Norwegian Air doesn´t think to change the 787 with the A350 XWB although the delay of the first 787s has forced them to lease 2 A340s and they will ask for discounts as part of delay compensation.

Norwegian Air CEO Bjoern Kjos said he’s looking to buy more Boeing 787s to add long-haul routes even as the company’s first Dreamliners remain on hold after the model was grounded.

Europe’s fourth-biggest discount carrier is starting to map out its needs beyond the eight 787-8s due by 2015, and may order the larger 787-9 as early as this year because the plane’s per- seat costs make it attractive, Kjos said.

Norwegian Air is among airlines affected by the idling of the global Dreamliner fleet on 16/Jan in the wake of incidents with lithium-ion batteries.

“There’ll be a delay that hits us on the first two aircraft,” Kjos said. Norwegian Air has leased two Airbus A340s to provide cover, one for 2 months, the other for 3, during which time the 787s should arrive, he said.

Norwegian Air is scheduled to introduce 3 787s this year, 4 next and the 8th in 2015, with 5 leased and 3 bought outright. The size of a follow-on order has yet to be determined, though the planes will be purchased directly and the company may seek discounts as part of delay compensation.

Kjos, who spoke in London, said the largest Dreamliner, the 787-10, is economically attractive but doesn’t offer sufficient range. Airbus’ competing A350 has been ruled out because of the commitment to the Boeing jet, which was available first, he said.

Based on the article “Norwegian Air stays loyal to Boeing 787 for long-term growth” published in Bloomberg

Delta Air Lines prefers A330s or B777s to update the wide-body fleet, instead of considering the new B787s or the A350 XWB.

Delta Airlines is considering buying as many as 20 wide-body jets from Airbus or Boeing  with a list value of at least $4.3 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

The order under study is for 10 to 20 Airbus A330s or Boeing 777s, said the people, who declined to be identified because the negotiations are private. Deliveries would start within a few years, one person said. Delta already has both plane types in its fleet.

Purchasing the jets would bridge Delta’s wide-body needs until the end of the decade, when Airbus’s more efficient A350 and Boeing’s 787-10 Dreamliner will have been in service for several years and would have any kinks worked out, one person said. Delta CEO Richard Anderson has said he prefers buying established models with proven reliability, which are cheaper over the long term, even if they consume more fuel.

“Delta has the most contrarian fleet strategy in the industry,” said Richard Aboulafia, known consultant at Teal Group. “Others have exuberance for the fuel efficiency race, and Delta is saying there are other ways of getting to the same goal. And it’s working for them.”

Delta signaled earlier this month that it might consider new twin-aisle planes, when President Ed Bastian said at a JPMorgan Chase & Co. conference that the airline may find “opportunities in the marketplace selectively to add to our wide bodies.” Bastian said Delta would talk to both Airbus and Boeing.

But Delta hasn’t decided on long-term aircraft needs such as the 787 or A350. “I don’t see that there’s going to be a need for making a decision on the long-term wide-body fleet anytime soon,” Mr. Bastian said at a press briefing in London.

Based on the article “Delta Said to Study Order for $4.3 Billion in Wide-Bodies” published in Bloomberg

‘Big challenges’ of the new CEO of Spirit AeroSystems

Spirit AeroSystems has announced that Larry A. Lawson will be the new president and CEO- chief executive officer, effective 6/April.

Mr. Lawson, formerly executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics business segment, succeeds Jeff Turner, 60, who has been Spirit's CEO since the company's formation in 2005.

"Larry met all of the board's criteria. He is a well-known and highly respected leader in the industry and has outstanding experience managing multiple premier aircraft platforms efficiently and profitably across a large-scale business."

Spirit AeroSystems, the world’s biggest aerostructures supplier,  is a company in transition; the aerostructures supplier is moving from a strategy of diversification to one of simplification.

Diversification

Spirit had a strong need to expand its customer base when it formed in 2005 after Boeing sold its Wichita commercial aircraft division. In its first 2 years, Spirit grew from one customer, Boeing, adding 7 customers with new development programs, with a fair amount of complexity, he said. Airbus, Gulfstream, Sikorsky, Bombardier and Mitsubishi are the new customers all around the world.

The new programs were timed to be completed in a serial fashion. But as program schedules slid, getting the resources required to accomplish all the work became challenging.

Spirit has had various degrees of success in transitioning from a Boeing cost center to an independent business, said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group. “The company successfully transitioned from being a 100 percent Boeing shop to being a global company”, he said.

It aggressively sought and won new work in the U.S. and Europe and expanded its portfolio. “And they discovered a lot of it wasn’t costed out properly,” Aboulafia said.

“Building large aircraft structures solely for Boeing is different from independently pricing work packages and winning them”, he said.

SImplification

Now Spirit is focused on its current customers, execution and “creating value” from diversification.

Spirit’s contract for the Airbus A350 program “is a better executed contract than maybe some of the other ones,” said Anderson CFO, who watched the process unfold. “(It’s) more thoughtful. We got a lot of collaboration with Airbus as we went through the process.”

The challenge continues to be in getting costs in line on development programs that are in the early stage of design and moving into production, he said.

Today, Spirit’s biggest consumers of new program capital are the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 XWB. This year will be one of the bigger years of “capital spend,” he said.

During 2013, 787 production is to increase to 10 a month, A350 volumes are rising and 737 production is moving up to 42 per month.

Spirit’s biggest challenges on the A350 program include engineering changes and its supply chain, Anderson said. It’s a “heavily procured” aircraft, Anderson said.

“We happen to have to go out and procure our A350 long-term contract (with suppliers) in a very busy supply chain with composite orientation on much of it,” he said.

Aboulafia said it also must reduce costs on the Airbus A350 program. 

 The new CEO must be able to improve costs on its programs in production and successfully move programs from development into production.

Based on the article “‘Big challenges’ await Jeff Turner’s replacement as CEO of Spirit AeroSystems” published in The Wichita Eagle

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2013/02/20/2684341/big-challenges-await-jeff-turners.html#storylink=cpy

Mtorres in the A350 XWB Program. Top innovation from Spain

MTorres is one of the top manufacturers of CFRP tape-laying &fiber placement machines. Not really known in public but a Top Company & Key Partner when you ask to anyone working on composites. They have worked its way to the top echelon of advanced CFRP manufacturing with equipment in Airbus and Boeing, and their primary Tier 1 suppliers.

AFP

“What we have begun to see is our equipment being purchased by firms further down the supply chain, including Tier 2 and perhaps even Tier 3 companies interested in supplying to the OEMs. In other words, our customer list is expanding, and concurrently so is the accessibility to the technology, such as automation. We are “spreading out” the technology” Manuel Torres –founder and CEO- said in an interview.

Product range includes ATL automatic tape layers, AFP automatic fiber placement machines, 5-axis gantry routing machines/flexible tooling, ultrasonic inspection systems, ultrasonic cutting systems, 5-axis gantry laser scribing machines/flexible tooling, assembly jigs.

ATL

 As an example and according to Airbus, the automated wing-cover production process will use more than 800 metric Tonnes of carbon fiber annually at the facility’s maximum production rate. 

Hexcel carbon fibre prepeg M21E content on each A350 XWB is worth over $4 million

In the last week´s JEC Composites show in Paris, Hexcel provided details of its work on the Airbus A350 XWB, which takes carbon composites to a new level and represents the largest contract in the company’s history, with overall revenues of between $4-5 billion.

Hexcel’s total content on each A350 XWB is now worth over $4 million and it secured the contract by developing a complete composite proposal, including carbon fibre prepreg and associated products.

The company’s experience in intermediate modulus carbon fibres was exploited to design HexTow IMA to Airbus requirements and HexPly M21E prepreg resin matrix developed to ensure that the very high performance properties in the fibre are fully optimised in the cured prepreg laminates.

One composite structure built using HexPly M21E/IMA is the rear fuselage.

To meet the increasing demand for HexTow carbon fibre, new lines have been added at the company’s PAN precursor facility in Decatur, Alabama new carbon lines commissioned in Salt Lake City, Utah and a first European carbon fibre manufacturing plant etsablished in Illescas, Spain.

Click the image to watch the video of  Hexcel @ A350 XWB

With the resin film manufactured in UK, the UD prepreg is converted at Hexcel facilities in France, Spain, Germany and the USA from where it is supplied to nearby Airbus facilities and the Tier 1s throughout Europe and the USA.

This has resulted in a highly effective supply chain model for prepreg production, resulting in shorter lead times, greater responsiveness, reduced transportation of materials, point of use delivery, less packaging, reduced inventory and less requirement for cold storage space.

Lufthansa orders A320s, A380 .... but 777-300ERs instead of A350 XWB

The Lufthansa’s Supervisory Board has approved the acquisition of 100 A320 Family aircraft, 2 A380s and 6 Boeing 777-300ERs. Lufthansa will receive the A380s and 30 baseline A320s, while Swiss will take 6  777-300ERs that will replace Airbus A340-300s.

In 2012 Lufthansa's group fleet decreased by 9 aircraft, to 627, from the previous year but the company has deployed larger types to keep capacity stable. The group is intending to introduce 34 new aircraft to the fleet this year, and had previously said it was preparing to order another 108.

"Ongoing modernization of the fleet as well as strict capacity management were of great help in maintaining competitiveness last year," says Lufthansa Group. "236 new aircraft are currently on our order list".

Lufthansa Group's annual report - which does not cover new latest fleet acquisition - details 133 aircraft on order up to 2018, of which 69 are A320-family types. The long-haul component comprises seven A380s and 15 747-8s, as well as 5 777Fs and 3 A330s.

Lufthansa, has a splitted long-haul fleet&orders with A330/A340s, A380s, 747-8i and 747s, but no orders for A350 as of today.

The Vertical Stabilizer is assembled in Stade (Germany)

Lufthansa is seeking to unify standards for engines and cockpits across its group of five airlines to boost purchasing power; the aim is to find a common denominator to place one single order and negotiate more favorable terms and conditions for aircraft. In its long-haul fleet, Luthansa will pare down its 6 aircraft types -in 16 different versions- to 4 aircraft versions.


Lufthansa is emerging as one of the possible launch customers for Boeing’s proposed 777X. The airline is including the aircraft in its long-haul fleet evaluation that is to be decided later this year. The carrier is looking at the Airbus A350-900/1000, more Boeing 747-8s and the 777X, company sources say. The 787 is not under consideration as it is too small for Lufthansa’s requirements.

Lufthansa Group is the Airbus´s largest airline customer, with a total of 532 aircraft ordered and also Airbus’ biggest operator worldwide with 385 Airbus aircraft currently in service. These include: 271 A320 Family, 41 A330s, 63 A340s, and 10 A380s.

Based on the article “Lufthansa orders 100 A320s, plus A380s and 777-300ERs” published in FlightGlobal

Rolls Royce is the sole engine supplier but not the exclusive engine supplier for the A350-900.

The phrase is from Rolls-Royce's Robert Nuttall on A350 Trent XWB: "RR a sole engine supplier not the exclusive engine supplier."

And it is interesting as the Trent XWB has just obtained certification some weeks ago. It is a very good news for the A350XWB because the TrentXWB certification means that the engines are now safe to fly.

Some days after the certification (a bit late in the development phase of the Program?), an article mentioned a possible second engine for the A350-800 and A350-900. Indeed, Pratt & Whitney and Airbus would be reportedly studying a possible Geared Turbo Fan (GTF) on the smaller A350XWB. However, there won’t be any second engine for the A350-1000 because Rolls Royce has the exclusivity on that version.
So basically there could potentially be a second engine option on the A350-800 and A350-900. It sound very strange that this proposal comes in a so late stage of the development.

Airbus and Boeing seems that are moving to a unique engine option. Previous Airbus aircraft have two or three engine options. But the A350 XWB has, as of today, a unique engine option with Rolls-Royce.

Boeing is also moving in the same direction; in the original B777-300 and the -200ER there were three engine options and in the current B777-300ER there is a unique engine option with General Electric. Fot the future 777X, the sole source engine will be also GE with its GE9X. 

A sole engine configuration reduces the development costs but increases the risks (with any issue or delay in the engine, the aircraft is delayed) and reduces the options for airlines to harmonize the engine maintenance of their fleet (for example Air France with a fleet of GE engines and it´s new orders for 787 and the pending order for A350s).