Pentagon reissues tanker RFP

The Pentagon today re-issued the Request for Proposal for the aerial tanker competition today. As the press conference begins, here is a running synopsis: USAF plan and process as we go forward to have a week or so… Read More

Thursday’s Farnborough impressions

Airbus had its press briefing, rescheduled from Monday, much to the puzzlement and speculation of observers and rivals (or, perhaps, that should be in the singular). The speculation was rife: Airbus’ super-salesman John Leahy had a big order… Read More

Wide-body GTF

Flightblogger reported a few days ago from Farnborough that an unidentified manufacturer has approached Pratt & Whitney inquiring about P&W’s new geared turbo fan engine for a wide body airplane. We had the opportunity to ask the obvious… Read More

Wednesday’s Farnborough impressions

Pretty dull today. A couple of orders. Boeing did dedicated tanker brief, rolling out the successor to Mark McGraw, the previous head of the tanker program. Dave Bowman comes from the C-17 program. Perhaps not surprisingly facing a… Read More

Tuesday’s Farnborough impressions

It’s a quiet show; few orders. One of the biggest, from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), signed a contract with Airbus for 100 planes was merely confirming the order announced last November at the Dubai Air Show. Now these… Read More

Farnborough on Monday

Will GE/CFM engine launch accelerate 737/A320 single aisle replacement? Will CSeries launch be met with Boeing response? Is the air show this week about cancellations or orders? Boeing and Northrop optimistic about winning tanker recompete. This and more… Read More

GE, CFMI commit to new engine

London, England: GE Aviation, CFM International and Safran, all partners in the CFM group that makes the CFM56 engine that’s on the Boeing 737-300 through 900 and about half of the Airbus A320 family and some A340 models,… Read More

EADS Media Day

We attended the EADS Media Day that is held in advance of the two major air shows, Paris and Farnborough. Some highlights: EADS CEO Louis Gallois said EADS, one year after implementation of the Power8 restructuring program began,… Read More

Tanker recompete, decision by January

Ahead of the afternoon (EDT) press conference by the Department of Defense, Tanker War Blog is reporting that it appears DOD is going to have “an expedited” recompete. Live Internet streaming coverage of the DOD press conference at… Read More

High fuel costs impact super long-haul flights

The Wall Street Journal Tuesday (July 8th) had an interesting piece about how the current high cost of fuel is adversely impacting the super long-haul flights. The article raises questions about the viability of 15-18 hour flights in… Read More