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

A321neo configurations and A320 production

By Bjorn Fehrm 18 Jan 2015: As part of the preparations for the Airbus A321LR article 15 Jan. we saw a need to clarify with Airbus the production configurations for A321neo. There had been several iterations of what will… Read More

Airbus formally launches A321LR; we look behind the “LR” to see what’s there

15 Jan 2015: Airbus officially launched what to date has been called A321neoLR as the A321LR at their annual press conference Tuesday. The former A321neoLR name was formed by Leeham News on 21 Ocober 2014 when we could reveal… Read More

Interview with John Leahy: A380 sales strategy going forward

Subscription required Now open to all readers (Fe. 15, 2015) By Bjorn Fehrm Introduction Jan 14 2015: In our deep analysis of the Airbus A380, we concluded that there is nothing wrong with the basic economics of the… Read More

Market potential for A321LR

Here’s how Airbus sees the market potential for the A321LR, going well beyond the 50-60 Boeing 757s flying the Atlantic and some limited operations on other routes.