Bjorn’s Corner: Electrical flight, how real?

10 July 2015, ©. Leeham Co: We have just witnessed the first solar electrical aircraft, Solar Impulse 2, cross the ocean from Tokyo to Hawaii. Today, Friday, Airbus Group will cross the English Channel with a battery powered… Read More

Mid-Year pause: warning signs for Airbus and Boeing?

Subscription required. Introduction July 9, 2015, © Leeham Co. At the half way point of 2015, there are a number of signs emerging that require some interpretation. Some are signs of caution. Others are Go Slow. Summary China’s… Read More

Boeing’s McNerney on 787 costs, obsoleting airplanes

July 8, 2015: Bloomberg News interviewed Jim McNerney, then-CEO of The Boeing Co., June 15 at the Paris Air Show. (McNerney relinquished his CEO title a week later to Dennis Muilenburg.) Although McNerney got it wrong on the… Read More

Boeing in line for large freighter order

July 8, 2015, © Leeham Co.: Boeing may be close to a large cargo airplane deal that could solve several near-term problems, Leeham News and Comment has learned. It’s not the 747-8F and the 777F may play only a… Read More

Airbus, Boeing YTD orders assessed (Update)

Update, July 8: In our original post, we omitted 44 Boeing 737NGs from the YTD firm orders. The charts and text have been updated to reflect this information. July 7, 2015, © Leeham Co. Airbus pulled ahead of… Read More

Pontifications: ExIm reform

July 6, 2015, © Leeham Co. The US ExIm Bank authorization expired last week. As readers know, I’m a strong advocate of renewal of the authorization. Boeing, and other companies, hope reauthorization can be achieved this month. I won’t… Read More

CSeries performance improvement demystified

By Bjorn Fehrm Subscription required Introduction July 6, 2015, © Leeham Co. Bombardier presented a slew of new data for their CSeries aircraft during Paris Air Show. Listening to Bombardier (BBD) officials it sounded like there was only… Read More

Bjorn’s Corner: Bandit mask explained and nonexistent IFE boxes.

2 July 2015, ©. Leeham Co: Having aircraft as your interest exposes you to thousands of photos of your favorite subject. In general I find exterior photos of airliners a bit dull; there is no variation in their… Read More

LEAP, the best of 1,000 investigated alternatives.

By Bjorn Fehrm Subscription required. Introduction June 23, 2015, © Leeham Co. CFM International went through 1,000 iterations before settling on the final design for the LEAP engines that will power the Airbus A320neo, the Boeing 737 MAX… Read More

Cost cuts remains priority, challenge at Boeing

Subscription required.  Introduction Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of The Boeing Co., from July 1. Photo via Google images. June 29, 2015, © Leeham Co. Cost control is going to be one of the top priorities of Dennis… Read More