Rolls-Royce plans for new single-aisle, twin-aisle airplane engines

Rolls-Royce may not be at a cross road but it’s certainly at a fork in the road. RR sought to be a dual-source supplier for the Boeing 777X, competing with GE Aviation for the privilege; it was generally… Read More

Investigative focus on MAS MH370

The following will be areas of focus for the investigation of the Malaysian Airlines MH370 crash, involving a Boeing 777-200ER equipped with Rolls-Royce engines. These are standard areas of investigation and at this point, listing them here doesn’t… Read More

Odds and Ends: Rolls follows Pratt with GTF technology; Airbus’ challenge;

Rolls-Royce and GTF: Rolls-Royce today said it will pursue technology for its next big engine that follows the Geared Turbo Fan technology of Pratt & Whitney’s smaller design. Aviation Week has this story and Bloomberg has this one…. Read More

Odds and Ends: A boost for the A330? Problems continue at Boeing Charleston

A boost for the A330? Aviation Week reports Airbus is offering China an A330 completion center in return for an order for 200 A330s.  At the current production rate of 10/mo over the Airbus production year of 11… Read More

Filling the production gap at three OEMs

HawksWinHawksWinHawksWin!!! Airbus, Boeing and Embraer face production gaps of several years in three key product lines. Two of these, Boeing and Embraer, relate to transitions from current generation airplanes to new derivatives. Airbus faces a large gap for… Read More

Odds and Ends: A330neo decision could be near; KC-46A; Countdown to Superbowl; A400M

A330neo decision: Aviation Week reports that a decision to proceed with the Airbus A330neo could be “imminent.” The report also discusses the advocacy by Tim Clark, COO of Emirates Airlines, to re-engine the Airbus A380. As with the… Read More

Odds and Ends: A350-800 stretch; Mixed results on P-8A; BBD takes hit; Hot seat

A350-800 Stretch: The idea of an A350-800 stretch, to around 300 seats, was floated at the Airbus annual press conference January 13. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to us. This would put the airplane almost on… Read More

Airbus wins annual results, trails Boeing in deliveries

Airbus announced 1,619 gross orders for 2013–1,503 net orders–and a backlog of 5,559 aircraft. The company delivered 626 aircraft for the year. It ended the year with 51% of the market vs. Boeing. Boeing won the delivery race… Read More

Looking ahead to 2014

Here’s what to look for in 2014 in commercial aviation. Airbus A350 XWB: The high-profile A350 XWB program continues flight testing this year. Entry-into-service has been a sliding target. The program is running about 18 months behind original… Read More

The case for an A330neo

With the increasing possibility that Airbus will defer or even drop the A350-800, the case for an A330neo becomes much stronger. Absent the A358, Airbus has no effective competition to the Boeing 787-8. The current A330, which we… Read More