5/31/2013

B737MAX vs. A320neo: Backlog Comparison

Boeing and TUI Travel today announced a commitment for 60 B737MAX (-8 and -9 versions) with an option for a further 90 aircraft. Boeing now has 1471 firm orders and commitments for the B737MAX. Airbus has, including the to-be-firmed order from Air China and Shenzen Airlines for a

5/16/2013

Southwest launches the B737MAX-7

Yesterday Boeing and Southwest Airlines announced that SWA will be the launch customer of the B737MAX-7. The launch of the B737MAX-7 with an order for 30 aircraft of that type comes with
  • a cancellation of 30 orders for the B737-700NG
  • Southwest substituting 5 -700NG to the -800NG variant
  • Southwest firming 5 options for the -800NG
  • the cancellation of 5 options for NG aircraft

5/06/2013

Paris Air Show 2013 - The Widebody Show

After the 2011 edition of the Paris Air Show was dominated by the A320neo, this year seems to be the show of the Widebodies. The usual suspects as Emirates and Qatar will surely play a major role here, as we can read here (as for Qatar) and here (as for Emirates). Although the B777X is not mentioned in the first article we can be sure that Qatar will also be one of the first customers for the then largest twin. Probably not only the B777X will get it's first orders but also the B787-10 will see a formal launch with a first wave of orders. Airbus, of course, will try not to stand by and have it's own order book filled, mainly that of the A350.
The future of the A380 could play a role in conjunction with the launch of the B777X as the seat costs of the double decker will come under pressure once the B777-9 will enter service. So we might hear what Airbus has on it's plate for 2020 and beyond, as also Ben Sandilands suggests - although he thinks that might need a little bit more time.

4/26/2013

Geared Turbo Fan Backlog Secrets

The P&W press release revealing the selection of the PW1133G for the A321neo for Hawaiian Airlines states that the Geared Turbo Fan Family now has more than 3,500 announced and unannounced orders and options. I wondered how much unannounced orders there are and tried to do a breakdown of the announced orders.

PW1100G

4/15/2013

Lion Air Accident

On Saturday a B737-800 crashed into the sea just before reaching the runway of Bali.
Some "analysts" and "experts" were quick to question Lion Air's safety in the light of the quick expansion and rapid growth of the airline. They did not care to wait for what the pilots had to say about the accident and what had caused it. As we can read here the pilot has about 15,000 flight hours and is a flight instructor and the co-pilot, who was in charge, has about 2,000 flight hours so I would rule out any reason relating to inexperience of the flight crew. It appears that the reason was weather related, heavy rain and a wind shear or a downdraft might have caused the crash.
As safe as today's aircraft are - there isn't any powerful force than mother nature. We should never forget this! Even the safest airline can't be "safe" enough not to be prone to the forces of nature.