Pontifications: NASA pulls the plug on electric airplanes

Some odds and ends after three weeks on the road. NASA pulls the plug on electric airplane research. NASA and Boeing’s Transonic Truss Brace Wing contract. Engines and the TTBW. July 18, 2023, © Leeham News: When NASA… Read More

Pontifications: “The need for radical fuel improvements will only increase over time.”

May 30, 2023, © Leeham News: “The need for radical fuel improvements will only increase over time.” That’s the definitive conclusion of Arjan Hegeman, GE Aerospace’s general manager of advanced technology. GE is working on Performance Improvement Packages… Read More

Bjorn’s Corner: New aircraft technologies. Part 10P. The engine choice

Subscription required By Bjorn Fehrm April 28, 2023, ©. Leeham News: This is a complementary article to Part 10. The engine choice. It discusses in detail the next-generation engines for the Heart of the Market airliners that today… Read More

Bjorn’s Corner: Aircraft technology developments. Part 1.

February 24, 2023, ©. Leeham News: In the Sustainable Air Transport series we finished last week, we described new aircraft technologies developed to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. There was one area we didn’t discuss, the progress… Read More

Pontifications: A lost decade for new airplanes

By Scott Hamilton Subscription Required Dec. 5, 2022, © Leeham News: In September 2020, LNA wrote that commercial aviation was facing a “lost decade.” The impetus for this prediction was the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. “Commercial aviation is facing… Read More

For next new airplane, Pratt appears to trail CFM for next new engine

Subscription Required By Scott Hamilton Feb. 21, 2022, © Leeham News: As Boeing ponders whether to launch a new airplane program and industry consensus seems to be that this must happen in 2023 or 2024, Pratt & Whitney… Read More

CFM’s Open Fan targets mid-2030s for entry into service

Subscription Required By Scott Hamilton CFM RISE Open Fan. Credit: CFM. Feb. 1, 2020, © Leeham News: GE Aviation appears confident the CFM open rotor engine—a concept that was flight tested back in the 1980s—is an engine whose… Read More

Engine OEMs pushing ahead for next airplane, even as Boeing pauses

Subscription Required By Scott Hamilton Nov. 1, 2021, © Leeham News: David Calhoun may not be anywhere near ready to launch the Next Boeing Airplane (NBA), but the engine makers are actively researching and developing engines to hang… Read More