Focus on Rolls-Royce Trent engines

Plane Talking has an interesting think piece about the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine that powers the Qantas Airbus A380. As readers know, a Trent 900 had an uncontained failure on QF32 that severely damaged the A380. Qantas still… Read More

Boeing resumes 787 testing (but not, it appears, continuous airborne tests)

Boeing issued the following press release on Christmas Eve Eve. A careful reading of the press release makes it apparent that actual continuous airborne flight testing is not yet ready to resume. This is a one-off flight test…. Read More

Odds and ends: Airbus/EADS and Boeing

With Christmas around the corner, here are some year-end thoughts, absent any breaking news of some kind in the week ahead: 737 upgrade: Southwest Airlines continues to pressure Boeing to do something about a more fuel efficient airplane,… Read More

Production boosts at Boeing: more to come for 737

Boeing’s announcement today that it will boost production of the 777 from the previously announced 7/mo to 8.3/mo (100 a year) is good news for Boeing, its customers, the supply chain and (to be parochial about it) Washington… Read More

Boeing’s next 787 announcements

Update, Dec. 9: As a Commenter noted below, a French newspaper is reporting Boeing told Air France the first delivery of the 787 may be June or July. This falls within the 4-6 month delay we forecast on… Read More

Boeing’s 737 ramp up shows confidence in economy, ‘skyline’ and the unions

The announcement last week that Boeing once again is planning to ramp up production of its venerable 737 line show confidence on a number of levels: The global economy continues to recover; The strength of the backlog, aka… Read More

US appeal of Airbus WTO ruling aimed at A350, future of A320

There is been some perplexed reaction to the appeal by the US Trade Representative to the World Trade Organization that the USTR and Boeing claimed only a few months ago were sweeping victories in the complaint that Europe… Read More

More 787 problems; 2Q delivery delay coming?

The news that Boeing has yet more industrial partner problems with the 787 doesn’t come as a surprise. Pre-Farnborough Air Show, the company revealed that there were shim issues from its Italian partner, Alenia. Two weeks ago we… Read More

SC incentives to Boeing nearing $1bn

Boeing told Washington State that incentives had nothing to do with its decision to locate 787 Line 2 in Charleston (SC)–that it was all about the unions. This article in the Charleston Post and Courier reveals that incentives… Read More

United splits wide-body buy

United Airlines today (Dec. 08) ordered 25 Airbus A350s and 25 Boeing 787s with options for an equal number. It’s clear why UA did this: the A350 is too big to replace the Boeing 767-300 and the 787… Read More