Odds and Ends: Coming soon–new Leeham News; Boeing v SPEEA; 86-seat Q400; Boeing 326; Budapest Air Show

Coming soon: We will be rolling out changes this month to Leeham News and Comment.  We will expand our News and Analysis, providing the most insightful commentary of aviation issues of any on-line publication. Most on-line news resources… Read More

Odds and Ends: Safran benefits from engine after-market; ExIm could back Airbus; Paine Field future

Engine After-market: Safran, which owns 50% of CFM International with GE Aviation owning the other half, is positioned in the “sweet spot” of the engine after-market, according to a recent  report by Bernstein Research. The report further supports… Read More

Buckingham lowers Boeing to Underperform (sell), others increasingly bearish

Update: 24/7 Wall Street just published this gloomy outlook about Boeing. Buckingham Research Group today lowered its call on The Boeing Co. from Neutral to Underperform, the equivalent of Hold to Sell. As far as we can tell,… Read More

Odds and Ends: Order bubble, revisited; MRJ lands JAL; MH370

What order bubble, Revisited: We recently asked the question, What order bubble? The orders don’t stop coming. Boeing landed a big fish with a large order from BOC Aviation, bringing net orders to 918–easily on the path to… Read More

What order bubble?

Following the Farnborough Air Show last month, media and some aerospace analysts once again began asking the question: is the order bubble done? We retort by saying, “What order bubble?” We have been hearing since 2008 if the… Read More

Farnborough does little to relieve 777 Classic, A330ceo production gap issues

The orders and commitments announced by Airbus and Boeing at the Farnborough Air Show last week for the A330ceo, the A330neo, the Boeing 777-200LRF and the 777-300ER will help fill the looming production gaps for the two airplanes,… Read More

Boeing’s production gap challenge for the 777 Classic

Wall Street aerospace analysts are becoming increasingly concerned that Boeing will fall short of its goal to maintain 777 production rates at the current 8.3/mo through the introduction of the 777X, planned for entry-into-service in 2020. One analyst… Read More

Counting options, Letters of Intent

Should manufacturers be counting options and letters of intent toward program certainty? We’ve always thought this was pretty cheeky, but in reality there is a reasonable foundation and history for doing so. Years ago Boeing regularly ridiculed Airbus… Read More

777 production rate cut likely: Wells Fargo

Sam Pearlstein, the aerospace analyst at Wells Fargo, predicted a production rate cut today in a research note for the Boeing 777. An announcement could come as early as this year, he writes. Pearlstein, one of our favorite… Read More

EU may challenge 777X tax breaks from Washington State

Reuters is reporting that the European Union may challenge the $8.7bn in tax breaks Washington legislators voted to grant Boeing in return for locating assembly of the 777X and its wing in the state. Readers know we worried… Read More