Sunset of the Quads, Part 1

Subscription Required By Vincent Valery Introduction   July 30, 2020, © Leeham News: British Airways announced two weeks ago that it would immediately retire its entire Boeing 747 fleet. Several other operators announced accelerated retirements of their Queen of… Read More

Applying ASC 606 to the Airbus Order Book

Subscription Required Now open to all readers. By Vincent Valery Introduction   July 27, 2020, © Leeham News: Since the first quarter of 2018, Boeing applies a new revenue recognition accounting standard, ASC 606, to its aircraft order book…. Read More

Pontifications: bleak near- to mid-term future for Rolls-Royce engine unit

June 15, 2020, © Leeham News: The jet engine division of Rolls-Royce faces an uncertain future because of its own problems, exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19 on commercial airlines. Beset by problems with its Trent 1000, Boeing… Read More

An accelerating widebody fleet streamlining, Part 2

Subscription Required By Vincent Valery Introduction   June 8, 2020, © Leeham News: Last week, we saw that earlier generations of widebody aircraft had significant range restrictions. Airlines with sizable long haul operations had to operate multiple aircraft types… Read More

There could be a future for the A380—and it’s not what you think

By Scott Hamilton June 3, 2020, © Leeham News: The conventional wisdom is there is no future for the Airbus A380 after front-line carriers remove the airplane from their fleets. Singapore Airlines retired the first of five A380s… Read More

An accelerating widebody fleet streamlining, Part 1

Subscription Required By Vincent Valery Introduction   June 1, 2020, © Leeham News: As airlines slashed capacity in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, some took the opportunity to accelerate aircraft retirements. Older generation twin-aisle aircraft, notably the Airbus… Read More

Boeing may have checkmated Airbus in trade dispute

By Scott Hamilton Feb. 20, 2020, © Leeham News: Boeing may have just checkmated Airbus in the long-running trade dispute between the US and European Union. In an unexpected move, Boeing and Washington State crafted legislation to void… Read More

Airbus 2019: an operationally good year hit by compliance costs

February 13, 2020, © Leeham News in Toulouse: Airbus presented its results for 2019 today in Toulouse. Operationally, the company made a profit of €6.9bn but heavy fines (-€3.6bn) to settle a long-running bribery case and contingencies for… Read More

Airbus’ profitability challenges

Subscription Required By Vincent Valery Introduction   Feb. 10, 2020, © Leeham News: Airbus Commercial Aircraft ended 2019 with a surprisingly strong 1,131 new aircraft orders (768 net orders) and a backlog of 7,482 aircraft. There were 863 aircraft… Read More

Assessing airlines’ widebody replacement needs

Subscription Required By Vincent Valery Introduction   Feb. 3, 2020, © Leeham News: As part of the 777X maiden flight, Boeing briefed the media on its demand forecast for the large widebody market. The OEM sees a demand to… Read More