Plane Nation

Qantas Airways has cancelled orders for 15 Boeing 787-9s and deferred the delivery of 15 787-8s to reduce capital expenditure amid a challenging operating environment.

This is the first major cancellation for the next generation medium-range widebody, and comes days after Boeing announced another delay to the first flight of the aircraft due to design issues.

Australia’s national carrier, the biggest customer for the aircraft, still has firm orders for 35 787-9s and 15 787-8s after the cancellation. It says that the delay was not a factor in its decision.

The “prudent” decision will reduce capital expenditure by $3 billion and still allow Qantas and its low-cost subsidiary Jetstar to “take advantage of growth opportunities and market demands, both domestically and internationally”, he adds.

This drops the order count to 851 down from 866 on June 6th 2009.

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The first Airbus A320 aircraft to be assembled in China enters into service with Sichuan Airlines today after being delivered to owner Dragon Aviation Leasing on Tuesday.

The plant at Tianjin that is the first A320 assembly plant outside Toulouse, France. It is a joint-venture between Airbus, the Tianjin Free Trade Zone and state-owned China Aviation Industry (AVIC). It will deliver the second aircraft in July and Airbus expects to produce 10 A320s by end-2009. The production rate is expected to be ramped up to four a month before end-2011.

Boeing Postpones 787 First Flight

EVERETT, Wash., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Boeing (NYSE: BA) today announced that first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft.
The need was identified during the recent regularly scheduled tests on the full-scale static test airplane. Preliminary analysis indicated that flight test could proceed this month as planned. However, after further testing and consideration of possible modified flight test plans, the decision was made late last week that first flight should instead be postponed until productive flight testing could occur.
First flight and first delivery will be rescheduled following the final determination of the required modification and testing plan. It will be several weeks before the new schedule is available. The 787 team will continue with other aspects of testing on Airplane #1, including final gauntlet testing and low-speed taxiing. Work will also continue on the other five flight test aircraft and the subsequent aircraft in the production system.
Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes said a team of experts has already identified several potential solutions.
“Consideration was given to a temporary solution that would allow us to fly as scheduled, but we ultimately concluded that the right thing was to develop, design, test and incorporate a permanent modification to the localized area requiring reinforcement. Structural modifications like these are not uncommon in the development of new airplanes, and this is not an issue related to our choice of materials or the assembly and installation work of our team,” Carson said.
Boeing’s financial guidance will be updated to reflect any impact of these changes when the company issues its second quarter 2009 earnings report in July.
Boeing will hold a conference call with Carson, Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of Airplane Programs, and Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, to discuss the 787 program today at 10:00 a.m. EDT, 7:00 a.m., PDT. A webcast of that call will be accessible at http://www.boeing.com/.
Contact:
Yvonne Leach, Communications, 206-854-5027
Lori Gunter, Communications, 206-931-5919
Rob Young, Investor Relations, 312-544-2140
SOURCE: Boeing

Boeing identified a structural issue with the 787 several weeks ago but it was not until last Friday that analysis confirmed that the first flight should be delayed pending a modification.

“Preliminary analysis was that we could have a credible flight-test envelope, but then during detailed analysis the envelope narrowed to the point that it would not be useful for flight-test,” says Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Scott Carson.

Speaking during a conference call today to explain the latest crisis to hit the Dreamliner programme, Carson said that the revised schedule for first flight and the impact on deliveries will be made public “in the next several weeks”.

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Airbus’s bigger A350 aircraft has won almost 500 orders, 10 of them at the Paris Airshow, forcing Boeing to turn its attention to the market for bigger planes with more than 300 seats. The Chicago- based company is considering an upgrade of its 15-year-old 777 aircraft. Airlines say it should spend billions on a new aircraft instead.

Boeing, which said it had “bet the company” in the 1960s when spending twice its market value on the 747 jumbo jet, faces a conundrum after adopting a rival strategy to Toulouse, France-based for the long-haul plane market.

The A350 is scheduled to enter service in 2013, giving Airbus two 300-plus seat models less than six years old to range against the 777, which debuted in 1995, the 767, dating from 1982, and the 747 jumbo, an aircraft that was delivered to airlines the year after man first landed on the moon.

Airbus Chief Operating Officer John Leahy said Boeing has been forced to review its strategy because the A350 will be 25 percent cheaper to fly than the older 777. He spoke after the company announced 58 firm orders at the Paris show, including an A350 contract from AirAsia X of Malaysia. Boeing won two orders.

Boeing will reach a decision on its response to the A350 in the next one or two years after studying the competitiveness of a planned 350-seat version of the new Airbus, spokesman John Dern said in Paris.

Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker has warned Boeing that the airline could “walk away” from its 60-order 787 contract if the airframer does not quickly resolve major issues over delivery delays.

“We at Qatar Airways have some serious issues with Boeing and if they do not play ball with us they will be in for a very, very serious surprise if we do not settle the issues on the 787,” says Al Baker.

The Doha-based carrier is a major Boeing customer, with an orderbook for over 92 aircraft including 32 777s and 60 787s. However, the Dreamliner programme delays have pushed back the airline’s deliveries by around 18 months, with its first aircraft is not now due to arrive until late 2011.

While he is unspecific about the nature of the issues, Al Baker says that Boeing is not dealing with them “in a professional manner, and Qatar Airways is very impatient with them”.

He adds that the airline has the right to “walk away” from the deal if “the delay is unreasonable. There are excusable delays in our contract and if these delays get escalated, every organisation gets the right to walk away.”

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United Airlines is considering replacing its 757, 767 and 777 fleets with 787s – including -3s to replace 96 757-200s used on routes of around 4,600km (2,500nm).

Japan Airlines has dropped its 787-3 order in favour of the longer-range 787-8, leaving just one customer for the short- to medium-haul type designed for Japanese airlines requiring a high-density configuration with a trimmed wingspan for use at space-constrained gates.

The backlog for the -3 now stands at 28, with remaining customer All Nippon Airways converting two -3s to -8s as well.

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International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) could drop its A380 orders because of a lack of requests for the jumbo jet, CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy said.

According to Hazy, ILFC can cancel the order between January and June of 2010 without having to pay any penalties. In addition to an outright cancellation — which would be the first ever for the type — ILFC could also defer deliveries or replace the order with an order for a different Airbus type, for example the A350XWB.

Air New Zealand’s first Boeing 747-400 will soon make one final flight to a wrecker’s yard as further capacity cuts loom in the face of a continued fall in demand for global air travel.

The 19-year-old jumbo, named The Bay of Islands, was grounded and put up for sale after completing Air New Zealand’s historic biofuel test flight in December.

AIr NewZealand Boeing-747-400 heading to the scrapyard