Category Archives: Airbus

Irish bookmaker betting 1-2 odds Dreamliner flies before the Airbus A400M

Tuesday11:48 a.m.

Forget Texas Hold ‘em tournaments. An Irish bookie is taking bets on whether Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner will fly before Airbus’ A400M military transport aircraft.

Both planes are supposed to take their maiden flights by the end of the year. Both programs have been hit by numerous delays. Some commentors are speculating that the flights may be pushed into next year, the bookmaker, Paddy Power, notes.

Paddy Power bills itself as Ireland’s largest bookmaker and a leading provider of gaming services. It’s offering odds of 1-to-2 that Boeing’s Dreamliner will take to the skies first.

It’s offering 6-to-4 odds that the Airbus A400M will fly first.

“This has the makings of a very interesting race with obviously billions on the line for both airlines,” Paddy Power said in a statement. “Our betting suggests that Boeing is the early leader, but this could obviously change very fast.”

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus, Boeing | Comments (0)

Airbus North America in Wichita waits approval for additional work

Nov. 3, 200910:54 a.m.

Airbus North America in Old Town is waiting to hear whether it will win additional work for its Wichita engineering center.

The proposal has been presented.

“We’re waiting approval and going through the process,” said Bill Greer, head of the Wichita site.

He expects to know by the first week in December.

Last month, the Wichita City Council voted to sell the former Kansas Sports Hall of Fame building at 238 N. Mead for $1.43 million to Dave Burk’s Marketplace Properties to make room for the additional Airbus work.

The deal is contingent on a lease with Airbus, which wants to create 100 engineering jobs over three years to study repair and maintenance of its aircraft.  Burk is already the landlord for Airbus at its current site at 213 N. Mead.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus | Comments (0)

Analyst: EADS reports of U.S. content on Airbus planes vary

Oct. 8, 200911:08 a.m.

The World Trade Organization’s findings that European countries have illegally subsidized the development of Airbus planes has created a problem for its parent company, EADS, defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute said in a report this week.

Airbus wants to prove that winning a contract to build U.S. tankers won’t hurt American workers, yet keep subsidies flowing, Thompson said. “One approach is to tell different audiences different ‘facts’ about how Airbus planes are built.”

According to Thompson, in a September 25 letter to Congress about the tanker, Airbus said its product line is 45 percent U.S. sourced. Two years ago in Paris, EADS told the Les Echos publication that 21 percent of the content on Airbus planes come from North America. Four years ago, however,  the head of EADS told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that 31 percent of Airbus commercial planes are American made.

“Airbus must have an amazingly agile supply chain to vary U.S. content so much from year to year,” Thompson said. “Then again, maybe the agility is concentrated in its public relations office, which knows what various audiences want to hear.”

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus | Comments (0)

Analysts: Boeing, Airbus may have to cut narrowbody production next year

Oct. 5, 20092:23 p.m.

Boeing and Airbus are on track to build a record number of jets this year. But next year, that may change.

The planemakers may have to cut narrowbody airplane production by as much as 30 percent by 2011, according to aerospace analysts and consultants polled by Bloomberg. Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 contribute the majority of sales for the companies.

Boeing currently is producing 31 737s a month. Four respondents to the Bloomberg survey said they predicted Boeing to scale that back by at least 10 percent to 28 a month by 2011.

The planemakers still have order backlogs to carry them through the next seven years at current rates after they limited production increases to smooth out demand swings when the market was robust.

Changes to 737 production would impact Wichita’s Spirit AeroSystems, which produces the fuselage.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus, Boeing, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Consultant: Germany lands a big headache

Aug. 11, 20099:49 a.m.

Saj Ahmad with FleetBuzzEditorial.com contributes today’s blog.  Ahmad writes that he’s watched A350XWB wing work remain in the UK practically begging for the aging A320 line to be relocated for the past two decades. Now, Germany gets the promise of key work on the project — but at a price.

Here’s what Ahmad has to say:
Germany may have managed to secure a commitment for the full production like of the A320 replacement in return for aid on the A350XWB program – but after two decades of internal and political turbulence in the Franco-German love-hate relationship, it seems France walks away with a bigger chunk of the EADS business while Germany is poised to be lumbered with another low margin product.

The A320 family is already a product in dire need of investment – not a single major update has happened to it since it was designed almost three decades go and has systematically failed with winglet tests on its inefficient wing. Its rival in the 737 is just some 24 months away from a significant update from CFM and its Evolution engine that will cut fuel burn and enhance performance. As mentioned before, the A320 has corned the market on price, the 737 on performance.

Germany has never really gotten over losing the A350XWB wing work to the UK – that it is now conditioning government aid in return for key work share smacks not only of desperation, but the sheer contempt with which Hamburg is viewed by Toulouse.

Pointless interior work on the A380 that probably costs more in fuel costs for ferry flights to Hamburg given the anemic production rate, as well as missing out on key aerostructure work on the A350XWB means that France appears (on the surface at least) to be sidelining its partner.

Despite the promise of all future A320 replacement work/assembly in Hamburg, whenever that project is launched, German participation on EADS’ civilian programs has played second fiddle – even to the factory in Tianjin, China. The cost basis for developing a successor to the A320 out there far outweighs the meagre industrial benefits of keeping it in Euro-pipedream-land.

Some of Boeing’s critical design work is undertaken in Moscow, so it’s not unfeasible that EADS could consider keeping design work in Europe and farm out factory work to whomever possesses the cheapest labor.

Germany never stood a chance to win the A380 production (perhaps a blessing in disguise judging by the abject calamitous state it’s in) and was short-changed on the  A350XWB wing work it believed it would get.

As my learned colleague Doug McVitie points out, France seems to be committed to its portion of EADS, even at the expense of its partners.

Sitting on a Euro-mountain of cash (largely primed for penalties on the A380 and the hogwash A400M), funding the A320 replacement is going to be another headache, and one that the German government will not want, let alone aid.

Assurances for future work sounds great, but in the absence of cold hard cash to back that up, it’s an iffy prospect all round.

Where Airbus corporate policy is to execute sales solely for market share, the prospect of profitability on a future A320 replacement project is greatly diminished.

A $27bn black hole on the A380 that will never break even – not even the customers disagree with that.

The A350XWB costs have risen faster than any other airplane in history and the first model hasn’t even been built – last projection from program sources list the jet at around $17.5bn – over three times more than the original budget of $5.5bn – which former CEO Noel Forgeard once proclaimed would be “funded wholly by EADS” (how quickly times change….).

The A400M bleeds money quicker than the EU central bank can print it – so, who’ll be paying for the new replacement A320?

You can bet your buck the Germans will not be taking the bait.

That €8bn “war chest” looks very frail for battle all of a sudden.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus, aircraft manufacturers, aviation industry | Comments (0)

Airbus A350 financing agreed to in principle

June 15, 20091:58 p.m.

Germany and France have agreed in principle to finance Airbus‘ new A350XWB airliner and expect to make a final decision by the end of June, government ministers told Reuters.

German would provide $1.53 billion and France would contribute $1.4 billion, the report said.

Britain’s minister for business and defense, Lord Drayson, said he wasn’t prepared to disclose how much Britain could contribute, Reuters said. A Spanish counterpart was missing from a meeting during the Paris Air Show on Monday, according to the Gaea News. The three countries said they were looking forward to funding arrangements being finalized soon.

The widebody airliner is expected to compete with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus | Comments Off

KC-135 crews share insight of aging fleet problems; have advice for new tankers

May 15, 20097:00 p.m.

tiffanyKC-135 crew members have colorful stories and a lot of insight in what it takes to fly 50-year-old tankers on missions to refuel fighter jets and other planes. They shared some of them during a recent interview at McConnell Air Force Base.

They also had a few items on their wish list of what they’d like to see in a replacement fleet.

Capt. Tiffany Taylor, a KC-135 pilot, showed off the teensy dark, dank bathroom inside a tanker on the ramp. They definitely weren’t designed for ladies. Her wish for the new fleet of refuelers? “A better bathroom.” Oh, and a microwave. They’re in the air for eight hours at a time.

“Tell them we need air conditioning,” said another crew member. During a preflight in the desert, it’s 130 degrees in the cockpit. Sometimes they run the heater — which makes it hotter — long enough to dry off. (It’s cooler once airborne)

The crew opened a log on one tanker where problems are entered. The tankers are showing their age, and the lists are growing longer.

Crews adapt to problems.

If a refueler takes on an extra 100,000 pounds of fuel, but a problem keeps it from offloading the fuel to another aircraft, the plane often becomes too heavy to land.

That means orbiting for hours to burn off fuel or dumping it into the atmosphere. And if they’re in the Middle East where demand is high, it’s important to get the plane back on the ground, repaired and put back into service.

“You’d be amazed at how many thousands of pounds of fuel get dumped in a month,” Taylor said.

In fact, said she can’t count on her fingers and toes the times she’s done it herself.

“I’m a fuel-dumping queen,” Taylor said with a laugh.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus, Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Aerial refueling tankers focus of Sunday story

May 15, 20095:32 p.m.

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Recently, Eagle photographer Bo Rader and I flew on an aerial refueling tanker for a training mission from McConnell Air Force Base . It  eventually took us to Tinker Air Force Base for a story on the state of the Air Force’s aging tanker fleet. More than 1,000 people at Tinker and hundreds in Wichita keep the tankers, which have an average age of 49, flying. A process to replace them has languished for years.

On this particular flight over Kansas skies, a hydraulic fluid leak kept the boom from operating properly.

Boom operator Sgt. Jeff Holloway (he’s the capable one on the left; that’s me on the right) had to retract the boom because of the problem. And that part of the mission had to be scrapped that day. Still, the receiving aircraft was able to practice maneuvering in close enough to take on the fuel.

A series of lights under our aircraft guided them within 50 feet of our plane. In fact, they get so close, you can almost tell the color of the pilots’ eyes in the other plane.

Problems with the tanker fleet are growing. Read about the issue in Sunday’s paper, and be sure to check out the video and photo gallery on www.kansas.com.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus, Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Boeing loses 787 order, ‘brushes off’ 737 cuts

May 7, 20092:17 p.m.

Boeing has lost its biggest order to date on its delayed 787 Dreamliner, which means it’s now lost one more contract this year than it’s won, Bloomberg said.

Boeing lost a deal for 25 787s from an unidentified customer, bringing to the total number of 787 cancellations this year to 59, versus 58 orders, it said.

Airbus has 11 net orders for this year, after selling 30 planes and losing orders for 19.

Despite the cancellations, Boeing still has 861 orders for 787s, its best-selling aircraft to date.

In the meantime, Boeing has said the company is preparing for a softening of demand for its popular 737 single-aisle jetliner, but that’s offset by an overcommitment of 737s. Although, said Boeing CEO Jim McNerney on a conference call with analysts and reporters, more 737 orders were moving out than moving forward.

Analysts — including Saj Ahmad of FleetBuzz Editorial.com — expect Boeing to cut 737 production next year. That will affect Spirit AeroSystems, which builds the 737 fuselage. Ahmad talks to Boeing about that in his blog.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus, Boeing | Comments (1)

Airbus execs: We want research aid, not bailouts

April 16, 200911:37 a.m.

Airbus SAS executives said Thursday that the government should increase  research and development support for aviation, but that Europe’s aerospace industry is healthy enough to avoid a bailout, Bloomberg said.

Tom Enders, Airbus CEO and Allan Cook, Cobham Plc CEO, urged the governments to enact measures to help airlines get financing to pay for aircraft at a news conference in Brussels organized by ASD, Europe’s primary aerospace industry group.

The European Union must revise its research approach, Enders said, pointing to the ‘Clean Sky’ plan to help fuel aircraft fuel efficiency.

More investment is needed for research for the high-tech battlefield, where improved capabilities are key, the report said.

It also urged the governments to help suppliers struggling with a down economy to consider a loan program for them.

By Molly McMillin | Filed under Airbus | Comments Off