Boeing opens state-of-the-art V-22 production facility
Boeing, the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy celebrated the opening of a modern V-22 Osprey factory outside Philadelphia. Here, employees will build fuselages for the tiltrotor aircraft and modernize the MV-22 fleet for Marines.
The advanced factory will house fuselage production for Navy, Air Force, Marines and international customers. The new facility will also be home to the Common Configuration–Readiness Modernization (CC-RAM) program that standardizes and upgrades previously built aircraft to the new Block C configuration.
“The V-22 readiness program is our number one priority,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. Matthew Kelly, V-22 Joint Program Manager. “The CC-RAM program is key in meeting our readiness goals and returning capable and reliable aircraft to Marine units around the world.”
The production facility will improve safety, productivity, lower operating costs and reduce Boeing’s environmental impact.
The Air France-KLM Board of Directors approved several strategic decisions concerning the development of the Air France fleet, following a meeting on July 30, 2019.
These decisions reflect the Group’s focus on simplification. Making the fleet more competitive, by continuing its transformation with more modern, high-performance aircraft with a significantly reduced environmental footprint is key to achieving leading industry margins.
Firm order for 60 A220-300s, with 30 options and 30 acquisition rights, which will gradually replace Air France’s A318 and A319 fleet
Retirement of the 10 A380s from the Air France fleet by 2022, and study of the replacement of A380s by new generation aircraft
Renewal of Air France’s short- and medium-haul fleet
Air France has committed to a firm order of 60 Airbus A220-300 aircraft, with an additional 30 purchase options and 30 acquisition rights. The first aircraft should be delivered in September 2021. They will join Air France’s short- and medium-haul fleet.
This aircraft will enable Air France to reduce its environmental footprint. The A220-300 generates 20% less CO2 emissions than comparable aircraft in its class, and is twice as quiet.
With a capacity of 149 seats and an operating range of 2,300 nautical miles, the A220-300 is perfectly suited to replace the A318 and A319 on the Air France short- and medium-haul network. This aircraft will allow the company to increase its competitiveness by reducing its cost per seat by more than 10% compared to the aircraft it will replace.
Finally, its entry into the Air France fleet will contribute to the continuous improvement of the customer experience, thanks to seats offering more space, larger cabin baggage storage compartments, wide aisles and WiFi on board.
Retirement of the A380s from the Air France fleet by 2022
The Air France-KLM Board of Directors today approved the retirement in principle of the remaining seven A380s from the Air France fleet by 2022, the phase out of three additional aircraft having been decided previously. Five of these aircraft are owned by the company, while two are leased.
The current competitive environment limits the markets in which the A380 can profitably operate. With four engines, the A380 consumes 20-25% more fuel per seat than new generation long-haul aircraft, and therefore emits more CO2. Increasing aircraft maintenance costs, as well as necessary cabin refurbishments to meet customer expectations reduce the economic attractiveness of Air France’s A380s even further. Keeping this aircraft in the fleet would involve significant costs, while the aircraft programme was suspended by Airbus earlier in 2019.
The Air France KLM Group is studying possible replacement options for these aircraft with new generation aircraft currently on the market.
“These decisions support the Air France-KLM Group’s fleet competitiveness strategy,” said Benjamin Smith, CEO of the Air France-KLM Group. “They follow the recent orders for A350s and Boeing 787s that Air France and KLM have placed. We are very pleased to work with Airbus to add the A220-300 to our fleet, an aircraft that demonstrates optimum environmental, operational, and economic efficiency. The selection of the Airbus A220-300 supports our goal of a more sustainable operation, by significantly reducing CO2 and noise emissions. This aircraft will also provide our customers with additional comfort on the short- and medium-haul network and will provide our pilots with a connected cockpit with access to the latest navigation technology. This is a very important next step in Air France’s transformation, and this evolution in Air France’s fleet underlines the Group’s determination to attain European airline leadership.”
Air France-KLM operates a fleet of 541 aircraft between its three main brands, Air France, KLM, and Transavia, to 318 destinations globally. In 2018, AFKL flew over 100 million customers.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Aircraft lessor BOC Aviation Ltd said on Tuesday it expected up to 30 Boeing Co <BA> and Airbus SE <EADSY> jets that had been scheduled to arrive this year could be delayed, primarily due to the Boeing 737 MAX grounding.
BOC said 18 jets that had been due in the first half had been delayed, including 12 A320neo’s due primarily to industrial constraints and 6 737 MAX’s as a result of the grounding.
For the full year, up to 7 A320neo’s and 23 737 MAX’s could be delayed, including three for which an airline customer has the right to acquire upon delivery, Asia’s second-biggest aircraft lessor said in a statement.
BOC said it was working with Boeing on a revised delivery timeframe.
Boeing last week estimated a return to service for the jet would begin early in the fourth quarter, but it did not rule out further reducing or temporarily shutting down production of the plane if that forecast needed to be revised.
U.S. carrier Southwest Airlines Co <LUV> last week removed the 737 MAX from its schedules until Jan. 5, 2020, saying it would need one to two months following regulatory approval to train pilots and prepare the jets for fresh commercial service.
(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Stephen Coates)
The Boeing Co. is looking at south metro Atlanta for a warehouse and distribution center that could approach 1 million square feet — the latest mega project for the region’s booming logistics sector. The aerospace giant (NYSE: BA) is working with third-party logistics provider XPO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: XPO), which has been touring south metro industrial properties this year and may be focused on Clayton and Henry counties. Industrial real estate developers with projects along the Interstate 75 corridor south of Atlanta have competed for the Boeing facility, which could range from 800,000 square feet initially to eventually more than 1 million square feet. Developers have seen a request for proposals for the project, according to real estate sources familiar with the process.
LONDON (Reuters) – Airbus is close to a deal worth billions of dollars to sell dozens of A320neo-family and smaller A220 aircraft to Air France as the French network carries out a keenly awaited renewal of its medium-haul fleet, industry sources said.
The deal could include as many as 50-70 Canadian-designed A220 jets, formerly known as CSeries, to replace Air France’s ageing fleet of roughly 50 A318 and A319 aircraft, they said.
Air France is also expected to pick the A320neo family to replace approximately 40 earlier versions of the Airbus A320 that are up to 18 years old.
A spokeswoman for Franco-Dutch parent Air France-KLM said: “Air France is pursuing work on its medium-haul fleet renewal. No decision has been taken at this stage.”
Airbus declined to comment on the deal, which is expected to be formally discussed at an end-month Air France-KLM board meeting.
The expected deal marks a rebound for Airbus after rival Boeing poached part of the fleet of British Airways owner IAG at last month’s Paris Airshow.
That deal caught Airbus off guard, though in the longer term sources say it may also have eased the European planemaker’s anxieties over the grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX following the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March.
Airbus privately hopes the MAX will survive the crisis to avoid a costly race to develop all-new aircraft and to ease the prospect of a radical change in certification rules.
The anticipated Air France deal also illustrates Airbus’s recent deliberate effort to boost A220 sales by packaging deals together with its benchmark A320, industry sources said.
Airbus bought the loss-making A220 programme from Canada’s Bombardier last year and immediately began offering it to customers that already have other Airbus aircraft, allowing it to juggle prices and ancillary services across the fleet.
Air France-KLM, formed from a merger of French and Dutch flag carriers in 2004, continues to operate a mixed fleet between its two main national networks.
KLM last month provisionally became the first major European customer for the newly certified E195-E2 offered by A220 rival Embraer of Brazil, whose commercial aerospace arm is being acquired by Boeing.
KLM signed a letter of intent for 15 of the upgraded aircraft and options for another 20.
The Dutch carrier and Franco-Dutch low-cost subsidiary Transavia both operate the Boeing 737 family.
(Additional reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Geert de Clercq and Luke Baker)
SEATTLE, July 11 (Reuters) – Boeing’s 737 jet program manager, Eric Lindblad, will retire in a matter of weeks after roughly 12 months on the job, according to a company memo seen by Reuters on Thursday.
Lindblad’s departure, after a 34-year career at Boeing, comes as the world’s largest planemaker navigates one of the worst crises in its history. Boeing’s money-spinning 737 MAX jetliner has been grounded in the wake of two deadly crashes that killed nearly 350 people in the span of five months.
Taking Lindblad’s place as the lead of the 737 program and the Renton, Washington, factory will be Mark Jenks, who has been leading Boeing’s potential new mid-market airplane (NMA) project, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Kevin McAllister wrote in the memo to employees seen by Reuters.
Mike Sinnett, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of product development and future airplane development, will assume the role of vice president for NMA in addition to his current role, the memo said. Sinnett, who originally led preliminary work on the NMA, has been seen a figurehead of the program.
“Let me be clear – the NMA team will continue to operate as a program, and I am looking forward to Mike’s leadership in this important effort,” McAllister said in the memo.
In naming Jenks and Sinnett to run marquee projects at such a crucial time, McAllister is choosing two of Boeing’s most high-profile engineers. Jenks has been credited with turning around the 787 Dreamliner program, and his appointment on the NMA was seen as key to putting the potential twin-aisle aircraft on a path to a rapid launch.
But industry sources say the launch of the NMA has been delayed by the 737 MAX crisis. The NMA program, if it goes ahead, will most likely not be launched before spring or summer of next year, the sources said.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Leslie Adler)
(Bloomberg) — Qatar has made agreements with U.S. companies to spend billions on airplanes and jet engines and to develop a petrochemical complex, the White House said on Tuesday.
At least some of the deals were previously made but were publicly touted by the Trump administration Tuesday. Among them: Qatar Airways purchasing Boeing Co. 777 freighters and large-cabin aircraft from Gulfstream Aerospace, the private jet unit of General Dynamics Corp.
“They’re investing very heavily in our country,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They’re creating a lot of jobs. They’re buying tremendous amounts of military equipment including planes.
Qatar’s defense ministry committed to acquire Raytheon Co.’s NASM and Patriot Systems, according to the White House. In addition, a unit of Chevron Corp. entered into an agreement with Qatar Petroleum for the development, construction and operation of a petrochemicals complex in Qatar.
The agreements, whose total cost wasn’t disclosed by the White House, were announced during a visit to the White House by the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.
The deals come amid a two-year economic blockade of Qatar led by U.S. ally Saudi Arabia and supported by nations including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Trump initially appeared to support the Saudi move — echoing its assertions that Qatar supported terrorists — even though it put the U.S. in an awkward position because it has a major military base in Qatar.
But Qatar has looked to improve relations in the U.S., with the emir saying the country was committed to doubling the economic partnership between the two countries. Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud, who leads the Qatar Investment Authority, said earlier this year that the country’s sovereign wealth fund will look to increase its U.S. investment portfolio from around $30 billion to about $45 billion over the next two years.
The country has also made significant gestures toward increasing its spending on U.S. defense contractors, with the U.S. approving a large weapons systems purchase ahead of Sheikh Tamim’s last visit to the country. In 2017, the country signed a deal to spend $12 billion for the purchase of 36 F-15QA fighter jets.
And the U.S. has announced plans to expand and renovate the al-Udeid Air Base near Doha, which houses the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command and some 10,000 American troops. During a dinner with the leaders on Monday, Trump thanked Sheikh Tamim for Qatar’s $1.8 billion investment in the project which will be used to construct housing and entertainment facilities.
Several companies have released specifics of some of the agreements that were formalized on Tuesday.
Gulfstream said its deal is for $1 billion in corporate jets that General Dynamics announced in January without giving the customer’s name. Boeing said last month it made a deal to sell five 777 freighters at a list price of $1.8 billion.
Qatar Airways plans to use General Electric Co. jet engines for Boeing 787 and 777 aircraft, according to the White House.
A Chevron statement Tuesday said the company was signing a new agreement at the White House for a previously unannounced $8 billion U.S. Gulf Coast project. The White House statement mentions only a prior deal, announced last month, in which the company would join forces with Qatar Petroleum to build a facility in Qatar.
(Story by Justin Sink and Thomas Black, Edited by Alex Wayne, Justin Blum, and Larry Liebert)
(Reuters) – Boeing Co said on Tuesday its deliveries fell about 37% to 239 planes in the first half of 2019, hurt by the grounding of its best-selling 737 MAX jets, putting it on track to lose the world’s biggest planemaker title after eight years.
Boeing’s deliveries lagged those of European rival Airbus SE, which handed over as many as 389 planes in the same period, up 28% from a year earlier, according to sources.
A new problem identified with the grounded MAX jets last month has delayed the aircraft’s entry into service until at least the end of September, disrupting schedules for airline operators and possibly adding to costs for Boeing.
The American planemaker’s net orders for the first six months was in the negative, with a total of minus 119 net orders. Boeing had minus 125 net orders as of the end of May.
Deliveries of the MAX aircraft were stopped in March, a few days after an Ethiopian Airlines crash killed all 157 people on board. Since then, Boeing has not reported any new order for the MAX planes.
Last month, British Airways-owner IAG signed a letter of intent to order 200 MAXs.
Boeing shares were down 0.5% at $349.4 in morning trade.
(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Anil D’Silva)
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian airline Ural Airlines plans to receive the first of 14 previously ordered Boeing-737 MAX aircraft for leasing in December, Interfax news agency reported, citing its chief executive Sergei Skuratov.
Two Boeing MAX aircraft crashed in Ethiopia in March and Indonesia last October, triggering the global grounding of the aircraft. Regulators must approve the fix and new pilot training before the jets can fly again.
“These are good aircrafts. Mistakes have been made, but they are going to be fixed,” Skuratov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Ural Airlines signed a deal for the leasing of 14 Boeing-737 MAX 8 in the spring of 2018. The delivery was expected between October 2019 and May 2022, Interfax said.
When asked whether the company considered cancelling the deal, Skuratov told the agency that “Boeing has certain advantages: seven hours 45 minutes (of flight) without refueling fully loaded.”
Ural Airlines plans to receive its first Airbus A320neo in August with an additional four jets expected to arrive by the end of 2019, he added.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt,; Editing by William Maclean)
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Airbus SE <AIR.PA> and Boeing Co <BA.N> may pull out of a bidding process to supply Canada with new fighter jets because they say the contest is unfairly tilted towards Lockheed Martin Corp <LMT.N>, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said on Monday.
The three companies competing with Lockheed Martin’s F-35 jet have already complained about the way the contest is being run, and expressed concern some of the specifications clearly favour the U.S. firm, industry sources have said in recent weeks.
Next week the government is due to release the so-called request for proposals – the final list of requirements – for the 88 new planes it wants to buy. The contract is worth between C$15 billion (£9 billion) and C$19 billion and the planes are due to be delivered between 2025 and the early 2030s.
Boeing and Airbus have now formally written to Ottawa expressing concerns about the current requirements, said two sources familiar with the matter who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the situation. The fourth bidder is Sweden’s Saab AB <SAABb.ST>.
Pat Finn, the defence ministry’s top official in charge of procurement, confirmed one of the four companies had sent a formal letter but gave no details. The final request for proposals is due out on July 17 and modifications are still being considered, he said.
“We continue to engage all four of them,” he said in a telephone interview. “We have had some comments (such as) ‘If changes are not made in such a place then we would frankly consider possibly not bidding.'”
“We are looking at those very seriously. I can’t say that we will make every change, but as far as we know we continue to have four bidders in the race.”
Airbus declined to comment. Boeing did not respond to a request for comment.
Canada has been trying unsuccessfully for almost a decade to buy replacements for its ageing F-18 fighters. In May, Ottawa changed the rules to allow Lockheed Martin to submit a bid, prompting Boeing to take the unusual step of announcing publicly it was surprised.
“Anyone who is not Lockheed Martin has expressed a very strong view,” said one of the sources. “We have been pretty clear with the government that this is not a request for proposals that lends to our participation.”
At least one firm has expressed unhappiness that the requirements emphasize the ability to carry out first strikes on targets abroad, a strength of the F-35, said the sources.
The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists the competition is not rigged. Finn said the defence ministry also had made changes to the requirements at the request of Boeing, Airbus and Saab.
Canada is part of the international consortium that developed the F-35. The former Conservative administration said in 2010 it would buy 65 of the jets but later scrapped the decision, triggering years of delays.
Trudeau came to power in 2015 vowing not to buy the F-35 on the grounds that it was too costly, but Ottawa has since softened its line.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
FILE PHOTO: A real-size mock of F-35 fighter jet is displayed at Japan International Aerospace Exhibition in Tokyo
