Paris Air Show: Qatar and others

Subscription required.

Introduction

June 1, 2015, c. Leeham Co. It could be called the Qatar Airways Air Show.

Qatar Airways plans to have five airliners on display at the Paris Air Show in two weeks: the Airbus A319, A320, A350, A380 and the Boeing 787. The carrier hasn’t announced whether it will provide an aerial display as it has at previous air shows, but Qatar may well have more airliners there than Airbus or Boeing.

As for manufacturers other than Airbus and Boeing, we don’t expect anything of consequence from these.

Summary

  • Irkut, COMAC, Mitsubishi, Sukoi and ATR are other major aircraft producers that will be at the Paris Air Show.
  • Engine makers CFM International, GE Aviation, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney and Engine Alliance will also be there.
  • An update on Airbus expectations.

Read more

Bjorn’s Corner: Airbus Innovation days, activities and program updates.

By Bjorn Fehrm

By Bjorn Fehrm

Introduction

28 May 2015, C. Leeham Co: I am in Toulouse today attending Airbus Innovation days for Leeham News. It has been a good day’s briefings and I have presented what was perhaps the biggest change since we last met Airbus in the article “Airbus A350-1000 getting real”.

Apart from this program, there were more standard updates on Airbus other activities and programs. Here follows a rundown on these updates in a more paraphrased form.

Read more

Paris Air Show: Embraer

Subscription required.

Introduction

May 25, 2015, c. Leeham Co. The Paris Air Show this year isn’t expected to be a big venue for orders from Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier (although since ouir Airbus Preview, an official now says there will be a “significant number” of orders at the PAS).

Embraer isn’t expected to do much out of the ordinary. One of what we call the Big Four Airframe OEMs, EMB’s priority this year is garnering orders for the E-Jet E1 to fill out the production gap to the E2.

Summary

  • Filling the production gap between the E-Jet E1 and E2;
  • Firming up E2 commitments;
  • Revealing a new marketing campaign.

Read more

Paris Air Show: Bombardier

Subscription Required.

Introduction

March 17, 2015, c. Leeham Co.: Bombardier and air shows just don’t get along.

In 2009, there was wide anticipation at the Paris Air Show that BBD would announce a deal with Qatar Airways for 20 CS300s. The contract was ready. Instead, Qatar ordered a combination of Airbus A319/320neos after the French government pressured the Qatari government to avoid giving the CS300 a major boost on French soil. Given how persnickety Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker later proved to be with Airbus, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney, Bombardier is probably lucky this deal collapsed.

But subsequent air shows proved no better for BBD. Expectations arose and were inevitably dashed.

One reason: under Canadian law, orders and even letters of intent and MOUs must be announced within 24 hours. But BBD just couldn’t seem to make a sale. We’ve written several times about circumstances that went beyond BBD’s ability to control events, but clearly there was something more fundamentally wrong that this year, at long last, is being addressed through executive changes and corporate restructuring.

What does this mean for BBD at the Paris Air Show this year?

Summary

  • Don’t expect much in the way of orders.
  • Look for detailed information about the CSeries flight test performance and results.
  • CSeries will make a big appearance at the show.
  • The new executive team will be equally on display.

Read more

Paris Air Show: Boeing

Subscription required.

Second in a Series of Previews for the Paris Air Show.

Introduction

May 10, 2015, c. Leeham Co. Don’t expect Boeing to come away from the Paris Air Show next month with a ton of orders. It never does; this is Airbus’ home turf.

Although Boeing has said over and over and over again that it doesn’t hold back orders to announce at air shows, the fact is that it does, both for its own public relations value and at the behest of customers. Is this as aggressive as Airbus? No, but we know from talking with customers and with Boeing’s own personnel that Boeing is just as aware of the air show PR value as is Airbus.

That being said, what can we expect from Boeing at the air show? A little bit here. A little bit there. But not a whole lot. The order cycle has flattened (though it’s certainly not collapsed) and the wide-body campaigns that are underway probably won’t be ready for Paris.

Summary

  • Look for “Unidentifieds” to be revealed to bolster air show numbers, though this will be strictly a PR exercise;
  • Watch the 737 MAX 200–so far only Ryanair has ordered this variant;
  • Closely watch whether new orders for the 777 Classic are forthcoming; last week’s Swiss order, for three, were already accounted for in the Unidentifieds;
  • 777 Classic production gap is much larger than generally recognized;
  • Don’t expect much in the way of 777X orders; there are active campaigns but these probably won’t be ready by Paris;
  • It’s doubtful if there will be many 787 orders; the backlog stream is just too far out to prompt airlines to commit right now; and
  • Nothing on the Middle of the Market airplane or (probably) the 747-8I.

Read more

Paris Air Show Preview: Airbus

Subscription Required.

Introduction

May 3, 2015, c. Leeham Co. The Paris Air Show is June 15-19 for the trade/industrial portion. Beginning this week, Leeham News and Comment will provide our Airbus_logo_3D_BlueMarket Assessment and insight about what to expect. We begin this weekly exercise by looking at Airbus. Future posts will look at Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer and other major players at the PAS.

Summary

  • First, an overarching look at what to expect;
  • What to expect for Airbus at the show;
  • The future of the A380neo;
  • Outlook for the A330ceo/neo; and
  • Outlook for the A321LR.

Read more

Odds and Ends: Airbus will “win” the Air Show; AvWeek’s McNerney interview; 747-8 vs 747-400

Airbus will “win” the air show: We did this preview for CNN International.

Jim McNerney Interview: Aviation Week has this long one.

Dominic Gates of The Seattle Times will be blogging from the Paris Air Show. You can follow him here. He has several reports worth reading.

Meantime, he reports that the Boeing 787-10 may be built in South Carolina, not Boeing’s main plant at Everett.

NYC Aviation has an interesting pilot perspective on flying the Boeing 747-400F and the 747-8F.