Pontifications: Boeing cracks open door to 777 production rate cuts (or not)

March 8, 2015: Boeing cracked open the door March 5 to a production rate reduction on the 777 Classic, the first time since launching the 777X in 2013 that officials have publicly deviated from their insistence the current… Read More

Pontifications: A350 launch aid, Emirates and the A380, Bombardier and U-Turn Al

March 5, 2015: A350 Launch Aid: Boeing and the US Trade Representative got in a big twist around 2006 when Airbus said it would accept more than $1bn in launch aid from Germany for the A350. At that… Read More

Redefining the 757 replacement: Requirement for the 225/5000 Sector, Part 3.

By Bjorn Fehrm Subscription required Introduction 04 March 2015, c. Leeham Co: In the first and second part of the article series around the need for a more capable solution for 180-240 seats and 5000 nautical miles, which… Read More

Production rates on single-aisles keep going up, up

Figure 1. Airbus and Boeing production rates for the A320 and 737 lines are going up as announced rates and rates under consideration go to lofty levels. Click on image to enlarge. Subscription Required Introduction March 3, 2015:… Read More

Exclusive: CSeries performance better than guarantees, “favorable” to brochure; range better than advertised

March 3, 2015: c. Leeham Co. Flight test results for the Bombardier CSeries show that the economics of the airplane not only are meeting the economic and performance guarantees, they are “favorable” to the marketing brochures that have… Read More

Redefining the 757 replacement: Requirement for the 225/5000 Sector, Part 2.

By Bjorn Fehrm Subscription required Introduction 01 March 2015, c. Leeham Co: In the first part of the article series around the need for a more capable solution for 180-240 seats and 5,000 nautical miles, we went through… Read More

CS300 first flight

The first flight of the Bombardier CS300, the 149-160 version of the new generation aircraft, came off without a hitch on Feb. 27. The flight lasted five hours. The CS300 is a direct challenge to the Airbus A319ceo/neo… Read More

Trip report: flying the A350 to Airbus Group annual press conference

By Bjorn Fehrm Introduction Feb. 26, 2015: As part of the invitation to cover Airbus group press conference in Munich on Feb. 27 where the annual results are presented, Airbus offered the journalists joining from South of France… Read More

Odds and Ends: CS300 first flight delayed; PW GTF; Boeing enters MidEast fray

CS300 first flight delayed: When Bombardier says it’s too cold for the CS300 first flight, you know it’s cold up in Montreal. It’s -21C at Mirabel (-6F) and partly cloudy, but that was too cold for the guests,… Read More

787-3, “737-10” no replacement for 757

Feb. 25, 2015. c. Leeham Co. When Boeing CEO Jim McNerney last year suggested that a replacement for the 757 could be based on the 787 or the 737 MAX, the statement conjured up visions of resurrecting the… Read More