A330neo backlog faces challenging skyline

Subscription Required Introduction Nov. 12, 2018, © Leeham News: With the first flight of the Airbus A330-800, it’s time to take a new look at the status of the A330 program. Summary Additional orders have been recorded, but… Read More

Pontifications: Writing had been on the wall for years for Q400 sale; CRJ is next

Nov. 12, 2018, © Leeham News: The writing had really been on the wall for the past few years, regardless what the corporate line was: Bombardier was one day going to sell the Q400 program or shut it… Read More

How useful is an NMA, Part 5

By Bjorn Fehrm Subscription Required Introduction November 8, 2018, © Leeham News.: Last week we flew a Boeing NMA from the Middle East. We found the aircraft would be well suited to serve this market. Now we finish… Read More

Boeing issues 737 Operations Manual Bulletin after Lion Air accident

By Bjorn Fehrm November 7, 2018, © Leeham News.: Boeing issued a message to the operators of 737 MAX aircraft yesterday to remind their pilots of the procedures if an unreliable Angle Of Attack (AOA) information is suspected… Read More

Airbus A330-800 first flight

By Bjorn Fehrm November 6, 2018, © Leeham News in Toulouse. The Airbus A330-800, the smaller of the A330neo variants, took off for its first flight in Toulouse today. It’s the fourth member of the A330neo flight test… Read More

Accounting Standards Call Out Airplane Orders with Questionable Credit

By Dan Catchpole Danieljcatchpole[at]gmail[dot]com Nov. 6, 2018, © Leeham News: Like countless other businesses, Boeing this year adopted new accounting standards, known by the acronym ASC 606. The new rules did not significantly affect the company’s balance sheet…. Read More

737-based Wedgetail to be assembled in UK, Defence official says

Update, Nov. 6: Boeing said the Wedgetail will be assembled in Renton, as it has in the past. Discussions are underway with the UK to perform final modifications there (similar to how KC-46A tankers move from final assembly… Read More

WOW-Icelandair combo may help Airbus, hurt Boeing in A321LR/XLR-NMA campaigns

Nov. 5, 2018, © Leeham News: The announcement that Icelandair will acquire competing low cost airline WOW Air seemed the inevitable conclusion to the financially-strapped WOW, which aggressively expanded against the entrenched incumbent. The combined carriers may help… Read More

Boeing can’t build 737s fast enough to meet demand

Subscription Required Introduction Nov. 5, 2018, © Leeham News: With a backlog of more than 4,700 737 MAXes and pressure to increase the production rate beyond 57/mo, an analysis of the backlog shows why Boeing has plenty of… Read More

Pontifications: Pilots train for instrumentation mismatches

Nov. 5, 2018, © Leeham News: It was a week ago that Lion Air JT 610 crashed into the sea, just 13 minutes after takeoff. The crash was the first involving the Boeing 737 MAX (in this case,… Read More