Pratt & Whitney: Lean, automated manufacturing key to GTF ramp up

April 2, 2015: Lean principals and increased shifting to automated manufacturing are key to an aggressive ramp up for the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan engine, according to officials. The first production engines for the Airbus A320neo… 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

CS300 first flight Wednesday, direct challenge to 737-7 and A319neo

Feb. 25, 2015, c. Leeham Co. Bombardier’s direct challenge to the Big Two duopoly in the 125-149 seat sector is scheduled for its first flight Wednesday, weather and gremlins permitting. The CS300, challenger to the A319neo and 737-7,… Read More

Interview: CSeries program update with Bombardier’s program chief Dewar

Subscription required. Now open to all Readers. By Bjorn Fehrm and Scott Hamilton Introduction Nov. 24, 2014: Bombardier CSeries flight testing has now passed 500 flight hours, and with the addition of Flight Test Vehicle 5 to the… Read More

Embraer becomes #3 commercial aircraft company on E-Jet families

Free content. Introduction Embraer is now the #3 commercial airplane manufacturer, after Airbus and Boeing and supplanting Bombardier, capturing 50% of the orders and 60% of the deliveries in recent years. We examined the relevancy of the 100-149… Read More

Odds and Ends: Air France/KLM trims cargo fleet; ExIm Bank countdown; BBD v EMB; More

Air France-KLM trims cargo fleet: Steve Wilhelm of The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that Air France-KLM group is sharply trimming its cargo fleet, with the company declaring the capacity continues to shift to the belly capacity of… Read More

Odds and Ends: Malmo and CSeries; Boeing’s Terrible Teens; MH 370

Malmo and CSeries: Malmo Airlines, a small carrier in Sweden that is a subsidiary of Braathens, last week said it withdrew as the launch operator of the Bombardier CSeries. Malmo has five CS100s and five CS300s on order…. Read More

Focus on Bombardier after more executive changes

This report has been updated since it was issued to our E-subscribers last Monday to reflect our new estimate of the return to airborne status for the flight test program. Bombardier two weeks ago made more executive changes… Read More

PW re-delivering GTF to Bombardier CSeries flight test fleet, airborne program likely next month

Pratt & Whitney has completed a design repair for the Pure Power 1500G used on the Bombardier CSeries Flight Test Vehicles (FTVs) and is re-delivering the engines, Leeham News has learned. Flight tests are expected to resume in… Read More