SINGAPORE: A350 and 787 set to face off

The rival latest-generation widebodies from Airbus and Boeing will go head to head at an air show for the first time at the Singapore air show, which kicks off on 11 February.
Southeast Asia is a key battleground for the contest between the A350 and the 787, with the Asia-Pacific region accounting for one-third of all sales of the two twinjets.

It will be the first full appearance at an air show by the A350-900. The aircraft’s last public appearance was a fly-past towards the end of the 2013 Paris air show, a week after making its maiden flight.
While the A350 – bearing registration MSN 003 – will take part in the flying display, it is not certain whether it will be joined by the 787. Boeing will only confirm that the Qatar Airways-liveried Dreamliner will be on the static display, although the US manufacturer did memorably return to air show flying at Farnborough  2012 after a 30-year hiatus with a Qatar 787.

All eyes will be on whether the airframers can secure further deals for their new types. Singapore Airlines has already split its loyalties. The city-state’s flag carrier has firm orders for 70 A350-900s, while it is also launch customer for the 787-10, with 30 on order.

Indonesia’s Garuda and Philippine Airlines are looking to the A350 or 787 as a possible replacement for A330s, while Malaysia Airlines is evaluating the A350 and 787 to replace 777-200ERs, although it may plump for the high-gross-weight version of the A330, according to Flightglobal’s Ascend advisory service.
While the Singapore show – held at the Changi Exhibition Centre near the island’s international airport – is unlikely to see the sort of eye-watering mega orders witnessed at Dubai in November, the continued buoyancy of the Southeast Asian market is likely to see plenty of activity for the main airframers.

Singapore Airlines may choose the show to announce an order for the Boeing 777X, joining the three big Gulf airlines which ordered the long-range twinjet at Dubai, as well as its Asian rival Cathay Pacific. Even if Singapore Airlines fails to place a commitment, other heavy hitters in the region may be keen to lock-in delivery slots.

We might see confirmation of an order for 20 A380s from new kid on the leasing block Doric – Airbus expects the contract to be signed in the first quarter. And Indonesia’s Lion Air could use the show to announce its engine choice for the hundreds of A320s it has on order.

On the defence side, Singapore has requested a major upgrade for its 60 F-16s. If the government decides to compete it, it could prompt a battle between original equipment manufacturer Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems to be lead contractor – and between Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to supply the latest-generation radar.

The island state is also a security co-operation participant in the F-35 programme, and its defence minister recently witnessed a flight demonstration of the short take-off and vertical landing B variant in the USA. Meanwhile, Singapore’s airlift requirements should also be interesting, with reports that the government is interested in the Airbus A330 MRTT and Boeing’s C-17.

Historic head-to-heads
There have been some memorable face-offs between competitor aircraft at air shows. Here are just some of them:
Paris 1969: A new era dawns as Europe’s rising supersonic star Concorde squares up with the USA’s just-flown jumbo, the Boeing 747
Paris 1971: A return for Concorde, this time a chance to compare it with its Russian counterpart, the Tupolev Tu-144
Paris 1973: Airbus emerges on the scene with the A300B. Not to be outdone, Lockheed’s L1011 TriStar joins it for one day
Farnborough 1986: Regional rivalry between the BAe 146 and the Fokker 100
Paris 1995: Widebody war as Airbus showed its A330 and A340, and Boeing its 777-200
Farnborough 2004: Boeing and Northrop Grumman unveil full-scale mock-ups of their competing Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) demonstrators
Paris 2011: Battle of the big boys, with the Airbus A380 in the flying display and the Boeing 747-8 in the static.

Flight Global 

Lion Air to convert 787 order into narrowbodies

Lion Air plans to convert its order for five Boeing 787 aircraft into narrowbodies, says its president director Rusdi Kirana. It will likely be converted into Boeing 737s. Kirana explains that the slots constraints in Indonesia, especially out of Jakarta, means that airlines require jets bigger than the 787. He would not list the widebody aircraft types the group is evaluating, but says that Lion has plans to add widebodies to its fleet as part of its domestic expansion plans.

Flight Global

Boeing Rolls Out First 787 Dreamliner at Increased Production Rate

• Program achieves 10 per month rate, highest ever production for a twin-aisle airplane

EVERETT, Wash., Jan. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) has rolled out the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner built at the rate of 10 airplanes per month. The airplane, a 787-8 and the 155th Dreamliner built, will be delivered to International Lease Finance Corp. for operation by Aeromexico.

The new 10 per month rate is the highest ever for a twin-aisle airplane. The 787 program has now increased its production rate three times in just over a year, including to five airplanes per month in November 2012 and seven per month in May 2013.

EVERETT, Wash., Jan. 24, 2014 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] has rolled out the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner built at the rate of 10 airplanes per month.
Pictured here is the airplane, a 787-8, which will be delivered to International Lease Finance Corp. for operation by Aeromexico.

"This rate increase reflects the continued strong demand for the 787," said Larry Loftis, vice president and general manager, 787 program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "A disciplined approach that combined employee teamwork with technology was key to achieving the higher rate."
Boeing assembles and delivers 787s in two locations: Everett, Wash., and North Charleston, S.C.

"The entire 787 team is now focused on capturing efficiencies at this historic level of production, as well as meeting our commitment to increase the production rate to 12 per month in 2016 and to 14 per month by the end of the decade," Loftis said.

To date, 115 787s have been delivered to 16 customers. The program has 1,030 total orders from 60 customers worldwide.

This airplane will be the fourth 787 operated by Aeromexico and will be used on the airline's Mexico City - London Heathrow route.

Boeing Media

At the rate of 10 airplanes a month without any hitches or glitches in the production and manufacturing chain process, or yet, the quality assurance aspect which includes the current mechanical and electrical setbacks facing the 787 program, assuming everything is constant, which include

a. no more orders from customers
b. no cancelled or revoked purchase contracts
c. no addition, revision to existing contracts or any other event

Given this scenario,  it would take Boeing an estimated 91.5 months which is equivalent to 7 years, 8 months and 15 days to fully deliver. The 787 design has endeared a lot of negative setback, and while the positive outweighs the negative, I hope that Boeing lives up to expectation, and not in the bid to push out orders, quality is compromised.

Air New Zealand converts options for two 787-9s

Photo Credit: Flight Global, Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand has converted options for two Boeing 787-9 aircraft, despite still being "hindered by the delay of the 787". Speaking as he unveiled the airline's half-year accounts for the six months ending 31 December 2011, chief executive Rob Fyfe said Air New Zealand has converted two 787-9 options, bringing its orders for the type to 10.

The carrier has agreed on new contractual terms and a modified delivery schedule with Boeing and its first 787-9 is scheduled to arrive in the second quarter of 2014.
Fyfe said although the airline is benefiting from more efficient aircraft such as the Boeing 777-300ER,  it is "still hindered by the delay of the 787".

He added: "Despite the extremely frustrating and costly delays, we strongly believe the 787-9 is the right aircraft for Air New Zealand and worth the wait." Interim net profit for the half-year fell by 61% to NZ$38 million ($31.8 million), down from NZ$98 million in the corresponding period a year ago.

Normalised earnings before tax were at NZ$33 million, down by 71% against the same period a year ago, the carrier said. Under New Zealand reporting rules, normalised earnings exclude net gains or losses on derivatives.

Air New Zealand carried 0.6% fewer passengers in the half-year, compared with the corresponding period in 2010. RPKs declined by 2.6% and ASKs declined by 1.0%. Passenger load factor declined by 1.4 percentage points to 82.8%.

"Acknowledging this disappointing result, we have already commenced a series of initiatives to improve the airline's profitability by more than $195 million per annum by [Fiscal Year 20]15 through a combination of cost reduction, improved efficiencies and revenue growth," said Fyfe.

"The price of jet fuel has doubled over the last three years, but a weak global economy is hindering our ability to pass on these higher fuel costs to passengers," added Fyfe. "Therefore, we have been moving quickly to adapt, to gain greater efficiencies and to develop into a stronger, more profitable business."
Other factors the carrier gave for the weak result were the continued weakness in the travel markets of Europe and Japan. It also expressed concerns about overcapacity in the industry.

The carrier will cut 441 jobs by the end of its current fiscal year, said Fyfe, adding that 266 involve the non-replacement of roles and the non-renewal of contracts, of which 193 have already been achieved. The carrier will begin consultations with the affected staff on the remaining 175 roles to be cut.

Flight Global

Boeing Targets June For 787 Surge Line Startup

Boeing will activate the 787 surge line at Everett in June as it continues to ramp up production to five units per month by year-end. Confirming the long-expected move, Pat Shanahan, senior VP and general manager of Airplane Programs at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, says the additional capacity is “risk protection.” The surge line is being put together at the former site of the 767 assembly area in Building 40-24.

As recently as last summer, Boeing described the surge line as a precautionary move and suggested that it may not be required. Now, with delays continuing to affect the production rate and only five 787-8s in service, the company sees the activation of the surge facility as vital to reaching its delivery targets for 2012.

“When we go to the 787-9 we’re rate protected if we want to run the -9s down one line and -8s on the other,” says Shanahan, adding that while the existing line rate is at 2.5 per month, the supply chain is “already performing at 3.5 per month.” Speaking at the Barclays Capital Industrial Select Conference in Miami, Shanahan says in terms of ramp-up and overall development “the pendulum has finally shifted from risk to opportunity.Beyond development, it’s been pretty exciting retiring the risk around the development on 747-8 and 787. Certification last year was a real watershed for us, and now there is a real focus on enter-into-service.”

The surge line replicates the existing 787 assembly line in the adjacent Building 40-26 and, together with the Charleston facility coming on stream this summer in South Carolina, will be part of a planned ramp-up to 10 airplanes per month by the end of 2013. The jump to 3.5 per month is expected “within a couple of units, and we’ll be ready to go there,” he adds.

Accelerating the rate hinges on receiving parts 100% complete from Wichita and Charleston, as well as clearing the backlog of aircraft yet to be completed at Everett. The large sub-assemblies that make up each 787 are now arriving “100% complete,” says Shanahan, who adds that “the cut-off of when we’ll be completing aircraft in the factory will be in the [line number] ‘60s,’ and we’re on plan to do that or maybe improve on that.”

Despite the recent shim issue, which he confirms will take between 10 days and two weeks per aircraft to complete in parallel with other completion tasks, Shanahan says the “No. 1 priority is to get to rate. We carved out a separate production system to focus on the already built aircraft, and those are in various stages of completion. The work remaining on the latest is finishing the interior and running functional tests. With the earlier aircraft we still have some secondary structure to complete, some rewiring to do; we have interiors to complete, and we still have to do some functional testing.”

Of the roughly 40 aircraft involved, Shanahan says the most recent off the line have 500-1,000 jobs remaining to complete, while the earlier units have 5,000-7,000 jobs. “It’s an order of magnitude difference,” he adds.

Detailing the shim issue, Shanahan says the gap between the fuselage skin and support structure in the aft fuselage occurred at the tapering end of a longeron 18 ft. long and 8 in. wide. “The shim is about the size of legal paper–roughly 17 x 8 in.–and is about two sheets of paper thick. When the shim is installed, “we have to jack [up] the aircraft and remove a fastener and it just takes time–there’s no complexity–it's just work and it's time we don’t have.”

Aviation Week  

United Seeking Damages For Delayed 787s

United Continental Holdings for the first time confirms it is seeking damages from Boeing for 787 delivery delays.
The operator has 50 firm orders for the 787, a legacy of the Continental Airlines-United Airlines merger in 2010. The first batch of aircraft are 787-8s from Continental’s order, which originally had expected to add its first 787 in March 2009 before Boeing initiated a series of program delays.

The latest delay hit United in October, when sources confirmed to Aviation Week that Boeing was having issues completing 787s rolling off the production line. That problem forced United to revise its 2012 delivery expectation down from six 787s throughout the year to just five, all to be delivered in the second half of the year.

Now United, in its 2011 10-K report filed late Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, reaffirms its 2012 delivery schedule of 19 Boeing 737-900ERs and five 787s. But for the first time the airline also says it is seeking damages for the delays.

“The company is currently in discussions with Boeing over potential compensation related to delays in the 787 aircraft deliveries,” says United. However it adds, “The company is not able to estimate the ultimate success, amount of, nature or timing of any potential recoveries from Boeing over such delays.”

This confirmation follows some highly publicized claims for damages against Boeing for failure to deliver 787s on schedule, with financially troubled Air India reportedly seeking a seven-figure compensation package. Air New Zealand also has confirmed it is in talks with Boeing about compensation, while other airlines are understood to have taken 767s as temporary replacements for their delayed 787s.

Boeing, which does not comment on such negotiations, makes little reference to the issue in its own 10-K from Feb. 9, although it acknowledges that “a number of our customers may have contractual remedies that may be implicated by program delays. We continue to address customer claims and requests for other contractual relief as they arise.”

Aviation Week