The United States debut of the Airbus A380 Superjumbo jet was today, with two planes touching down on opposing sides of the country. New York won the title of the first city to receive an A380 by twenty minutes. Frankfurt to New York – operated by Lufthansa as Flight 8940, carrying around 500 Airbus and…
US Airways had agreed to buy the Airbus 350 as part of an agreement for financial assistance during its merger. However, with it behind schedule, Today in the Sky reports that they are looking at the possibility of going with Boeing. Also from Today in the Sky, on June 3rd, Alitalia will add three flights…
Boeing took the first step Friday in ending production of C-17 military cargo planes in 2009, by notifying suppliers it will no longer buy parts for the jet not under contract or firmly committed. Unless the U.S. or other government expresses interest in additional aircraft, Boeing will shut the production line. Embraer delivered the first…
The last customer for the freight version of the Airbus 380, the United Parcel Service, has said it planned to cancel an order for 10 Airbus 380 freighters. It had considered waiting until 2012 for the aircraft, but when it learned that Airbus is diverting employees from the freighter version to work on the passenger…
For those of you who haven’t heard, the Airbus 380 is scheduled to touch down in JFK on March 19th as part of a trial flight for Lufthansa. Los Angeles, which had expected to have the honor of hosting the first A380 landing in the United States. The superjumbo’s arrival into the United States has…
Delta has ordered 30 Bombardier CRJ900 Aircraft at a value of $1.1 billion. Delta operates 350 out of the 1395 CRJ series aircraft. US Airways is in talks with Boeing and Airbus about buying sixty new aircraft to replace its aging 737 and 757 aircraft. UPS has ordered 27 new Boeing 767-300ER cargo planes to…
Reports that Airbus had solved the wiring problems for the Airbus 380 were apparently premature, as Airbus announced on Friday that the problems had been solved for the first aircraft only. Work is still going on to solve the long-term issues. Airbus expects to start building a common design platform between its various plants…the variance…
The United Parcel Service(UPS), is expected to cancel the only remaining order for the cargo version of the A380 superjumbo jet. As the Washington Post reports, rumors are that they will cancel the ten plane order sometime next week. In October, UPS began to review its purchase in light of the third delivery delay on…
Up until last year, Airbus had outsold Boeing in commercial airplanes for five straight years. However, in 2006, Airbus received 790 airplane orders, compared to Boeing’s 1044. Airbus’s problems are blamed on the delays with the Airbus 380, which is two years behind schedule. The redesign of the A350, which failed to compete with Boeing’s…
The Airbus 380 received certification from European and U.S. aviation authorities today, signing airworthiness certificates for the much delayed airliner. The testing for this certification took it 70,000 nautical miles of route proving, including takeoffs and landings in a variety of conditions. USAToday reports that as this happens as an investigation into EADS and its…
Today, the chief of Boeing’s commercial airplanes unit said the 787 Dreamliner is on schedule for its first test flight next summer and first customer delivery in 2008. Assembly of the main sections is set to start in January. Boeing already has 435 orders for the aircraft. Meanwhile, Lufthansa has announced that they are ordering…
Bloomburg reports that Airbus plans to increase spending to $12 billion, a 20% increase to develop the A350 jet. The current design is its sixth attempt to come up with serious competition for the 787 Dreamliner. Airbus is seriously behind in the A350 project, partially due to the problems with its A380 project. With the…
Not long ago, a fellow blogger accused us of having a singular point of view in regards to Boeing vs. Airbus. Now, it was not long ago Boeing had its problems, and it has succeeded in turning them around for the most part. Right now, Airbus is in the midst of serious problems, and the…
Reuters reports that a delay in the launch of the A350 could affect USAirways in its long-term expansion plans for international service. Airbus invested in USAirways in exchange for a commitment to purchase 20 A350s. Since Airbus has no firm delivery dates for the A350, this commitment may not bear fruit in line with the…
We were recently reading the 24/7 Wall Street blog, and discovered their take on the Boeing 747 refit. Since the 787 has been such a success in orders due to its fuel-saving design, the 747-8 has incorporated those new designe elements. It is 11% lighter than the A380, comparing the total weight to the number…
Airbus’s chief executive, Louis Gallois, who took the position on Monday, warned that “painful” job cuts would be needed to turn the aircraft manufacturer around. Gallois replaced Christian Streiff, who resigned after less than 100 days on the job. As the Independent reports, Gallois pledged to proceed with the new A350 mid-sized jet, needed to…
Boeing has emphasized its view of the future in the development of the 787 Dreamliner. It is made of lightweight and durable composites including advanced aluminum alloys. The most important goal of the Dreamliner is an increase in fuel efficiency. Seeking Alpha summarizes the development of the Boeing aircraft, which is 33% made in the…
The much-anticipated Airbus 380 has received another blow. Airbus has once again postponed its delivery schedule. The project is turning into a major embarassment for Airbus, which was supposed to give it a strategic advantage over its main competitor, Boeing. Its superjumbo status, and its continual problems put into mind the Hughes H-4 Hercules, more…