BBD’s conservative approach toward first flight

BBD v Boeing on First Flight: We, along with others, have wondered why Bombardier wants a clear, sunny day for first flight when Boeing flew the 787 on a rainy day in December. Was this some regulatory difference… Read More

Odds and Ends: 787 fulfilling dream; Weather worsens for CSeries; Painting out logos; plane vs car

787 Opens New Routes: The Boeing 787 is still getting some negative headlines about dispatch reliability, but the plane is proving Boeing’s underlying message about opening new, “thin” routes. The Tacoma News-Tribune has this story detailing how the… Read More

CSeries completes high speed test; Weather remains the variable for first flight

The Bombardier CSeries completed the high speed taxi tests this morning. This means the first flight should be just days away, weather depending—and the forecast is iffy. Bombardier tells us they “need” a clear, dry, calm day. Plans… Read More

Odds and Ends: Slowing sales; Airbus in Japan; MRJ delay; Crandall on merger

Slowing Jet Sales: Within a few days, Bloomberg, Reuters and The Seattle Times each had stories about slowing jet sales. Here is the Bloomberg story, focusing on cargo sales. Here is the Reuters story. Here is The Seattle… Read More

Replacing the 747-400

Replacing the venerable Boeing 747-400s remaining in passenger service is a prime objective of Boeing and of Airbus. The business case for their respective 747-8Is and A380s rests in large part on this approach, though for Airbus the… Read More

CSeries edges closer to first flight, as payoff for gambles await Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney

The Montreal Gazette did a little digging with Canadian regulators and came up with this interesting piece, deducing the first flight of the Bombardier CSeries will come within the “next 11 days” (the story was dated Aug. 19)…. Read More

Odds and Ends: SuperJet 100; cell phones on airplanes; 787 real-time monitoring; Crikey

SuperJet 100: This airplane, which is basically the old Dornier 728 jet design, was supposed to be Russia’s leap to western standards. It hasn’t worked out that way, according to this article. Cell Phones on Airplanes: There continues… Read More

Right-to-Work, Creepy and Right-to-Worse in Washington State

No column we’ve written has gotten more attention outside the blogosphere than the one in which we concluded that if Washington State is to truly become competitive with the South, it needs to become a Right-to-Work state. Gov…. Read More

Odds and Ends: 787 Developments on ELT, Production; Frontier as a ULCC

787 Developments: There have been a flurry of developments late Friday on the Boeing 787. First, it emerged that Boeing’s Charleston plant will not reach a production target of three per month by the end of this year… Read More

Odds and Ends: Fixing Ethiopian’s 787; Pricing the 777X; Indigo and Frontier Air

Fixing Ethiopian’s 787: The New York Times has a good article on the challenges of fixing Ethiopian Airlines’ Boeing 787. Pricing the 777X: The Wall Street Journal has an article about Boeing’s challenge of pricing the 777X. It’s… Read More