787 grounding not “safety-of-flight” issue

The temporary grounding of the Boeing 787 flight test airplanes to deal with the latest assembly issues is not a safety-of-flight issue and was not sought by the flight test crews, says Scott Fancher, program manager. The Seattle… Read More

Dictionary and the KC-45

We love clever ads. Here is the PDF. KC-X_Dictionary Below the jump is EADS’ ad that appeared yesterday.

Boeing gives Everett a makeover

Here’s a departure from our usual stuff with this Aviation Week story about Boeing’s $800m “make-over” of its Everett plant. Separately, Boeing will have the 787 at the Farnborough Air Show but not the 747-8.

Weak Euro helps Airbus vs. Boeing

The weak Euro at its present level could help Airbus lower the cost (mostly in Euros) and therefore the price (entirely in dollars) by as much as 10%, according to Charles Armitage, an aerospace consultant based in London…. Read More

WTO vote watered down, meaningless

We’ve gotten a hold of the US House amendment that was approved in the matter of the WTO subsidy issue in the KC-X competition–which Boeing and its supporters touted as a key victory to ensure the subsidies found… Read More

Let’s talk about the planes

Update, June 4: Reuters has this recap from Jim McNerney’s appearance at an investors’ conference in which he says EADS could win the tanker competition on price–a key point of our column below. Original Post: Note: this is… Read More

Will WTO vote really matter?

Update, 0815 AM PDT: Boeing just responded to email questions posed last week, mainly dealing with WTO issues but also with the airplane. Here is the exchange. Q. How can Boeing and its supporters be pursuing legislation in… Read More

So’s your old man

More mirthful back-and-forth between Boeing and EADS. Boeing today fired off a rebuttal ad to the EADS “Get Real” ad published right after it got back into the KC-X tanker competition. Boeing also posted this message on its… Read More

Re-engine, new or do nothing?

A second aerospace analyst has weighed in with the opinion that Boeing is likely to choose a replacement for the 737 rather than a re-engine solution. Heidi Wood of Morgan Stanley published this note today, as Boeing’s investors’… Read More

Hoisted on own petard?

Update, May 19: With all the references in Comments about the GAO ruling, we are linking the 150+ page report here, courtesy of Sgt. Mac: GAO KC-X 2008 Protest Update, May 17, 4:30PM PDT: Reuters has this story… Read More