Key events Dec. 10-12: Boeing, EADS, Air Canada

There are some key events to follow today through Thursday: December 10: The Requests for Proposals for the site selection of the 777X are due into Boeing today. Media will be trying to find details, but Boeing certainly… Read More

Could Boeing face new NLRB complaint over 777X site search?

Could Boeing face a new complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, this time over where the 777X assembly site will be placed? A Cornell University labor professor thinks it possible. The union-backed publication In These Times wrote… Read More

Airbus, Boeing production backlogs stretch to late this decade, early next decade

Airbus and Boeing production backlogs stretch to late this decade and into the beginning of next decade for most of their commercial aircraft, based on today’s production rates. We previously wrote about the waning sales of the 777… Read More

DXB13 Day 1: Airbus scores big orders, Boeing launches 777X

From the Dubai Air Show, Day 1: Airbus Emirates orders 50 A380s Qatar orders A330s Qatar would buy A350-1000 stretch Etihad Orders A350, A320 Boeing 777 Launched: Boeing New Airplane; Montreal Gazette, reporting from Dubai Aviation Week: 787… Read More

Odds and Ends: Volcano protection; Airbus trims guidance on A350; More on Boeing

Volcano protection: No, we’re not talking about any eruptions from IAM 751. Instead, Airbus and Europe’s easyJet created some man-made volcano ash to conduct tests for detecting the real thing. Airbus trims guidance: EADS/Airbus trimmed its financial guidance… Read More

Airbus lowers range of A350 on increased capacity assumptions

Airbus this week quietly lowered range for the A350 family on increased capacity assumptions. The range changes appeared without fanfare on the company’s website. When we inquired, a spokesman said,“Seat figures in our public documents have been changed… Read More

Airbus’ A350-800 dilemma

Last week we discussed Airbus’ A350-1000 dilemma. The -1000 will be a fine airplane, but we concluded the company needs to go forward with a larger capacity “A350-1100” to match the size of the Boeing 777-9X, but take… Read More

Odds and Ends: XYZ–Next USAF aerial tanker specs; Analysts on CSeries ahead of earnings

KC-XYZ: The USAF hasn’t even received the first Boeing KC-46A, which was the tanker award from the KC-X competition, and it has begun drawing up specifications for the follow-on competition, the KC-Y. The KC-Y is the second tranche… Read More

CFM LEAP accelerating in test program; Airbus and the A350-800

Aviation Week has a long, detailed story about the test program for the CFM LEAP engine, which is accelerating rapidly. In its 737 MAX program update yesterday, Boeing said the LEAP-1B has begun testing and it will benefit… Read More

Odds and Ends: MC-21 to be renamed; Boeing buys land; seat wars ahead?

MC-21 to be renamed: After creating a brand for the Russian Irkut MC-21, authorities have decided to rename the airplane the Yak 242, according to this article in Flight International. The article is too brief to explain the… Read More