Airbus/Boeing production rates forecast through 2020

Subscription Required. Introduction Feb. 3, 2015: Boeing out-delivered Airbus in 2014, for the second year in a row, as the 787 program improved in delivery rates and before the A350 made its first delivery in December. Topping Airbus… Read More

Airbus A400M; how good and how late?

Subscription required By Bjorn Fehrm Introduction 01 Feb 2015: Six years ago Tom Enders, then-CEO for Airbus (when the parent was named EADS), threatened to stop the A400M project. He then played hardball to get eight European states… Read More

Odds and Ends: AirAsia 8501; SkyMark Airlines bankruptcy; One year for MH370; Billy Bishop Airport; PNAA conference

Jan. 29, 2015: AirAsia 8501: The first report by the Indonesian government has been issued, per international rules, but the public portion is pretty uninformative if press reports are to be believed. At the same time, leaks indicate… Read More

A350-1000 gets upgrade to 387 seats; we analyse the consequences

Subscription required By Bjorn Fehrm Introduction 28 Jan 2015: Exactly one week after the first Airbus A350 started regular service between Doha and Frankfurt with Qatar Airways (on 15th of January), upgrades to the A350 capacity was announced by Airbus in a… Read More

USAF picks 747-8 for new AF One, first delivery in 2018; end of program likely

The US Air Force has picked the Boeing 747-8 as the replacement for the 747-200-based Air Force One, reports Bloomberg News. The decision comes as absolutely no surprise. The first of two 747-8s will be delivered in 2018,… Read More

Muilenburg’s challenges as Boeing CEO

Subscription Required. Now open to all readers Introduction Jan. 27, 2015: Dennis Muilenburg has been the No. 2 at The Boeing Co. for a little more than a year. He was named vice chairman, president and COO in… Read More

Odds and Ends: BBD sale; MC-21 forecast; “A322”

Bombardier Sale: Financially pressed Bombardier sold its military training unit to Canadian supplier CAE for C$19.8m. It’s not a big cash infusion into BBD, but at this point every little bit helps. Last week, before today’s CAE announcement,… Read More

Rolls-Royce and the leasing market

By Bjorn Fehrm 22 Jan. 2015: When talking to leasing companies at the annual Growth Frontiers 2015 conference in Dublin, Rolls-Royce is the engine manufacturer that is perceived as the least desirable on their airplanes. This has no… Read More

Growth Frontiers 2015 conference: Fuel prices and the order bubble

By Bjorn Fehrm  18 Jan 2015: The subject of the first day at the Growth Frontiers 2015 in Dublin has been very much “what will happen with lower fuel prices”. The conference is the yearly gathering of the aircraft… Read More

Interview with Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier: Airbus and innovation

Subscription required By Bjorn Fehrm Introduction 18 Jan 2015: When visiting Toulouse last week we got the opportunity to talk to Airbus CEO, Fabrice Bregiér, on one of his pet subjects: the need for Airbus to be more innovative…. Read More