Something I didn’t see reported here.
The news abot the A320 orders is great.
But when will Airbus finally get their act together with their new projects?
Extact from ATWonline
Airbus is moving toward another radical rethink of its A350 XWB that may include a composite fuselage that will combat the 787 and leapfrog the 777-200ER.
According to Airbus insiders, the latest revision will push the A350’s entry into service to at least 2014.
The manufacturer unveiled a radical upgrade of its A350 offering at the Farnborough Airshow (ATWOnline, July 18) with a cabin 12 in. wider than the A330 cabin cross-section and an all-new carbon fiber wing capable of Mach 0.85 cruise. However, key customer ILFC flagged caution. Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy told ATWOnline that Airbus has “pretty much done what we had asked but we haven’t seen guarantees or pricing.”
At the time, Udvar-Hazy also questioned whether the plane-builder would be able to take on both the 787 and 777 with a single platform. And he warned that “there are challenges for [just] one engine and one wing and there are still [engine] issues for the A350-1000 as airlines want two engine choices.”
By: bring_it_on - 8th November 2006 at 15:00
I wonder what this revision will cost them interms of Penalties . The original A-350 ( the suped up A330) had firm orders , the change in the Design to a bigger XWB and a delay of 4 years may cost airbus close to 1 billion dollars in penalties according to the Current EADS CFO .
Penalty payments to airlines that ordered a now-abandoned, less ambitious version of the A350 could reach up to €800 million (US$1 billion) in the last quarter of the year, Ring said
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/08/business/EU_FIN_EARNS_France_EADS.php
By: Distiller - 8th November 2006 at 06:12
It’s a little OT, but I didn’t want to start a new thread.
Christian Streiff, ex-Airbus-CEO has become CEO of the French automobile conglomerate PSA Peugeot-Citroen.
Mymy, how easily those people swap jobs… From food to aerospace to cars and so on. And in every job they are wonderfully qualified etc.
I’m an old fashioned guy who still thinks that if your heart is in aerospace you won’t change. But I understand that he has to feed his kids and keep his wife happy.
By: bring_it_on - 26th October 2006 at 07:37
Ouch!!! Where’s Leahy ?? How is he going to sell a CFRP excl. fuesalage similar to 787 when he has PUBLICALLY CALLED THE 787 A “CHEAP PLSATIC CHINESE COPY OF THE A330” ? What happened to the plan of selling CHEAP A330’S AND EATING OUT THE 787 ?? Good to see that Airbus is waking up to the market requirment to which boeing clearly responded when they launched the 7E7 program . My points of contention are this –
* If they dont go with the A350XWB which competed more with the 777 then the 787 – Then how do they check the crazy sale of the 777 specially the larger 777-300ER which in a oil crunch has eaten the 747-400 market ??
* Airbus is in a catch 22 situation . What do they do ? They can compete with a A330,767,787 type aircraft or compete with the 777 which is owning its market currently . Their attempt to do both according to the Report ( and there are about a dozen of these reports) led to many like Steven to tell them that it wasnt enough . THE XWB WAS NOT A ALL CFRP FUES. like the 787 but it was a STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION . However steven and other are saying what I and some members and many analysts (eg -Richard Aboulafia) have been saying since farnborough 06 that technologically the XWB is not pushing the technology to the level of the 787 yet wants to compete with not only the smaller 787 but also the larger 777 which by the way is at the top of its game .
Here is what might happen –
Airbus might decide to go for a superior All Composite Fues. XWB which will push the EIS from 2012 to 2014 by the earliest ( for the -9000 varient) and the size and design of the aircraft will pretty much stay the same or might become a little more competitve against the 787 market !!
How will the market respond ?
The 787 EIS date is estimated at 2008 1 or 2nd quart. which would give it something like 6-7 years of unchallenged sales moreover the -8 varient will largely go unchallenged becaue it doesnt have a competitor . Boeing has 450 orders on hand with 34 customers . Expect about the same no. from Now on till 2013-14 or so which is a large chunk of the mid sized market .
By investing 15 billion dollars on a shady market strategy airbus has lost ground on the mid sized market which accounts for 40% of the Sales of jetliners ( cost wise ) . It would take a lot more then the XWB to make up lost ground specially when boeing intends to offer the Y3 in about 2016-2020 timeframe .
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October 26, 2006 at 6:52 am