Pontifications: Single-pilot jetliners OK for cargo, not yet for passenger airplanes

Sept. 26, 2022, © Leeham News: I sat down with Fred Smith, the founder and now executive chairman of FedEx, on Sept. 15 at the US Chamber of Commerce Aerospace Summit. The first article appears here. The balance… Read More

Jump in R&D spending at Boeing Commerical Airplanes points to renewed studies for new airplane

Subscription Required By Scott Hamilton Return of the NMA? Photo credit: Leeham News. Aug. 1, 2022, © Leeham News: Buried in Boeing’s second quarter results released last week was a sharp jump in research and development spending. It… Read More

FAA adopts ICAO 2027 emissions, noise rules; death knell for new production 767F, 777F

787F, NMA-F are natural conclusions to consider for a successor to 767F By Scott Hamilton June 16, 2022, © Leeham News: The US Federal Aviation Administration yesterday announced it will adopt the emissions and noise rules proposed in… Read More

A Boeing 787 Freighter, Airbus response

Subscription Required By Vincent Valery Introduction   March. 31, 2021, © Leeham News: Last week’s article showed that a Boeing 787 freighter based on the -9 variant would be a suitable replacement for the aging 767-300F. Should Boeing proceed… Read More

Boeing’s freighter dominance threatened

Subscription Required Now open to all Readers. By Scott Hamilton April 6, 2021, © Leeham News: As if Boeing didn’t have enough challenges these days, its near-exclusive dominance for new-build freighter may be threatened. Airbus is showing airlines… Read More

A tectonic shift towards large narrowbody

Subscription Required By Vincent Valery Introduction A321XLR. Source: Airbus. Dec. 9, 2019, © Leeham News: There are now more firm orders for the Airbus A321neo than all the latest generation widebody programs combined: Airbus A330neo and A350, Boeing… Read More

Pontifications: Amazon’s quiet plans to grow its airline

Oct. 8, 2018, © Leeham News: Amazon, the giant on-line retailer, continues to move quietly to expand its Amazon Air cargo carrier, with plans to grow the airline to a size that could rival FedEx, market sources tell… Read More

Boeing to hike 767F production; may be only first of several

April 25, 2018, © Leeham News: Buried deep within Boeing’s first quarter earnings report is a single, seemingly innocuous sentence: “Reflecting the strength of the cargo market, we now plan to increase the production rate on the 767… Read More

The diminishing market for main deck freighters

At the IATA Cargo symposium last month Fred Smith laid it on the line – there is currently over-capacity in the market, the Industry is undergoing what he described as a profound transformation and he warned that the… Read More

Boeing’s plan to bridge 777 production gap includes a 777-200 P2F strategy; we’re skeptical of the idea

Boeing plans to begin an effort to stimulate demand of the 777 Classic to bridge a three year production gap to the 777X entry-into-service in 2020. One of its strategies is to persuade current 777-200 operators to sell… Read More