Leahy to Boeing: you’re “whistling past the graveyard”

This is a story we provided KIRO TV in Seattle, for which we provided reports during the air show. Airbus A320neo success far exceeds expectations Special to KIRO TV Airbus ended the primary portion of the Paris Air… Read More

Odds and Ends at the Paris Air Show, Day 4

Our final Odds and Ends as we head back to Seattle Friday. Marc Birtel, one of the corp-com guys at Boeing, asked us what we were impressed by at the Air Show (this was Tuesday, before the Airbus… Read More

Qatar, the launch customer, gives harsh critique of A350 revamp

There’s nothing we can add to this account.

Odds and Ends at the Paris Air Show, Day 3

Odds and Ends at the Paris Air Show, Day 3 John Leahy, COO-Customers for Airbus, says that after CFM re-jigged the LEAP engine with a larger fan and the seventh LPT stage, has brought the engine to parity… Read More

CSeries order intact, says Republic; CFM offered “great incentives” for engine deal

Bombardier’s CSeries order with Republic Airways Holdings, announced today at the Paris Air Show, is intact, says the company spokesman. Peter Kowalchuk told us late Wednesday (Paris time) that there is no change in the CSeries order, despite… Read More

U-Turn Al does it again

Airbus scheduled a 10am press conference to announce an order with Qatar for A320neos and the A380. The room was filling when an Airbus spokesman said the press conference would be delayed. The reason: CEO Akbar Al-Baker was… Read More

1,000 NEOs and “parity” is all it is

Airbus may have booked close to 900 orders for the A320neo family by the time the air show ends tomorrow, a plane that  Boeing says merely reaches “parity” with the 737-800. Airbus, of course, hotly disputes Boeing’s computations… Read More

Odds and Ends at the Paris Air Show, Day 2

Odds and Ends at the Paris Air Show, Day 2 Airbus Airbus owned the day again with a bunch of orders, including capturing a Boeing 737 operator, Garuda Indonesia. For the A320neo (In this context, we’re not counting… Read More

Qatar’s CEO on A350, CSeries

Qatar Airways was the launch customer of the Airbus A350-1000, for which Airbus has now moved entry-into-service back from 2015 to 2017 in order to provide for a higher-thrust engine design from Rolls-Royce, increased payload and increased range…. Read More

Odds and Ends of the Paris Air Show, Day 1

Odds and Ends of the Paris Air Show, Day 1 The Air Show began with heavy downpour that delayed traffic and buses, but fortunately not us since we didn’t stay in the City—but rather just 5km up the… Read More