Odds and Ends: A330neo; The 12th Man; Boeing’s earnings

Clearing the air on the A330neo, again: Bloomberg News has an extensive story on the prospective development of the A330neo. Following a report from Reuters, these two news articles basically confirm everything we reported in December. The 12th… Read More

Odds and Ends: ATR presses parent Airbus for 90 seat go-ahead; Stratoliner; 777 model

ATR presses Airbus: ATR, the world’s leading maker of turbo-prop airliners, is pressing Airbus Group to green-light its proposed 90-seat, clearn-sheet turbo-prop, Bloomberg News reports. Airbus Group owns 50% of ATR; Alenia owns the other 50%. ATR’s CEO… Read More

British Air’s exit from dedicated cargo fuels doubt over 747-8F future

The decision by British Airways to exit the dedicated freighter business by returning three Boeing 747-8Fs to ACMI operator Atlas Air demonstrates the continued weakness of the global air freight market. Boeing is counting on the global freight… Read More

Odds and Ends: A350-800 stretch; Mixed results on P-8A; BBD takes hit; Hot seat

A350-800 Stretch: The idea of an A350-800 stretch, to around 300 seats, was floated at the Airbus annual press conference January 13. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to us. This would put the airplane almost on… Read More

Odds and Ends: CSeries timeline; KC-46A roll-out; China’s new airplane

CSeries timeline: Bombardier last week announced a third delay in the CSeries program, this time for as much as a year. This probably should have been expected. BBD originally planned a five year period between program launch and… Read More

Boeing notified supply chain: prepare for 52 737s per month

Boeing has notified is supply chain that demand for the 737 is sufficient to support a rate increase to 52 a month by the end of the decade. In a letter dated January 3, Kent Fisher, vice president… Read More

Odds and Ends: CSeries EIS rescheduled, new deal announced; Airbus seeks unprecedented ETOPS rule

New CSeries EIS: Bombardier today announced a new delay in the entry-into-service of its CSeries, confirming what we reported Monday. BBD now says EIs will be in the “second half” of 2015, compared with the September 2014 planned… Read More

Embraer continues and refines its strategy at the low-end of 100-149 seat sector

While Airbus and Boeing slug it out in the competition for the duopoly and Bombardier struggles to gain respect as an emerging mainline jetliner producer, Embraer continues and refines its strategy in the smaller-end of the jet market… Read More

Airbus wins annual results, trails Boeing in deliveries

Airbus announced 1,619 gross orders for 2013–1,503 net orders–and a backlog of 5,559 aircraft. The company delivered 626 aircraft for the year. It ended the year with 51% of the market vs. Boeing. Boeing won the delivery race… Read More

Looking ahead to 2014

Here’s what to look for in 2014 in commercial aviation. Airbus A350 XWB: The high-profile A350 XWB program continues flight testing this year. Entry-into-service has been a sliding target. The program is running about 18 months behind original… Read More