The strongest prospect for an A350 order in Australia would be from Virgin Australia, which has been officially open to considering an order for the Airbus or from Boeing’s competing 787 range even before Boeing began to make serious references to going ahead in the near future with its 777-X program, which is widely tipped to be officially launched next month.
The issue that strikes the casual observer of Virgin Australia as ‘obvious’ is that of finance for any new fleet decisions.
However, depending on how the various major partners in Virgin Australia Holdings sort out their potentially overlapping ambitions for the carrier, a solution might be for such a partner to ‘invest’ some of its Airbus or Boeing orders in the growth of Virgin Australia.
On the other hand, Qantas is considering the Airbus A350 and Boeing 777X as potential replacements for its ageing fleet of Boeing 747 jumbo jets.
In a presentation held in Seattle some weeks ago, ahead of today's delivery flight of Jetstar's first Boeing 787, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce flagged what he called "the next big decisions" on the airline's fleet.
Qantas would seem to be a less likely prospect for the A350 series given its dual commitments to a ‘simplified’ fleet with fewer types, and its access to 787 Dreamliner options, between 2017 and 2020.
It seems that you could get reasonable odds on Airbus ramping up production rates on the A350 in the near future, and that would change the outlook for sales in Australia in a very positive way.
Based on the article “Qantas mulls Airbus A350, Boeing 777X to replace Boeing 747s” published in Australian Business Traveller.
Etihad Airways chooses not to be a launch partner for new commercial aircraft, preferring to wait until any potential problems have been resolved. And this cautious move has paid dividends this year as Etihad escaped 787 and A380 problems.
James Hogan, president and CEO of Etihad, revealed the Abu Dhabi carrier makes a conscious decision not to be a launch customer, a claim usually viewed as a proud moment.
“While we are an airline which prides itself on having a young, modern fleet, we are never the first to introduce a new aircraft type. This is our choice,” Hogan said. “We prefer to wait until new aircraft types have entered service with other carriers, and any technical issues are resolved, before we introduce the same models.”
The cautious decision is typical of how Etihad has grown its business, and flies in the face of the approaches taken by Gulf rival carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways.
Dubai-based Emirates is highly expected to be announced as a launch partner for Boeing’s new 777X fleet later this year and was one of the first airlines to begin using the Airbus A380.
Likewise Qatar Airways will be the first customer to receive Airbus’ new A350.
Etihad will have been congratulating themselves for their wary approach in January this year however, as all Boeing 787 Dreamliners were grounded, including Qatar’s fleet of 5.
Instead, Hogan confirmed Etihad will take 41 787-9 Dreamliners from the start of next year, the Airbus A380 – which has also suffered minor issues since its launch – late in 2014 and the A350 from 2017.
Based on the article “Etihad CEO: «We Choose Not To Launch New Aircraft»” published in Gulf Business
Boeing shares a healthy and “strong” relationship with fast-growing Qatar Airways, despite all the problems faced by its beleaguered Dreamliner aircraft, a senior Boeing executive has said.
“He [Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways’ CEO] has been amazingly supportive [about Dreamliner’s problems] and I appreciate that, Boeing appreciates that,” said Marty Bentrott, vice president of sales at Boeing Commercial.
“The relationship is very strong; it’s kind of like a marriage. Sometimes things are okay and sometimes you’re fighting a little bit. He has high expectations and why shouldn’t he, he runs one of the greatest airlines in the world,” said Bentrott.
Qatar Airways, one of the 787’s major buyers, was forced to scale down expansion plans because of the grounding of all 787s in January this year.
“I wanted to launch 15 routes this year, now I can only launch 10. I am very unhappy,” Al Baker said in May.
While Bentrott acknowledged the issue, he stressed that it had been resolved.
“There have been some challenges and I do not think any airline CEO would be feeling very positive if they had 5 airplanes sitting on the ground. We’ve moved on past that and I think our biggest focus right now is helping that airline restore the reliability levels of the 787 to what we’ve promised and they should expect.”
Bentrott would not comment whether Boeing compensated Qatar Airways following the grounding, after Al Baker said he would demand remuneration.
The relationship also showed signs of healing again at the Paris Air Show this year, where Al Baker announced a commitment for more Boeing planes.
“Qatar is one of the strongest growing airlines in the region and with the development of the new airport in Doha, there’s going to be a lot of aircraft both delivered to Qatar Airways and sold in the future to Qatar Airways,” Bentrott said.
“They, like Emirates, will start looking at a replacement cycle of some of their existing products probably around 2020, so the demand in Qatar is going to be very strong.”
Based on the article “Boeing, Qatar Airways Are In A Kind Of “Marriage” – Senior Exec” published in Golf Business.
Airbus has internally informed that the MSN4 prototype will be painted in the forward fuselage with Qatar Airways livery. It is not the first time with a launch customer logo in a prototype but some people inside Airbus does not agree with that.
In a letter to the local newspaper "La Depeche", an Airbus employee denounces «the stranglehold of the Qatar» and «the power of money» of this airline. And he has sent the Airbus internal & confidential memo –dated on 2/October- to the newspaper.
Airbus has confirmed that this kind of sponsorship is quite standard with launch customers; "30 years ago, in 1982, Airbus painted an A310 with the colors of the two launch customers Lufthansa and Swiss. This is a win-win agreement.”
With the A380 flight tests, the logo of Emirates was painted on the belly fairing of the superjumbo in one prototype. Dubai based airline ordered 90 aircraft of A380.
The MSN4 will be painted early 2014 in Toulouse and will be used "to make the promotion of the new aircraft before its first delivery expected in the second part of next year".
Based on the article “A350 : la peinture qui fait jaser” published in La Depeche
Airbus in Broughton is responsible for assembling wings for the entire family of Airbus commercial aircraft which includes the A320 Family, A330 Family, A380 and the A350 XWB.
With 6,300 employees across its 700 acre site, you could be forgiven for expecting Airbus in Broughton to be an impersonal place to work.
One aspect that really comes across when visiting the site though is the sense of family felt by workers here.
Walking around the plant there is a huge sense of pride, enthusiasm and teamwork emitting from the staff, all of whom are managed by Paul McKinlay, head of Airbus in Broughton. He has been in his current role at the site, which is situated in a Flintshire village near Chester, for 3 years this month but has been working at the factory for 23 years.
Speaking of developments at Airbus in Broughton over that time, he said: “It’s a tremendous success story. “We’ve invested £1.8bn here over the last 10 years on the back of tremendous product performance and great success in the market place. Recent expansions amount to £42m over the last 18 months and include a new north entry to the site, an extension to the Long Range Equipping building ahead of a production ramp-up for the A350 and a new station for the aircraft part carrier Beluga plane to allow its cargo doors to be opened in strong winds.
McKinlay began his career at Airbus in Broughton working at the factory during his summer holidays whilst studying for a chemistry degree from the then UMIST (the University of Manchester Institute of Science of Technology).
Asked about how he goes about managing such a large number of employees, the 44-year-old said: “To some degree it’s simple, treat others like you like to be treated yourself. I spend a lot of time on communication and also think it’s very important to recognise the importance of the site to the community, the economy and the UK.”
The father-of-two, who also has a stepson working at the factory, sees openness as key to his management philosophy.
He said: “I don’t have an office, I sit in an open plan area so I’m more approachable. “I spend quite a lot of time on the shop floor and have regular question and answer forums for the employees. Every day there’s a different challenge.”
“One of my favorite moments was when the employees saw the A350 take off for the first time. “I’ve been here 23 years and it was only the second time I’d seen a first flight. “We had a big screen and a party for the staff.”
Speaking about the challenge of attracting young people to pursue manufacturing as a profession, McKinlay said: “I think the culture is changing but it’s an ongoing problem throughout manufacturing in the UK.
“It’s about encouraging both males and females that manufacturing apprenticeships are as good if not better than going to university and that it’s a viable alternative.“It’s not a gender but a cultural issue in the UK.
“It takes time for perceptions to change but we’re having success, people are starting to realize we’re hi-tech and it’s not the traditional image of a dirty manufacturing industry.”
Currently staff at Airbus in Broughton are working on an order book of 5,190 aircraft, equivalent to around 7 years’ production.
Based on the article “Big Interview: Paul McKinlay, head of the Airbus factory in Broughton” published in Liverpool daily post.
Attention in Japan has now turned to Boeing's battle with Airbus to supply JAL's rival ANA Holdings .
ANA's boss, Shinichiro Ito, said last month that his airline would consider possible delivery delay risks when choosing replacements for its older long-haul 777 jets.
With the world's biggest fleet of Dreamliners and being the first airline to fly the innovative carbon composite plane, ANA has been most affected by delays. The aircraft's grounding this year has resulted in millions of dollars of losses.
Boeing is widely seen as the favorite in that tussle, although some analysts think ANA will buy Airbus wide-body planes to hedge against delay and avoid getting left with older fleets while competitors fly new jets that consume less fuel.
Like JAL, ANA is looking to buy around 25-30 jets to retire its aging long-haul 777s and is considering the A350-1000 and the 777X as replacements.
A win for Boeing would offer a keen incentive for the U.S. company to stay deeply rooted in Japan, and industry sources expect a lobbying backlash as pressure from the aerospace industry's political backers comes to bear.
And at ANA, political pressure may bear more fruit. In a reversal of roles, ANA now enjoys a closer relationship with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a position once enjoyed by flag carrier JAL before its bankruptcy and bailout in 2010.
ANA this month won double the number of new landing slots at Tokyo's Haneda airport, prompting a rare public complaint by JAL that it had been unfairly treated.
After the JAL setback, ANA is fast becoming a "can't lose at any cost" deal for Boeing, whose executives are under pressure to "do everything they can" to win the deal, said an industry source close to the U.S. planemaker.
The United States' close diplomatic ties with Japan, a key U.S. ally in East Asia, could help Boeing's cause, according to industry sources.
But some analysts think ANA will buy Airbus wide-body planes to hedge against delay and avoid getting left with older fleets while competitors fly new jets that consume less fuel. The Airbus A350 is due to enter service in 2015, while Boeing's competing 777X is not expected before 2020.
"For ANA, relying on Boeing for 777-Xs means running the risk that JAL, their direct competitor, will get their A350s as 777 replacements years before ANA does," wrote Richard Aboulafia, analyst at Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia.
"Therefore, an ANA A350 order is likely." But despite last week's victory, Airbus is widely seen as the underdog in the tussle for ANA's business, industry experts say.
The airline has said that it could make a decision in early 2014, and analysts expect it to stick to that schedule.
"The good thing in Japan is that when they commit to a time, they tend to stick to that," said a second industry source, who added that it was going to be a "very busy end of the year and a very busy start to the new year" for both companies.
ANA has received several briefings on both the A350 and the 777X in recent months, and an airline spokesman said that information was still being gathered.
The Japanese airlines are proving to be tough customers for both companies, sources said, asking a lot of questions about the performance of both aircraft.
Based on the article “Airbus versus Boeing Japan battle switches to ANA” published in Reuters
Workshare for 777X which Japan wants is between the 35% of the 787 and the 21% of the 777. But the 777X will be less Japanese.
For 50 years Boeing has awarded bigger and bigger shares of its supply contracts to Japanese firms, but that could change after Japan Airlines' shock defection to Airbus and as Boeing seeks to win orders in China.
Boeing's 787 is 35% made in Japan - as big a share as it builds in-house - but Japanese aviation insiders fear the Dreamliner could be the high water mark of the industry's partnership with the U.S. company.
The close co-operation has not only benefitted Japan's industrial giants Mitsubishi Heavy Industries , Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries - it has also enabled Boeing to dominate one of the world's biggest aviation markets with a share of more than 80%.
That status quo crumbled last week, when JAL signed a deal to buy 31 Airbus A350s, its first purchase of European jets.
"Negotiations for the 777X work share are ongoing, and that may be influenced by the JAL decision," a government official who helps oversee Japan's aerospace industry told Reuters on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
Tokyo, he added, was looking to win a work share for Japanese suppliers greater than the 21% that Mitsubishi Heavy, Kawasaki Heavy and others build of the current 777.
The fear in Japan is that Boeing, which says the business it gives Japan adds up to 22,000 jobs accounting for around 40% of nation's aerospace workforce, may be tempted to shift more production to China, South Korea or elsewhere.
"If I was Boeing, I would hold their feet to the fire," said Lance Gatling, from aerospace consultancy Nexial Research. "International competition for what they build can only increase."
China and South Korea could be the competitors.
JAL's defection to Airbus stacks on top of other reasons why the Japanese may find it harder to win bigger chunks of business from their American partner.
Boeing, having faced criticism it overextended itself on the delayed 787 with an ambitious global supply chain, has said it will take a more conventional approach to the 777X, a re-engine more fuel efficient upgrade of its long-range, wide-body 777.
That, industry watchers say, could mean it builds the aircraft wings at home, after allowing the Dreamliner wings to be made overseas - in Japan - for the first time.
A longer-term worry for the Japanese is that their country, once Asia's biggest aircraft market, is no longer the goldmine that first drew Boeing to seek panel suppliers for its 747 there.
Both Boeing and Airbus are now more focused on vying for business in burgeoning China. The entry price often imposed by the Chinese government is a share of the build.
Boeing, in its most recent 20-year market forecast that runs through 2032, predicts China will buy 6,000 new planes while the market in Northeast Asia, which includes Japan, North and South Korea and Taiwan, will be 1,360 aircraft.
"If the Japanese could put the arm on Boeing the Chinese have got the ability to put the arm on Boeing," said Nexial Research's Gatling. "The Chinese have cheap labor and a huge market."
He added that the Japanese were also looking over their shoulders at upcoming South Korean firms such as Korean Aerospace Industries, which Boeing in 2011 named supplier of the year.
One lure that could keep Boeing heavily involved in Japan is government financial support for R&D that could end up in its jets.
According to the European Union, which is locked in an aircraft subsidy dispute with the United States, Boeing benefits from support from the Japanese government for development of the 787, including financing of up to 70% of development costs incurred by Japanese suppliers.
"Obviously JAL's decision is a setback, but Boeing has been investing in Japan for decades and is not going to suddenly say from now on we don't like you," said Adam Pilarski, senior VP at aviation consultancy Avitas, on the sidelines of an aviation finance conference in Barcelona.
And the next battle is ANA …
Based on the article “Japan worries about Boeing retreat in wake of JAL defection” published in Reuters
