

July 18, 2016, © Leeham Co.: It wasn’t the dominating headline out of the Farnborough Air Show that Airbus would have preferred: a dramatic production rate cut for the slow-selling A380 from 20/yr to 12/yr from 2018. A… Read More

747F demand will come back, says Boeing

Subscription Required Update, July 22, 2016: Boeing yesterday announced it is taking an after tax charge of more than $800m against the 747-8 program. It also cancelled plans to increase production of the 747-8F from the current 0.5/mo… Read More

Airbus cuts A380 production to 1/mo (Update)

July 12, 2016, © Leeham Co., Farnborough Air Show: Airbus will lower the production rate of the giant A380 from 18/yr to 12/yr, effective in 2018, the company confirmed after the French newspaper La Tribune first reported the… Read More

Boeing launches PFS 2.0

Update, 0815 PDT July 7: Boeing Corporate Headquarters responded to our questions. The transcript has been added to the article below. July 7, 2016, © Leeham Co.: Boeing’s controversial Partnering for Success (PFS) drew ire from its suppliers… Read More

Iran Air, Volga Dnepr deals help Boeing production gaps but don’t solve them

Subscription Required Introduction June 24, 2016, (c) Leeham Co.: Boeing’s recent deal with Iran Air for 100 737s, 777s and 747s and its indication that a Memorandum of Understanding with Volga Dnepr may be firmed up will help… Read More