Interview: CSeries program update with Bombardier’s program chief Dewar

Subscription required. Now open to all Readers. By Bjorn Fehrm and Scott Hamilton Introduction Nov. 24, 2014: Bombardier CSeries flight testing has now passed 500 flight hours, and with the addition of Flight Test Vehicle 5 to the… Read More

Odds and Ends: Korean tanker competition sounds like US rerun; About that blister on the top of airliners; JetBlue explains bags, seats

Korean tanker competition: South Korean is holding a competition for an aerial refueling tanker and in many respects, it sounds like a rerun of the USAF competition between Airbus and Boeing. In the US contest, major debates happened… Read More

Little progress on A330 production gap

Subscription required. Introduction With the end of the year a mere five weeks away, Airbus appears to have made little progress in closing its production gap for the A330. Summary Airbus still has a gap of approaching 150… Read More

Odds and Ends: No Boeing response to A321neoLR; After DL loss, Boeing wins Kuwait; It’s ‘huge’

No response to A321neoLR: Reuters reports that Boeing isn’t going to respond to the Airbus A321neoLR, the airplane intended to be a bonafide replacement for the Boeing 757. “We are very happy with where the MAX 9 sits… Read More

Odds and Ends: JetBlue defers A320s; Delta’s A350 order; Another KC-46A delay?

JetBlue defers A320s: This US airline announced at its investors’ day that it is deferring Airbus A320s from this decade into next. JP Morgan had this commentary November 19: JetBlue…announced a deferral of 18 A320-family aircraft from 2016-18… Read More

Lufthansa to use A340s in “lower cost” operation; our analysis against the 787

Subscription required. By Scott Hamilton and Bjorn Fehrm Introduction Low cost long haul service is gaining traction, but previous efforts proved difficult to be successful. Dating all the way back to Laker Airways’ Skytrain and the original PeoplExpress… Read More

Airbus wins Delta wide-body order

Airbus has won the hotly-contested competition for 50 wide-body airplanes, two sources tell Leeham News and Comment. Airbus will sell Delta 25 A350-900s and 25 A330-900s, our sources say. Rolls-Royce is the sole-source engine supplier. Boeing hoped to… Read More

Delta looks to double Seattle gates as wide-body decision nears

Delta Air Lines wants to double the number of its gates at Seattle, potentially allowing more than 300 flights a day, Bloomberg News reports. The story appeared just weeks before Delta will make its decision whether to order… Read More

A320 v 737: the sales winner is….

It’s one of the bitterest rivalries in the industrialized world: Airbus vs Boeing. Despite being world-class companies, executives at each often snipe at each other’s airplanes, claiming superiority in economics and passenger appeal. Like lawyers arguing a court… Read More

Airbus group reports Q3 and first nine month 2014 results

Airbus today reported Q3 and first nine months results for 2014. It could be summarized with one sentence, “steady so”. It is an Airbus group more in control of their destiny and programs then it has ever been,… Read More