When Tony Fernandes, director of AirAsia Berhad announced that his airline was in preliminary talks with Montreal-based plane-maker Bombardier to buy 100 of Bombardier’s potential 160 seat CSeries aircraft, it ended the recently concluded Farnborough Airshow on a relative high note for Bombardier. During an air show that was tabbed as a referendum on the beleaguered CSeries programme, Bombardier managed relative success, winning 25 new commitments to the CSeries; 5 …Read More
Boeing 737 MAX ups the ante in dogfight with A320neo
At last year’s Paris Air Show, there were blue skies and the airline industry managed to stay relatively healthy despite soaring oil prices and an anaemic global economic recovery, with a year-end industry-wide profit of US$7.9 billion, according to Geneva-based industry body International Air Transport Association (IATA). Fast forward 12 months and the global economy was in a very different shape. Having gone through the fear of contagion in the …Read More
Revamped 777X may limit sales prospects of Boeing jumbo
There is little doubt that a possible order bonanza for the re-engined narrowbody offering from Chicago-based Boeing, the 737 MAX, at next week’s Farnborough Air Show in the United Kingdom (UK) is going to be under the media spotlight. However, as the world’s second-largest aircraft manufacturer mulls an upgrade to its highly popular long-haul twin-jet with a 787-styled composite wing, a lighter airframe with advanced aluminium-lithium (Al-Li) material and a …Read More
The showdown in re-engined narrowbody battle begins
As the global economy takes a turn for the worse with weakening passenger yields and a cargo doldrum significantly hurting airlines’ bottom line, there is little visibility beyond the runway, let alone leaping into the unknown by spending billions of dollars on hundreds of shiny new metals that are not going to be delivered five to six years from now, if not longer. It is against this backdrop that the …Read More
Boeing 737 MAX dual-feather winglet teleconference highlights
Beverly Wyse, Boeing 737 programme vice president (VP) & general manager (GM) - This kind of improvement is consistent with our demonstrated performance on delivering increasing value to our customers on-time throughout the life of the programme. - Since entry into service on the 737, we continue to improve the Next-Generation aircraft for our customers, including anything like carbon brakes and the passenger-preferred Boeing Sky Interior. - We also continue …Read More
Boeing posts strong 2012 first-quarter results
Chicago-based Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, posted an exceptionally strong first-quarter results which beat Wall Street analysts’ forecast and saw its net income for the quarter soaring by a staggering 58% from US$586 million a year ago to US$923 million this year. The better-than-expected results came as the company recorded a US$0.11 per share positive impact from the release of a litigation reserve, a remarkable quarterly performance from its …Read More
Boeing develops 777X to challenge Airbus A350
As the development of the Airbus A350 XWB (Extra Wide Body) family aircraft gears up this year, with the first A350-900 example entering final assembly in March ahead of its first flight in the second quarter of 2013 (“Airbus faces a crucial year on A350 development“, 25th Jan, 12), the same holds true for the competitive response from its transatlantic arch-rival Boeing on the development of a revamped and upgraded …Read More
2012 a bright year for Boeing
- Boeing posts robust quarterly & yearly results – 737 MAX to enjoy strong sales in 2012 – 737 MAX configuration continues to evolve – Pent-up demand for 787 & 747-8 may be realised this year – 787 production ramp-up key focus of the year – Aspire Aviation changing estimate of 787-10X launch timing from 2012 to 2014 – 777X likely to be launched in 2013, eyed EIS in 2019 …Read More
Airbus faces a crucial year on A350 development
European plane-maker Airbus, a unit of the European Aeronautics, Defence & Space Co. N.V., has enjoyed a record year of 2011 buoyed by an order bonanza at its re-engined A320neo (new engine option) aircraft programme, which accounted for 1,226 of the 1,419 net orders recorded in the year, after taking into account customer cancellations from the tally of 1,608 gross orders, including the exclusion of bankrupt carrier American Airlines’ (AA) …Read More