Qatar Airways: Becoming a global powerhouse

By Bjorn Fehrm May 30, 2017, ©. Leeham Co: Qatar Airways is the flag carrier of Qatar, a country of 0.3m Qatari citizens and 2.3m expatriates. Its total population of 2.6m makes it one of the world’s smallest countries…. Read More

ISTAT Asia 2017: The fight for the lead

By Bjorn Fehrm May 11, 2017, ©. Leeham Co: Airbus and Boeing had their customary presentation match at the second day of the ISTAT (International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading) conference in Hong Kong. Each OEM stuck to a… Read More

Airbus group 1Q 2017 results: no surprises.

By Bjorn Fehrm April 27, 2017, ©. Leeham Co: Airbus Group presented its first quarter results this morning. There were no surprises. Revenue and earnings were a bit lower than expected, but this is because a part of the… Read More

Things get worse before better at Cathay

April 6, 2017, © Leeham Co.: Cathay Pacific Airways faces a loss this year after posting its first loss in eight years last year. Analysts following the Hong Kong-based airline see another loss, with declining revenues and pricing… Read More

Major fleet decisions may not be positive for Airbus, Boeing

Pontifications is off this week. Subscription Required Introduction March 20, 2017, © Leeham Co.: There are some major fleet decisions that will probably come down the pike this year at American, Delta and United airlines. Not all of… Read More

Airbus Group: the old Airbus haunts the new

By Bjorn Fehrm February 24, 2017, ©. Leeham Co: Airbus Group (“Airbus”) presented results for 2016 in line with guidance. The Airbus CEO Tom Enders said, “This is the best Airbus, ever.” Yet everything was not as expected; most… Read More

Singapore 777-9 order pressures, but does not kill A380

Feb. 16, 2017, © Leeham Co.: Last week’s order by Singapore Airlines for 20 Boeing 777-9s and 19 Boeing 787-10s immediately was viewed by some as the death knell for the Airbus A380. The 777-9 order would start… Read More

United: the road back

By Bjorn Fehrm Introduction February 1, 2017, ©. Leeham Co: A headline from one year ago read: “UNITED’S QUEST TO BE LESS AWFUL: A bungled merger. A corruption scandal. Three CEOs in a year. But hey, at least the snacks… Read More

Assessing A330, A350 production futures

Subscription Required Introduction Jan. 26, 2017, © Leeham Co.: Airbus A350 production rates are solid at 10/mo through 2022 but can’t support increasing them to the oft-discussed 13/mo, based on LNC’s analysis of the current backlog. Airbus A330-900… Read More

Airbus sets new delivery record for 2016

By Bjorn Fehrm January 11, 2017, ©. Leeham Co: Airbus Commercial Aircraft presented a new record in yearly deliveries at its Press Briefing in Toulouse today.  The division of an integrated Airbus (therefore Airbus Commercial Aircraft, ACA) delivered 688… Read More