Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Boeing: ExIm needed so we can do R&D, not finance planes; how about dropping stock buybacks instead?
The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that a Boeing exec says the US Export-Import Bank is necessary to help finance Boeing aircraft so free cash flow can go toward R&D rather than financing customer orders. Hmm. We think… Read More
Odds and Ends: The risk on airborne fires; C919 delays; A380 v 747-8I
The Risk of Fire: FlightGlobal has this story about the risk of fires on board (free registration required). The news article is alarming about the risks of lithium-ion batteries, combined with the new composite technology. The page for… Read More
Right-to-Work, Creepy and Right-to-Worse in Washington State
No column we’ve written has gotten more attention outside the blogosphere than the one in which we concluded that if Washington State is to truly become competitive with the South, it needs to become a Right-to-Work state. Gov…. Read More
Airbus adds to information about A330/A350 “Lite”
Airbus provided some answers to some (but not all) of our additional questions posed in our post a week ago about the A330 and A350 “Lite” versions. We noted that Airbus had provided Direct Operating Cost (DOC) comparisons… Read More
Odds and Ends: 787 Developments on ELT, Production; Frontier as a ULCC
787 Developments: There have been a flurry of developments late Friday on the Boeing 787. First, it emerged that Boeing’s Charleston plant will not reach a production target of three per month by the end of this year… Read More
C919 program in trouble
COMAC’s bid to develop a 150-200 passenger jet is in trouble. According to this report, CFM doesn’t plan to proceed with an assembly line within China for the LEAP-1C that will power the C919. Concerns over intellectual property… Read More
Mid-size, Twin-Aisle forecasts: the changing numbers; more Odds and Ends
MId-Size, Twin-Aisle Forecasts: The Blog by Javier has an interesting post about the changing mix in twin-aisle, mid-size aircraft from the Boeing Current Market Outlook over the years. The author works for Airbus, but his opinions and his… Read More
A380 has “Lite” versions, too
The announcement by Airbus that it will offer Lite versions of the A330 and A350 families caused a much larger stir than we would have thought. As we previously noted, Boeing will offer a Lite version of the… Read More
Dropping EADS for Airbus Group
The move to drop the acronym EADS for Airbus Group is being made out by some media to be a major step that better positions Airbus to compete with Boeing. This is a stretch. The name change simply… Read More