Odds and Ends: Korean tanker competition sounds like US rerun; About that blister on the top of airliners; JetBlue explains bags, seats

Korean tanker competition: South Korean is holding a competition for an aerial refueling tanker and in many respects, it sounds like a rerun of the USAF competition between Airbus and Boeing. In the US contest, major debates happened… Read More

Odds and Ends: JetBlue defers A320s; Delta’s A350 order; Another KC-46A delay?

JetBlue defers A320s: This US airline announced at its investors’ day that it is deferring Airbus A320s from this decade into next. JP Morgan had this commentary November 19: JetBlue…announced a deferral of 18 A320-family aircraft from 2016-18… Read More

Odds and Ends: Tom Enders at Bernstein; JetBlue’s CEO; Al-Baker on Al Jazeera; Volcano photos

Tom Enders: Airbus Group CEO Tom Enders appeared recently at a Bernstein Research conference. A couple of highlights: The A350 program is on track for certification and first delivery on the schedule set two years ago.We have not… Read More

Assessing the Air Canada 737 order: factors that likely played a role

How did Boeing win the Air Canada mainline 150-200 seat jet order when only a couple of weeks ago Flight Global reported the Airbus won the deal? We, too, heard that Airbus seemed to be the favorite, but… Read More

Odds and Ends: Flight test progress for A350, 787-9, CSeries; New A320, 737 cabins; JetBlue tails

Flight Test Programs: Here’s a quick update on the flight test programs underway right now: Airbus A350XWB: The sole flying test platform in the A350XWB program has accumulated  150 hours since its first flight just before the Paris… Read More

American, US Airways respond to DOJ complaint

American Airlines and US Airways filed their responses to the DOJ lawsuit seeking to block the merger. The Dallas Morning News has this synopsis. The full, 50-page US Airways response is here. There’s one element that particularly caught… Read More

Airbus, Boeing battle for US MAX-NEO market share

With the announcement by Alaska Airlines for 20 737 MAX 8s, 17 737 MAX 9s (and 13 Next-Generation 737-900ERs), Airbus and Boeing continue their battle for the US market. There are still a number of customers who have… Read More

AMR’s goofy merger explorations

So AMR says it will explore merger opportunities as part of its bankruptcy process. The choices of potential partners are odd, indeed. According to The Wall Street Journal, AMR’s choices for a potential combination with American Airlines are… Read More

Assessing the 737-900ER vs Airbus NEO

AeroTurboPower has an interesting piece looking at the fuel burn and cash costs of the 737-900ER vs the A320neo and A321neo. The post is noteworthy as an independent analysis to Airbus or Boeing. Boeing, of course, claims the… Read More