VLA era is over; are 777X, A350-1000 too large?

Subscription Required Introduction June 18, 2018, © Leeham News: The era of the Very Large Aircraft appears over. The Boeing 747 passenger airliner, while nominally still offered for sale, is in reality dead. The Airbus A380 limps along… Read More

Airbus risks losing market share if it doesn’t boost A350 production

Subscription Required Introduction June 11, 2018, © Leeham News: Boeing is increasing the production rate of the 787 next year from 12 to 14/mo. Airbus is reducing the production rate of the A330neo from 10 to 6/mo. Last… Read More

Boeing 777-9 or Airbus A350-1000 for the Gulf carriers?

By Bjorn Fehrm Subscription Required Introduction May 17, 2018, © Leeham News: The recent agreement between the US and the Gulf carriers limits the expansion of the carriers on the US market. As the premier long-range destination area… Read More

Wide-body production rates show mix of strength, weakness

Subscription Required Introduction May 14, 2018, © Leeham News: Wide-body production rates by Airbus and Boeing are expected to go up modestly during the next three year, with a jump in 2022—if Boeing 777X production rates head for… Read More

Etihad faces complex issues in fleet restructuring

May 9, 2018, © Leeham News: Etihad Airways faces a complex series of decisions to make as it ponders how to restructure and stem huge losses. Market intelligence revealed last year that the airline has been pursuing a… Read More

Engine makers may face stiffer future ETOPS certification requirements

Subscription Required Introduction April 23, 2018, © Leeham News: Even before last week’s Southwest Airlines accident raised the focus on aircraft engines, industry officials were becoming worried that problems with engines powering the Boeing 747-8, 787, 737 MAX… Read More

Boeing’s strategy to de-risk design, production

Subscription Required Introduction April 2, 2018, © Leeham News: Boeing’s painful experience the with the development, design, production and grounding of the 787—costing billions of dollars in overruns and penalties with a delay of nearly four years—led to… Read More

Spies and industrial spying

By Scott Hamilton March 27, 2018, © Leeham News, Bainbridge Island (WA): The unexpected US order to close the Russian Consulate in Seattle this week set off a media frenzy in this city because two reasons cited were… Read More

Production transformation key to Boeing NMA

March 20, 2018, © Leeham News: As Boeing builds the business case for the New Midrange Airplane (NMA, or 797), dozens of major factors come into play, along with the hundreds or thousands of smaller one. The market… Read More

Pontifications: Small suppliers prepare for production transformation

March 12, 2018 © Leeham Co.: When it comes to preparing for increasing automation, robotics and transforming the way airliners will be built in the future, focus rests primarily on the big OEMs and suppliers. The small suppliers… Read More