Lufthansa to use A340s in “lower cost” operation; our analysis against the 787

Subscription required. By Scott Hamilton and Bjorn Fehrm Introduction Low cost long haul service is gaining traction, but previous efforts proved difficult to be successful. Dating all the way back to Laker Airways’ Skytrain and the original PeoplExpress… Read More

Odds and Ends: 787 donation; Alenia sues Bombardier over CSeries; 2016 777 delivery slots opening up

787 donation: The Boeing Co. handed over 787 test airplane #3 (ZA003) to the Museum of Flight Saturday in an elaborate ceremony marking an unprecedented donation of a modern airliner to an aviation museum. To be sure, the… Read More

MD-11’s final pax flights contains lessons for McBoeing as NSA targets 2030

Boeing’s CEO, Jim McNerney outlines his vision for the next New Small Airplane in this report from Reuters. We believe this will cement Airbus’ dominance in the single-aisle market for the next 15 years. A retrospective of the… Read More

Boeing considers single, twin aisle, co-development 757/767 style for next new airplane

Subscription required. Now open to all Readers. Introduction Boeing is looking at a number of scenarios for its New Airplane Study (NAS) that would replace the 757 and 737, have ranges from 4,000nm-5,000nm, and carry as few passengers… Read More

Republic Air once again raises doubts about CSeries order, on eve of BBD’s 3Q earnings call

Republic Airways Holdings, a launch customer for the Bombardier CSeries with 40 orders and 40 options for the CS300–the order that prompted Airbus to proceed with the A320neo program, which itself forced Boeing into the 737 MAX–once again… Read More

Odds and Ends: A350 batteries; A350 V 1.0; Southwest schedule

A350 batteries: Flight Global has a detailed story about the Airbus approach to lithium-ion batteries in the A350. The approach is more conservative than Boeing’s for the 787. A350 Version 1.0: A blog called A350 XWB News has… Read More

BABC Conference, Part 1: WA State’s position, Boeing’s outlook

The British American Business Council-Pacific Northwest is sponsoring a conference today on the Advanced Technologies for Next Generation Aircraft in Seattle. We’ll have several reports, starting with this one. Alex Pietsch of the Governor’s Office of Aerospace, kicked… Read More

Oct. 28, 2009: five years ago today, Boeing announced 787 Line 2 goes to Charleston; then, now and the future

This is about eight pages when printed. It was five years ago today that Boeing announced it would locate the second assembly line for the 787 in Charleston (SC). The decision was expected and, some say, had actually… Read More

Odds and Ends: MTU on A380; lessons learned; Alaska Air v Delta; GOL looking for airplanes; Boeing downgrade and upgrade

MTU on A380: The German company MTU, which is a key supplier on a variety of Airbus and Boeing engines, questions the potential market for an A380neo, according to this article from Reuters. Our Market Intelligence indicates Airbus… Read More

Mitsubishi rolls out MRJ90

Mitsubishi rolled out its MRJ90 regional jet, the first passenger airliner to be produced in Japan since the YS-11 turbo-prop in 1962. The MRJ90 challenges the Embraer E-175/190 and E2 and the Bombardier CRJ900. The smaller MRJ70 won’t… Read More