Looking 15 years ahead for Airbus, Boeing

Oct. 5, 2016, © Leeham Co.: The next 15 years won’t bring any relief to crowded airports and airplanes but nevertheless there are warning signs for the likes of Airbus, Boeing and the supply chain. Looking ahead to… Read More

Boeing slightly leads Airbus in YTD orders

Aug. 8, 2016, © Leeham Co.: Boeing continues to lead Airbus in the race for orders post-Farnborough Air Show (FIA), but there are key orders announced there that haven’t been booked on the two OEMs order books. Boeing… 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

Boeing 787: Stable Rate, Hike Rate or Cut Rate

Aug. 2, 2016, © Leeham Co.: Boeing officials increasingly downplay the prospect of the 787 production rate increasing to 14/mo by the end of the decade from the current 12/mo, reflecting uncertainty over the strength of the wide-body… Read More

Book Review: The Crash Detectives

  July 5, 2016, © Leeham Co.: The Crash Detectives, by Christine Negroni, © 2016. Penguin Books. Available on Amazon.com. As an avid follower of The Smithsonian Channel’s “Air Disaster” series and The Weather Channel’s “Why Planes Crash,”… Read More

Thinking outside the box at Pratt & Whitney

June 16, 2016, © Leeham Co.: “I’m working on six or eight engines. The more the better.” This startling statement comes from Alan Epstein, vice president of technology and the environment for Pratt & Whitney. It runs counter… Read More

UTC media day 2: GTF hits 99.5% dispatch reliability rates

June 7, 2016: The new Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan, on seven Airbus A320neos, have achieved more than 2,000 revenue cycles with no returns or rejected take-offs, says Bob Leduc, president of Pratt & Whitney. The engines have… Read More

Wells Fargo sees reasonable, risky production rates

June 7, 2016: Single-aisle production rates of 57/mo at Boeing and 60/mo at Airbus are reasonable when achieved in the near term but more problematic in 2019. Wide-body production rate hikes are risky. This is the conclusion of… Read More

UTC media day 1: UTAS, twice the size of any other aerospace systems company

Note: United Technologies Corp (UTC) is holding its annual Media Days today and tomorrow. We’re providing reporting from the event. This is the first time in our long participation that UTC Aerospace Systems is presenting. UTAS is a… Read More

Pontifications: The crystal ball

May 30, 2016, © Leeham Co.: We at Leeham Co. and Leeham News and Comment take some risk when we make analyses, forecasts, projections and predictions. These often put us out on a limb, open us to criticism and even… Read More