UTAS sees increasing electronic architecture in future airplanes

Subscription Required Introduction June 9, 2016, © Leeham Co.: The debate continues whether the next new, clean-sheet airplane will be a Middle of the Market aircraft (MOMA) or replacements for the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families. Along… Read More

Irkut MC-21 rolls out

June 9, 2016: Irkut rolled out its challenger to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737-800/8 yesterday the MC-21-300. The new airplane is powered by either the Pratt & Whitney GTF or a Russian engine. A report from a… Read More

UTC media day 2: GTF hits 99.5% dispatch reliability rates

June 7, 2016: The new Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan, on seven Airbus A320neos, have achieved more than 2,000 revenue cycles with no returns or rejected take-offs, says Bob Leduc, president of Pratt & Whitney. The engines have… Read More

Wells Fargo sees reasonable, risky production rates

June 7, 2016: Single-aisle production rates of 57/mo at Boeing and 60/mo at Airbus are reasonable when achieved in the near term but more problematic in 2019. Wide-body production rate hikes are risky. This is the conclusion of… Read More

UTC media day 1: UTAS, twice the size of any other aerospace systems company

Note: United Technologies Corp (UTC) is holding its annual Media Days today and tomorrow. We’re providing reporting from the event. This is the first time in our long participation that UTC Aerospace Systems is presenting. UTAS is a… Read More

Pontifications: The Bottom Line isn’t always about The Bottom Line

June 6, 2016, © Leeham Co.: Sweetheart deals to win strategic aircraft orders are nothing new in commercial aviation. John Leahy, COO-Customers for Airbus, last week poked Bombardier for its order from Delta Air Lines. Citing a reported… Read More

Airbus stepping up innovation

By Bjorn Fehrm Subscription required Introduction June 6, 2016, ©. Leeham Co: In January last year I had a discussion with Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier regarding the innovation level at Airbus. The background to the discussion was that… Read More

Boeing: no new technical issues with KC-46A

June 2, 2016: Boeing is not discovering more technical issues with the KC-46A, but recent issues relating to the refueling boom and wing pods are being worked through while concurrent production progresses. “As we discover things in flight… Read More

Airbus aircraft programs in review

By Bjorn Fehrm in Hamburg Introduction May 31, 2016, ©. Leeham Co: Airbus went through a complete review of all their aircraft programs as part of their yearly briefing for media in Hamburg today. A lot was said… Read More

New KC-46A delay means more charges probable

Subscription Required Introduction May 30, 2016, © Leeham Co.: It’s the classic maneuver to bury bad news: Boeing Boeing KC-46A. Source: National Defense Magazine via Google images. announced on Friday, the start of the three-day Memorial Day weekend… Read More