Boeing 787-10 & / ou 10X

Jeannot a écrit:Pour être complet il faut aussi dire qua BA a aussi pris du 787. Non ?

• A318 : 2 (moteurs : CFM-56) ;
  
• A319 : 33 (moteurs : tous IAE V2500) ;
  
• A320 : 44 (moteurs : 40 x IAE V2500 ; 4 x CFM-56, "héritage" A320-100 de B-CAL) ;
  
• A321 : 11 (moteurs : tous IAE V2500).
  

Air France-KLM has won assurances from a senior French minister that it will be allowed to make its own “independent” choice about whether to spend tens of billions of dollars buying new passenger jets from Airbus or Boeing.

The Franco-Dutch airline has in the past week come under increasing pressure from French lawmakers, and at least one minister, to place an entire order for 100 new long-range aircraft – one of the biggest anticipated purchases in the industry – with Europe’s Airbus rather than Boeing of the US.

The campaign, which has won the backing of almost 150 legislators, has tapped into resurgent public support in France for “economic patriotism”. French lawmakers are still angry about a multibillion-dollar US contract for a fleet of air refuelling tankers, which was originally handed to Toulouse-based Airbus before being taken away and awarded instead to Boeing.

But on Wednesday, François Baroin, the French budget minister and ally of Nicolas Sarkozy, the country’s president, stepped into the dispute to stress that the government and the company were required to abide by global free trade rules.

“We are in a state of law with European rules and global rules with the [World Trade Organisation],” Mr Baroin said. However, he added that the French government would remain “attentive” to the new order.

His comments came on the same day that Henri Gourgeon, the Air France-KLM chief executive, was called into a meeting with Pierre Lellouche, a French export minister, to “explain” what was going on with the order.

Mr Lellouche had indicated on Tuesday that the French state was looking for something in return for the strong support it has offered to the airline in the past. The French government is the airline’s biggest single shareholder with a stake of 15.7 per cent.

Air France-KLM welcomed the intervention by Mr Baroin on Wednesday. Company insiders said they hoped to get on with making a decision based on technical merit, rather than national pressure.

A company spokesman said the Dutch partners in the airline were also eager for an “independent” decision on the purchase, which will be the first large joint order since Air France and KLM of the Netherlands merged in 2004.

.......
Company officials have been examining the rival merits of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 for about a year, and will base the decision on factors such as fuel economy and delivery dates. Analysts expect the order to be divided between the two suppliers.

Bernard Carayon, a member of Mr Sarkozy’s ruling conservative UMP party, who is leading the parliamentary campaign, has said: “When the Americans buy American, Europeans should buy European.”

Le directeur général de la compagne aérienne Air France-KLM, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, a indiqué jeudi à Washington que l'Etat français souhaitait seulement être tenu au courant du processus de la commande d'avions long-courrier qu'il a en préparation.


© 2011 AFP

Jeannot a écrit:Où on revient à la case départ.

Air France Insists on Repair Rights in Airbus-Boeing Contest

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Group, weighing [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]’s 787 against the Airbus SAS 350 for a 100-plane order, said it will insist on offering its own maintenance services for the aircraft and engine models it purchases.

Overhaul and support rights for the Air France Industries division is “a subject discussed” with manufacturers including Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc, Boeing and Airbus, Chief Executive Officer Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said in an interview.
“We insist upon and will get what we need to remain a significant player in this business,” he said in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Rolls-Royce, the sole A350 engine-maker, ......

...........is refusing to allow Air France to offer maintenance to other airlines, two people said last month, declining to be identified because the talks are confidential.

The $20 billion plane purchase being prepared by Air France may include both the Airbus and Boeing 787s equipped with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] turbines, they said.

i........s seeking to expand its [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] unit, one of a dwindling number of in-house service shops that compete with the plane and engine makers for repair work. The strategy is at odds with the latest Boeing and Airbus aircraft programs, which promised suppliers more after- sales profit in return for bigger upfront investments.

Rolls-Royce spokesman Richard Hedges said the company had no comment and GE didn’t immediately return calls for comment.

Rolls is balking at Air France’s request to allow it to overhaul Trent engines as part of a deal for the Airbus plane, the people said last month. The enginemaker’s position may shift plans at Air France to divide the purchase of about 100 long- range jets between the 787 and A350, they said.

GE Willing

The French airline doesn’t currently service any Rolls- Royce turbines. Its fleet is equipped solely with engines from GE or the U.S. company’s joint ventures with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney, according to data from aviation research firm Ascend.

GE, which lets Air France Industries service its existing models, is more willing to extend that right to the 787’s GEnx engines, the people also said. The mid-sized Boeing plane is due to enter service around September, two years before the A350.

Air France Industries, like the maintenance units of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], counts on revenue from servicing other carriers to help cover costs. Other airlines accounted for one-third of maintenance business last year, when revenue at the division grew 8 percent.
Among aerospace suppliers, enginemakers have the most to gain from service revenues because jet turbines need more frequent maintenance and part replacements than airframes. The share of the Rolls-Royce engine fleet covered by its TotalCare maintenance contracts rose to 76 percent last year from 55 percent in 2007, according to the company’s annual reports.

• quelques A350-XWB avec la motorisation RR Trent XWB, sans chercher à négocier la moindre aspect de MRO, "pour son bord" ;
  
• les B787 qui l'intéressent, avec des moteurs RR Trent 1000, parce qu'il y a des gens de la composante KLM qui sembleraient peu satisfaits de l'expérience, ces dernières années, avec les problèmes posés par les moteurs GE, et peu impressionnés par la manière dont GE a géré le developpement des GEnx et ce qu'ils observent sur le programme GEnx pour les B787 !
  

Rolls-Royce is preparing to power the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s service entry with All Nippon Airways, scheduled for the third quarter, as it simultaneously starts work on a third package of improvements for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] aimed at the stretched -9 variant of the aircraft.

Although certificated at a thrust rating of 74,000lb (330kN) in 2007, the "Package A" version of the Trent 1000 is rated at 64,000lb and will equip only the first four ANA 787-8s.

The Japanese carrier's fifth 787 - the first to be operated on international routes and due to be delivered at the end of the year - will introduce the Package B version of the engine rated at 70,000lb.

"Going into service we're confident we've got a mature product that's had a lot of engineering work and issues fixed, and a lot of flight-test experience," says Trent 1000 programme director Simon Carlisle. "Clearly the [787] programme has gone much slower than we would have liked, and the engine would have been ready back in 2007. I guess we'll never know what that would have meant."
He adds: "No doubt, where we are today we've got a more reliable product, because we've had time to do a ton more testing on it."

The Trent 1000 has accumulated more than 1,000 flights and over 2,800 flight hours, and flight testing of the first Package B engine began in May.

Package B re-optimises the fan system around a different nozzle geometry, due to an earlier change in the thrust requirement for the 787. Also revised is the air system and low-pressure turbine (LPT).
Trent 1000 chief engineer Andy Geer says: "I don't think it's any secret that both engine companies on the 787 programme adopted a very similar style of LPT - high lift, short, low weight, and both of us have had some challenges in getting full aerodynamic efficiency out of that. So we've both done an iteration of the design. Package B gets us back within 1% of [fuel burn] specification."

The UK manufacturer is working with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and ANA to ensure a smooth service entry for the 787.
"I guess that will really start to feel real around the beginning of July when Boeing starts to do route proving," says Carlisle. "They'll take the aircraft to Japan and do a ton of testing. We're absolutely treating that as if it was active service."

He acknowledges that lessons were learned from the introduction of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], powering the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], in 2007. "We've got higher levels of support stationed around the world. Initially it's quite straightforward for us because it's all Japan and domestic for the first few months.

Once ANA take their first international aircraft then we'll start putting support into Europe and the west coast of North America. That's people, assets and spare parts backed up by the operations centre in Derby and Boeing's operational centre in Seattle."
Carlisle also stresses the importance of getting the company's public relations strategy right.
"The thing we're very cognisant of from the A380 is being on top of communicating with the media. We're expect intense media interest in the aircraft. You can be sure that any squawk or cough will get a lot of attention, so we've been spending time on making sure that we will be in a position to handle that in the correct way," he says.

R-R and rival General Electric - offering its [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] turbofan for the 787 - have split the market roughly equally in terms of numbers of customers, although GE leads in terms of aircraft numbers.
Geer says the Trent 1000 is within a "cigarette paper" of matching the GEnx on fuel burn, but the Trent's three shaft architecture will pay dividends in terms of better performance retention.

"Most of the focus on fuel consumption is on new engines," he says. "An engine is new once in its life and it spends the rest of its 24 years and 364 days not new and you should be more worried about its deterioration characteristics.

He adds: "Over the full life, our experience is that the three-shaft engine is significantly better. But it's not always easy to sell that in advance."

Another feature of the Trent 1000 is its intermediate pressure shaft electrical power offtake, which helps to reduce fuel consumption with the engine running at idle, particularly beneficial for short flight cycles.

"We've just been going through our concept close-out review, so we're moving into the detailed design phase for the parts that will go into Package C," says Geer. "The Package C programme has moved around a bit so we'll continue to tune when we deliver those solutions to best match the aircraft we are delivering."

Further away is Boeing's proposed -10X double-stretch, which would see the introduction of an extensively improved Trent 1000 which would then be offered across all three models of the 787 family.

"We're just starting that conversation with Boeing so they're in the process of defining the aircraft and we're working closely with them to decide what the engine requirements are," says Carlisle.

"At the moment all of that fits well within the capabilities of the Trent 1000. One of our desires is to take some of the learning we're getting from the XWB and feed that back into the 1000.

We see these engines very much as sisters. Technology-wise they're very equal, despite their different architectures."Our goal here is to make sure that when we do that, we design an engine that covers the whole family. Once Boeing nail down their requirements for the -10X then we'll respond with our offering for the whole family."

The A350-1000, a future without a GTF?

What gets left out of press releases can often be as important as what is included, as today’s Paris Air Show curtain raisers by Airbus and Rolls-Royce demonstrate concerning an enhanced and thus delayed Airbus A350-1000.
The news itself has been well leaked already, in short, that Airbus will offer a -1000 version of the new twin engined wide body family with longer range and higher payload capabilities through a higher powered version of the Trent XWB engine, rated at up to 97,000 pounds thrust.
The EXWB A350-1000 (to send up the silly use of XWB in front of the A350 designator by Airbus) will not be ready for service until 2017, compare to 2015 in the original promises.

La puérilité, ... la futilité du mec !

However note the emphasis at the top of the Rolls-Royce press release (below).

Engine exclusivity isn’t even mentioned in the Airbus press release.

It is of course a fact of life. Airbus couldn’t get any interest out of GE, which is the exclusive engine provider and partner in the Boeing 777-300ER and -200LR models, to provide it with a competing engine offering for its A350 range.

But those exclusive engine deals for both the latest versions of the 777, and the forthcoming A350 family, appear to lock out any possibility of GTF or geared turbo fan designs being applied to either, since that innovation is the domain of United Technologies Pratt & Whitney engine division.
Airbus thinks highly enough about the potential of the GTF design to make it one of two hi-tech engine designs on offer on its single aisle A320NEO or New Engine Option offering, which is currently causing Boeing no small measure of grief.
So, if Airbus is right in relation to the A320, and it has hundreds of orders saying it is right, then it must be wrong in having shut the door on a GTF for the A350, although it remains a possibility, some time into the future, for development of the base line A380s, which are not constrained by exclusive engine deals.

Ben SANDILANDS ne devrait pas s'avnturer là où il ne sait visiblement rien ! Nous n'avons pas commencé encore à voir les problèmes avec le GTF !

The A350 versus future 777 developments is in its own right becoming more interesting because of the enhancing of the -1000 version. Until now the A350 offerings, an ultra long range lower capacity -800, a medium to long range -900 with slightly higher capacity than an A330-300 and a -1000 approaching the 777-300ER in capacity but optimised to be highly efficient over medium ranges, had occupied a zone between the 787 Dreamliner and 777 families.
The plans to give the A350-1000 range and payload combinations that can be seen as challenging both the 777-300ER and the 787-900 depending on how it could be used by an airline now invites, if not requires, a competitive response from Boeing.

The commentary from Boeing supports such responses coming in the form of a new enhanced version of the 777-300ER and maybe the less sold -200LRs, and possibly from a further stretch of the 787 line into a 787-10.
All of which seems to confuse those Boeing and Airbus brand warriors, who tend to shout at each other with slogans and who like things short and simple like bumper stickers. Be assured of one thing, there is nothing simple, or easily compared, when it comes to the emerging shapes of the Boeing and Airbus line ups.

The variables in terms of range and payload missions, support technologies, and delivery time lines look set to be as intricate and diverse as ever.
The one and only thing that may prove nearly identical to both manufacturers could instead be brochure gap or the failure of both the deliver on the performance claims made by each to their customers.

The lead model of the A350 line, the A350-900, is claimed by Airbus to be on track for entry into service by the end of 2013, or up to six months later than originally promised, and we may learn more in the next day or so about the -800 version, which has progressed or regressed depending on one’s point of view, as being an ultra long range version with its own optimised wing to a one which is just a shrink in fuselage length from the -900 and back up to something which resembles what it started out to be.

Rolls-Royce is preparing to power the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s service entry with All Nippon Airways, scheduled for the third quarter, as it simultaneously starts work on a third package of improvements for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] aimed at the stretched -9 variant of the aircraft.

• compte tenu de la manière dont RR a conçu le moteur, avec l'accord de Boeing, bien sûr,
  
• et de sa croyance ferme que ce moteur peut vraiment être optimisé pour toute la famille des B787 définie, à partir du "same bill of material", .... ceci est "the route to take" / 'l'itinéraire à suivre', ...
  
• et que :
  
• GE aura bien plus de difficulté que lui (RR) à respecter cet aspect du cahier des charges, ce qui positionnerait / pourrait positionner RR plus favorablement sur les versions -10 / -10X.
  

• si évidents sur la version -8, surtout sur les avions qui auront le problème du surpoids (jusqu'à et y compris le dernier no. de série, qui sera frappé de ce qui finira par être considéré le 'dernier surpoids reconnu -- car le surpoids ne sera jamais éliminé, en raison de l''investissement & du travail bien trop importants pour clore le "Business Case", déjà horriblement malmené --) ,
  
• se poursuivant jusque dans la variante "(stretch) -",
  

Although certificated at a thrust rating of 74,000lb (330kN) in 2007, the "Package A" version of the Trent 1000 is rated at 64,000lb and will equip only the first four ANA 787-8s. The Japanese carrier's fifth 787 - the first to be operated on international routes and due to be delivered at the end of the year - will introduce the Package B version of the engine rated at 70,000lb.

"Going into service we're confident we've got a mature product that's had a lot of engineering work and issues fixed, and a lot of flight-test experience," says Trent 1000 programme director Simon Carlisle. "Clearly the [787] programme has gone much slower than we would have liked, and the engine would have been ready back in 2007. I guess we'll never know what that would have meant.
He adds: "No doubt, where we are today we've got a more reliable product, because we've had time to do a ton more testing on it."
The Trent 1000 has accumulated more than 1,000 flights and over 2,800 flight hours, and flight testing of the first Package B engine began in May.

Package B re-optimises the fan system around a different nozzle geometry, due to an earlier change in the thrust requirement for the 787. Also revised is the air system and low-pressure turbine (LPT).

The Package B engine includes a revised six-stage low pressure turbine (LPT) design, high-aspect-ratio blades, relocation of the intermediate-pressure (IP) compressor bleed offtake ports and a fan outlet guide vanes with improved aerodynamics.

Trent 1000 chief engineer Andy Geer says: "I don't think it's any secret that both engine companies on the 787 programme adopted a very similar style of LPT - high lift, short, low weight, and both of us have had some challenges in getting full aerodynamic efficiency out of that. So we've both done an iteration of the design. Package B gets us back within 1% of [fuel burn] specification."

The UK manufacturer is working with Boeing and ANA to ensure a smooth service entry for the 787.
"I guess that will really start to feel real around the beginning of July when Boeing starts to do route proving," says Carlisle. "They'll take the aircraft to Japan and do a ton of testing. We're absolutely treating that as if it was active service."
He acknowledges that lessons were learned from the introduction of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], powering the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], in 2007.
"We've got higher levels of support stationed around the world. Initially it's quite straightforward for us because it's all Japan and domestic for the first few months. Once ANA take their first international aircraft then we'll start putting support into Europe and the west coast of North America. That's people, assets and spare parts backed up by the operations centre in Derby and Boeing's operational centre in Seattle."
Carlisle also stresses the importance of getting the company's public relations strategy right.
"The thing we're very cognisant of from the A380 is being on top of communicating with the media. We're expect intense media interest in the aircraft. You can be sure that any squawk or cough will get a lot of attention, so we've been spending time on making sure that we will be in a position to handle that in the correct way," he says.

R-R and rival General Electric - offering its [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] turbofan for the 787 - have split the market roughly equally in terms of numbers of customers, although GE leads in terms of aircraft numbers.
Geer says the Trent 1000 is within a "cigarette paper" of matching the GEnx on fuel burn, but the Trent's three shaft architecture will pay dividends in terms of better performance retention.

"Most of the focus on fuel consumption is on new engines," he says. "An engine is new once in its life and it spends the rest of its 24 years and 364 days not new and you should be more worried about its deterioration characteristics.

He adds: "Over the full life, our experience is that the three-shaft engine is significantly better. But it's not always easy to sell that in advance."

Another feature of the Trent 1000 is its intermediate pressure shaft electrical power offtake, which helps to reduce fuel consumption with the engine running at idle, particularly beneficial for short flight cycles.

Next up are Package C improvements for the 787-9.

"We've just been going through our concept close-out review, so we're moving into the detailed design phase for the parts that will go into Package C," says Geer. "The Package C programme has moved around a bit so we'll continue to tune when we deliver those solutions to best match the aircraft we are delivering."

Further away is Boeing's proposed -10X double-stretch, which would see the introduction of an extensively improved Trent 1000 which would then be offered across all three models of the 787 family.

"We're just starting that conversation with Boeing so they're in the process of defining the aircraft and we're working closely with them to decide what the engine requirements are," says Carlisle.

"At the moment all of that fits well within the capabilities of the Trent 1000. One of our desires is to take some of the learning we're getting from the XWB and feed that back into the 1000.

"Our goal here is to make sure that when we do that, we design an engine that covers the whole family. Once Boeing nail down their requirements for the -10X then we'll respond with our offering for the whole family."
R-R has begun manufacturing Package B Trent 1000s, which will power ANA's longhaul 787s
The Package B engine features a re-optimised fan system.

The conceptual [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-10X, a stretch of the 787-9 due for entry into service in 2013, will have seating for 320 passengers and a range capability of 6,900nm (12,600km), said [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Commercial Airplanes vice-president of business development Nicole [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The aircraft would be roughly 15% bigger than the 62.8m (206ft)-long 787-9, and would have a maximum take-off weight almost equivalent to the 787-9's at 251,000kg (553,000lb) with similar structures, along with notional 76,000lb thrust (338kN) from twin General Electric [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] or [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engines.

"The seat mile economics on this airplane are phenomenal. They are 11% better than our estimate of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and they are over 5% better than what the A350-1000 is today," said Piasecki, whose comments came before Airbus announced a 4,000lb increase in thrust, a maximum take-off weight increase from 298,000kg to 308,000kg, and a corresponding 400nm range boost with 350 passengers or another 4,500kg in payload.
Piasecki left the possible entry into service for the jet undefined.

La compagnie Air France-KLM "doit faire ses choix en fonction de ses besoins", estime le président d'EADS, maison-mère d'Airbus, Louis Gallois, dans un entretien publié dimanche dans le Journal du Dimanche.

"Air France doit faire ses choix en fonction de ses besoins. C'est un de nos clients fidèles. Je préférerais, bien sûr, qu'il choisisse nos avions. mais je vous rappelle que 95% des avions que nous produisons sont exportés", répond M. Gallois quand on lui demande s'il attend une grosse commande de la compagnie.

Air France-KLM envisage d'acquérir une centaine de long-courriers cet été, un achat qui représente des milliards de dollars.

Cette future commande a réveillé en France le débat sur le patriotisme économique, avec une pétition d'une centaine de députés de tous bords pressant Air France-KLM de privilégier Airbus l'européen face à son rival américain Boeing.

Tirant plus généralement le bilan du salon aéronautique du Bourget, qui a vu Airbus engranger une avalanche de commandes, M. Gallois estime que "le marché de l'aéronautique est redevenu très dynamique".

"Les émergents donnent le +la+ et représentent plus des deux tiers du marché mondial", ajoute-t-il.

"Notre carnet de commandes est plein pour les cinq à six ans à venir. Le problème est de faire accepter aux compagnies de n'être livrées qu'à six ou sept ans. Et de gérer nos capacités. Même au plus fort de la dernière crise, nous n'avons jamais arrêté de prendre les commandes. Pourtant, j'étais assez pessimiste", conclut-il.

Rolls-Royce will address the maintenance cost impact of its decision to incorporate a new, scaled-up core in the Airbus A350-1000's Trent XWB - which eliminates commonality with -800/900's engine - through its Total Care support programme.

The UK engine-maker had previously planned to base the A350-1000's engine on the 84,000lb thrust (375kN) version that powers the -900, with some material and fan module changes.

But the larger core and other technical modifications eliminate much of the commonality.

The new engine will not be interchangeable with those on the A350-800/900, even though that was the original intent.

The next century -- (21st century) -- offers many challenges to the aero-engine industry in both the civil and the military markets.
The primary driver in both markets will be to reduce the cost of acquiring, operating and supporting the product throughout its life. Reducing the environmental impact will be an additional challenge for the civil sector.

Aero-engines operate at the limits of technology, take longer to develop than airframes, are often in direct competition for one such airframe and typically have an aftermarket value of up to double their initial cost.

It is therefore important to place great emphasis on forecasting customer needs and future market requirements.

Developments in the design of turbomachinery, combustion and control systems will offer performance, cost and environmental advantages in both the near and the long term.

These developments will be aided by the progression of materials technology.

The technologies applied to the product will be complemented by the technologies applied in the design, manufacture and support of products in order to reduce cost at every stage of the product life cycle. In this way the industry will continue to provide value to the customer well into the twenty-first century.

A noter : les Mots-clé
aero-engine, aircraft propulsion, combustors, controls, fans and compressors, flying wing, gas turbine, lifting body, magnetic bearings, materials, .... turbines, turbofan ... etc.

"The systems, interfaces and nacelle external lines are going to be common, as well as a lot of the accessories. So for the airline, the interface with the aircraft is going to look like the same Trent XWB," said R-R civil aerospace president Mark King.
"There is a lot of commonality in the supply chain and the systems and the bits that the airlines deal with on a day-to-day basis, for example the training.

"It's only the off-wing stuff that is going to have the impact, where there is limited part-number commonality in the core, and we can take care of that under [the] Total Care [support package] as part of the solution."

King said that the decision to go with a derivative rather than all-new design means the programme is lower risk. "Even the new core is not a redesign, it is a scale."

Rolls-Royce aims to apply the technology to other members of the Trent family, and introduce a major revision to the Trent 1000 for the Boeing 787 within five years that will "open clear daylight relative to the competition", said King.

"This engine will be more than an 'EP' [enhanced performance] upgrade, it will be a significant improvement for the Trent 1000," King said. "We hope to do it for a 2015-16 service-entry timeframe. To achieve that, we'll need to make some decisions in the next six months or so."

King said that the intention is to read across technologies from the Trent XWB and Environmentally Friendly Engine demonstrator for the Trent 1000 upgrade. "The technologies we're running on the testbed between the XWB engine and the demonstrator gives us a real opportunity to upgrade the Trent 1000."

Potential changes could include modifications to the turbine, such as an additional stage or upgrades to the compressor. However, exact plans for the Trent 1000 are still being discussed both internally and with Boeing. "Within this process we're looking at a whole bunch of things," said King. "We have a number of options, and we'll decide [on the changes] in discussion with Boeing.

"The intent with this engine is that we are capable of addressing the 787 derivatives that Boeing might decide to develop in the future."

• "revamping" du "cash cow" ;
  
• investissement pas trop coûteux (payé pour la majeur partie par les motoristes eux-mêmes, équipementiers et FRSP, ce qui protège les ressources en trésorerie d'Airbus) ;
  
• "splash" de marketing exagéré ; de l'hyperbole 'à go-go' (les "business lies" ... on s'en moque, dirait-on ; cette fois-ci ça passera ; le but est de 'faire vite du cash' ; dans l'immédiat, ... les NEO , ...... au-delà des prises de commande, on s'en moque !) ; '
  
• prise rapide de commandes, au Salon du Bourget, dont certaines commandes colossales ou substantielles, dites 'fermes', auprès de clients bourrés de trésorerie, ou ayant des accès faciles et rapides à de gros volumes de "cash" -- par exemple, Qatar --, afin de récolter des "deposits", qui seront mis de côté, non pas pour les appareils NEO (mais non , surtout pas , on ne fait pas ces avions-là tout de suite ; on fait de la finance , ... pour bien lancer l'A350-XWB, en ralentissant un peu le programme, afin de peaufiner -- de nouveau -- la variante -800, et de donner une satisfaction partielle à ceux qui ont commencé à voir le potentiel superbe de l'A350-XWB-1000, ..... à condition de muscler un peu celui-ci ...) ;
  
• possibilités de recompenser les clients qui aident Airbus à "faire de la finance" ; la plupart des Cies. qui commandent, ou qui prennent des engagements fermes sur, .... les NEO, sont des clients actuels ou potentiels des A350-XWB ; plus tard, Airbus pourra leur faire quasiment cadeau 'd'un ou deux' exemplaires d'A350-XWB, dans la variante de leur préférence (si le risque d'avoir à raccourcir la vie de l'opération NEO se cristallise, il y aura largement des possibilités pour 'compenser' ceux qui risquent d'avoir des 'avions orphelins' sur les bras ; et les motoristes auront, tout de même 'l'AfterMarket' de la base installée) ;
  
• un peu de temps à passer sur des dossiers "sensibles" dans ce type de contexte (celui de Qatar, par exemple), où les enjeux et aspects 'clé' sont plutôt multi-facette et complèxes, ... et de taille ;
  


• pour ce qui est du Carnet de Commandes en Mains / "Order Backlog" des versions "Legacy" (& /ou à recevoir encore), accélérer les production, livraisons, facturations et rentrées des sommes dues par les clients concernés ;
  
• par là, augmentation de la masse de la trésorerie d'Airbus, qui viendra s'ajouter aux "sommes fraîches" représentées par les "deposits NEO" précités (ceci permettra de combler quelques trous dans les programmes tels que l'A380, l'A400-Mtout en avançant vite sur le programme A350-XWB).
  

• réaliser ses "vieux avions ravitailleurs" (vieille technologie, pour ce qui est de l'airframe et des moteurs P&W : séries PW 4060),
  
• prendre des décisions sur l'éventuel NSA / B797 (à partir d'une feuille blanche), pour contrer le NEO (même si ce prgramme NEO devait finir par être un feu de paille),
  
• se battre avec la montée en puissance de la production des B787, et de l'eventuelle adjonction de versions du genre B787-10 / -10X ,
  


• peser les choix sur le remplacement du B777-300ER, tout en sachant que le marché sera sceptique sur toute tentative d'opération de 'réchauffement'/ "revamping " ("rewinged-tin-tube stretch"), surtout dans le sillage du bide qu'est le B747-8I, issu de ce type de "revamping" !
  

To pay for a massive new development programme - its design and its industrialisation - [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] must make its current clean-sheet [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] profitable, before it sets out on the next.

• passer d'abord (sans oublier les frais de R&D qui ne doivent pas rester 'capitalisés' au bilan), toutes les provisions pour frais et charges de période autorisables / autorisées, "at front end" (en début de piste, au plus tard à la fin de l'année 'n' d'une série d'années -- n à n+ ... -- à déterminer sur la base des faits connus à ce jour, et prévisibles et capables d'être estimés avec une précision raisonnable, par exemple, à 'US$ 10 millions près', car on parle de 'gros sous' / "big bucks", notamment pour couvrir d'un seul coup les 'pertes sur marché / campagne'), .... tous les vrais coûts des 'pénalités et compensations', et frais connexes, selon l'application stricte des US GAAP (US "Generally Accepted Accounting Principles"), pour dépassement des coûts "normaux",....
  


• et, ensuite, provisionner, 'en une seule fois' / un seul exercice 'n', toujours selon les règles et procédures d'US GAAP, les investissements réellement consentis, mais incapables d'être "immobilisés" au bilan, , ...selon les règles US GAAP en vigueur, puisqu'offrant une valeur fictive, irrécupérable, et 'àpasser donc à la trappe',
  
• ou comme étant une valeur maintenant expiré (même après une courte durée de vie),
  
• ou comme 'n'étant plus capables de se justifier comme ayant un contenu de valeur non-expirée' (compliqué, n'est-ce pas ? ),
  
• pour ne laisser, inscrite au bilan, qu'une VNC ('Valeur Nette Comptable') justifiée / justifiable comme une valeur "vraie" et raisonnable / "true & fair" !
  

Both UBS Investment Research and Bernstein have recently published reports raising questions about the pace of achieving profitability on the 787, recognising the contractually established supplier costs coupled with the low locked-in aircraft sale price over more than 800 aircraft.

UBS's David Strauss predicts "flat to progressively worse 787 cashflow over the next several years" as the production system comes down the learning curve, coupled with prices that make the 787, says Doug Harned of Berstein Research, a "victim of its own success. With 787 production sold out until 2019, pricing is largely fixed at prices we believe were set too low in the beginning."

And Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice-president of business development and strategic integration Nicole Piasecki said: "At this point our product development investment decisions are assuming success and progress and momentum on all of that so we're not constraining our thinking around that.
"But as you and I can imagine, if we're a board member and the company isn't executing on what it needs to, there are going to be some questions around it. We have to be accountable for getting to profitability on the 787 and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], no question about it, top priority."

As Boeing brings into focus the considerations around the cost of making another big leap, the benefits of incrementally improving the 737, weighed against the development requirements for the 787-9 and -10, as well as crafting a more comprehensive competitive response to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], may point to re-engining the 737 as the constrained path forward.

"There are trade-offs, I think the re-engine is a very, very attractive option," said [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. "From a perspective - if you're looking for minimal disruption to the industry, maximum flexibility to make a move on the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and those are all the sorts of things that we're thinking about as we move through this decision."

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] estimates that a full turnaround of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] will take 62min while a minimum service turnaround could be achieved in 34min.

The airframer has given the figures in its first aircraft characteristics manual detailing the twinjet's specifications.
Full turnaround would include 315 passengers - comprising 267 economy and 48 premium - with 50% of the total boarding and deplaning from each of two bridges.
[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] estimates that a full turnaround of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] will take 62min while a minimum service turnaround could

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] estimates that a full turnaround of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] will take 62min while a minimum service turnaround could
The minimum turnaround would involve only 157 passengers and a single bridge.
Airbus assumes deplaning and enplaning rates, per door, of 25 passengers/min and 15 passengers/min respectively.
[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] estimates that a full turnaround of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] will take 62min while a minimum service turnaround could

Jeannot a écrit:Il existe un document complet, le "A360-900 Preliminary Data" que j'ai pu me procurer. et qui donne tous ces éléments. Hélas il fait 111 pages en PDF en nous n'avons pas d'espace de stockage pour mettre de ces fichiers.

Je le tiens à la disposition de tous ceux qui le désirent.

• c'est le GTF, .... surtout que, maintenant, il faut que P&W refasse le "fan" et les "fan-blades" !
  

Scrambling to rescue a potential USD$20 billion plane order from American Airlines, Boeing has offered to put a new engine on its current version of the 737, retreating from an ambitious plan to completely redesign its best-selling aircraft, sources said on Tuesday.

If American accepts Boeing's offer to build a re-engined 737, the carrier would become the launch customer for the upgraded narrow-body, which has yet to receive the official green light from Boeing's directors, two sources with knowledge of the talks said.

A deal is not final as American Airlines is still weighing a generous offer from Boeing's chief rival Airbus for the A320neo, a re-engined A320.
Two knowledgeable sources predicted a split order. The order could be for 200 to 300 narrow-bodies, but the exact number is unclear, and there could be be last-minute changes.

• des "Legacy" de la famille A320 (à moteurs IAE) ; surtout si AA envisage un "deal" avec US Airways ;
  
• des B737-NG remotorisés à motorisation LeapX (c'est la base installée des B737-NG qui dictera le choix du LeapX).
  

"American is very active with Airbus in talks right now," a senior industry source said, asking not to be identified.
AMR, Boeing and Airbus declined to comment on the talks.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the airline had asked Boeing to counter an Airbus offer that included a generous USD$6 billion financing package, and that Boeing had responded by offering to re-engine the 737.

American Airlines last ordered Airbus planes in the late 1980s but declared in 1996 that Boeing would be its ex
clusive plane provider until 2018. If Airbus wins all or even part of a big order from the carrier, it would be a coup.

AMR managers are expected to make their recommendation to the company's board of directors at a two-day board meeting that starts on Tuesday. The company could announce a decision with its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday.
Aircraft leasing companies are said to be jockeying for position to help facilitate a transaction.

COMPETITION IN THE US

The market for narrow-body jet sales is estimated at USD$1.7 trillion over the next 20 years and is split between Boeing and Airbus, whose A320 has made substantial inroads in US markets.

The European company said last year it would put a more fuel-efficient engine on its A320 -- the "neo." The A320neo aircraft is scheduled to enter service in late 2015.

Airbus dominated the Paris Air Show last month as it basked in orders for the A320neo while Boeing asked airlines for six months to make a decision on the 737. Airbus has firm orders or provisional commitments for 1,029 neos.
For more than a year, Boeing has debated whether to redesign its 737, a workhorse for airlines around the world, or put a new engine on it.

Experts say re-engining should deliver cost savings of 15 percent. Savings of up to 25 percent could be achieved by a new plane. A re-engined plane could be brought to market around 2016. Boeing says it could deliver a new 737 around 2020.

The option to re-engine the 737 has remained under consideration, although Boeing has long said it would prefer to redesign the aircraft with new technology showcased in its upcoming 787 Dreamliner.
The 787 is a popular plane that has attracted more than 800 orders, but it is three years behind schedule due to snags in development.
Boeing's recent history of 787 delays, coupled with a lack of a definitive plan for a redesigned 737, could make buyers doubtful that Boeing could produce a new 737 only a few years later than a re-engined one, said Adam Pilarski, senior vice president at AVITAS, an airline consulting company.

"They know that it is not a few years," Pilarski said.
If American Airlines places an order with Boeing or Airbus, or both companies, pressure will be on rival carriers in the United States to follow with their own orders to blunt the advantage American Airlines would gain from flying more fuel-efficient planes.

Delta Air Lines also is in talks with plane makers and says it aims to decide on an order for up to 200 planes by the end of the year. Southwest Airlines and United Continental reportedly are also talking about potential orders.
"Given the time requirements for the US majors, I don't think Boeing has much of a choice here besides new engines," Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at The Teal Group. "There's not that much else worth paying for."

(Reuters)

• celui où Boeing reconnaît qu'il devrait être en train d'accorder une priorité (pour laquelle il n'a plus les ressources à court ou à moyen terme), ... qu'est le véritable remplacement de l'actuel B777-300ER par le "Super-bi", qui sera aussi l'nstrument interne de la mise à mort du B747-8I, bide commercial dont personne ne veut !
  

Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller expects that the Irish carrier will take delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 in 2015, two years later than originally scheduled. The airline has nine A350-900s on firm order plus six options. Mueller declined to say how many A350s EI will ultimately order, but indicated that the aircraft's performance parameters may not be ideal. Those sentiments echo comments made by other airline heads, including Emirates Airline President Tim Clark ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]).

• il a été décidé de vendre des A330, pour prendre des A350-900 supplémentaires ;
  
• Aer Lingus a choisi les A330 supplémentaires et les A350-900 , en écartant les B777 et B787,
  
• après un historique de première phase de motorisation assurée pour ses A330 par P&W et, ensuite, par GE, Aer Lingus a abandonné (pour l'avenir à long terme) ces deux motoristes , pour aller chez RR !
  
• (voir rappel de posts ci-après).
  

"We are very satisfied with our A330 operation, which [comprises] seven in service and we're expecting to have them operational for a long time," he told ATW. "The A350 has better performance data, but it will be over-specified for our long-haul routes." He noted that EI's transatlantic routes from Ireland to the US East Coast are in the 7-8 hr. flight time range. The A350, explained Mueller, is best suited for ultra-long haul routes. He would like to see Airbus move to increase the A350's fuel efficiency.

"We'll fill the aircraft [with passengers] on routes to Boston, Chicago and New York," he assured, but qualified that "for us it is not [exactly] the right aircraft." He added that EI will "stay with the A350 order but we cannot say if [the airline's future fleet] will be an [all-A350] long-haul fleet or a mix with A330s."

La consolation est qu'il "n'achète pas" le bla-bla sur les éventuels B787-10 !

Aer Lingus swaps three A330s for A350s

Irish flag-carrier [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] is switching an order for three [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] A330s, due for delivery in 2013 and 2014, to three [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] aircraft with arrival slated for "no earlier than 2018".
As a result, the firm now has nine A350s on order, with four scheduled for delivery in 2015, two the following year and the balance in 2018 or later.
In addition, the airline is to sell one of its eight A330s, describing its long-haul fleet as "larger than we currently require".
The firm had previously deferred orders for both A330s and A350s in August 2009 as it looked to cut capacity in its long-haul operation. At the time it hinted at the potential for a further deferral and a switch of order to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].
On the short-haul operation, the first of four new leased A320s arrived in January with the remainder due in the first half of 2011. The carrier will raise €100 million ($138 million) of new debt to fund the aircraft, it says.
It will also return three currently leased Airbus A321s and sell an additional unspecified short-haul aircraft.
Aer Lingus says it expects to incur capital expenditure for aircraft leases of €103 million in 2011 with a further €639 million to be incurred between 2012 and 2016 or later.
The operator has posted an operating profit of €23.6 million ($32.5 million) for the year ended 31 December 2010, reversing the heavy losses of the previous year, as its restructuring efforts took hold.
But it warns that its operating profit for 2011 will be worse than its full-year figure for 2010, owing to the increasing price of fuel.

aubla a écrit:Bonjour,

Cette modification du plan de commandes d'Air Lingus est-elle vraiment une bonne nouvelle ?
Ne traduit-elle pas plutôt l'état de sur-capacité de sa flotte (elle vend un de sas A330-200) ?
Et la conversion de la commande d'A330 en A350 lui permet d'éviter d'avoir à payer d'éventuelles pénalités pour rupture de contrat et cela reporte les échéances d'au moins 5 ans (livraison pas avant 2018 au lieu de 2013).
La santé financière d'Air Lingus ne paraît pas au top.
Dans ce contexte, le choix de la motorisation me parait secondaire dans l'immédiat.
A suivre donc
Cordialement
aubla

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] plans to sell an [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and one of its short-haul aircraft in the first half of this year.
The carrier says in its 2010 annual report that its fleet of eight A330s is "larger than we currently require and it is intended that one aircraft will be sold in 2011".

Aer Lingus recently replaced orders for three A330-200s with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-900s to be delivered after 2018, four years later than the planned arrival of the A330s.

The airline took delivery of a leased [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in January and will take three more of the type in the first half of this year. It plans to return three A321s to lessors and one short-haul aircraft "is planned to be sold".
Aer Lingus today reported a full-year operating profit of €57.6 million ($81 million) for 2010, compared with an operating loss of €81 million the previous year.

• vérifier les faits, pour rectifier le tir, sur les questions 'clé' de fond, et....
  
• se doter des moyens d'éviter des erreurs de présentation, susceptibles d'être trompeuses et d'induire concrètement en erreur, ....rayon d'action,
  

• dans le domaine de l'ensemble aéronautique, aviation & transport aérien,
  
• auquel s'entéressent beaucoup de passionnés amateurs sans discernement, ou insuffisamment dotés du discernement nécessaire,
  
• il faut que ceux, qui sont dans la position de tenir le 'pouvoir de la plume' & / ou celui du microphone, exercent lesdits pouvoirs avec responsabilité, sans aucune trace d'incohérence ou d'inconséquence, ....
  
• car les passionnés amateurs précités 'gobent', .. et ensuite, beaucoup se prennent pour des experts (et nous le sommes pas), comme soixante millions de Français (n'exagérons pas : 55 millions) ; , qui regardent les matches de Coupe du Monde de Football, .... sont des 'arbitres experts de Foot' ! En outre, ils citent le journalistr;, ... 'le mec à la télé', .... et disent: 'Ecoutez ! Les PDG d'Emirates et d'Aer Lingus l'ont dit !' Bien sûr, ... il n'y a pas que les Français ! ;)
  
• Eh, oui ! Ils gobent ! Flaubert le savait bien ! Ils les voyait venir, ... les §§§§§§§§§§ et ££££££, bourrés de mauvaise foi, et de parti pris, .... bien connus pour leurs mémoire et lecture sélective, et leur propension à écouter le dernier qui ait parlé !
  

• §§§§§§§§§§, ££££££ et autres £°£°£°£°£° manquant de discernement, bourrés de mauvaise foi et de parti-pris, et autres gobeurs d'idées reçues,......
  
• qui préfèrent les fausses affirmations, infondées et non étayées,...
  
• et suivre les dires, quels qu'ils soient, des 'marchands de soupe' ( ceux qui ont des thèses à vendre , avec des arguments sélectifs, alors que ces thèses sont déjà démenties par les faits .... )
  
• et, dans toute la splendeur de leur ignorance et superficialité, refusent de reconnaître les faits, et de gratter plus loin que le vernis !
  

• devraient faire des déclarations responsables, et non pas inconséquentes, truffées d'incohérences,
  
• avec, hélas, seulement quelques phrases inconséquentes, savamment distillées et diffusées,
  
• peuvent raconter des bobards qui se répandent, comme un incendie de forêt, tout en couvrant de nombreuses facettes de l'ensemble aéronautique, aviation & transport aérien ( "airframe", & "airframers", moteurs et motoristes, poussées des moteurs, consommation de carburant, rayon d'action, charge marchande, itinéraires, ..... etc. ), soit des sujets que, souvent, ils 'maîtrisent' bien moins qu'ils ne laissent entendre ( fréquemment ils les connaissent tout juste assez pour faire du "bar talk" ! Du "entertainment", quoi ) !
  

Le patron d'Aer Lingus : "L'A350 n'est pas l'appareil idéal pour les routes transatlantiques."

• du gobage et du véhiculage des idées reçues,
  
• de la discutaille au coin du comptoir du Café de la Gare,
  
• de la pensée unique des moutons de mode,
  
• de mauvaise foi et du parti pris,.....
  

• il y a des enthousiastes amateurs, qui n'ont aucune intention d'avaler les déclarations incohérentes, inconséquentes et irresponsables, avec leur contenu d'âneries que peuvent débiter ces soi-disant responsables ;
  
• il y a des enthousiastes, qui ont toutes les intentions de mettre en relief, et en pièces, les bobards et incohérences qu'ils débitent !
  

• signer une commande ferme, pour un avion avec sa motorisation,
  
• ensuite, s'acoquiner avec un autre tandem airframer et de motoriste, pour faire circuler des messages faux sur le produit / la combinaison d'airframe et de moteur, qu'il a commandée,
  
• en dénigrant ladite combinaison, et en jetant le doute et le discrédit sur "l'intégrité" de celle-ci,
  
• alors qju'il ne s'agit point de la combinaison, pour laquelle il a passé la commande ferme, dument signée,... mais ...
  
• .... d'un "moving of the goal-posts" , qui a pour but de mettre la pression sur Airbus, en définissant le souhait de £°£°£°£°£ Tim", soit, un Superbi- de 400 à 420 places, en config. cabine. 3 classes std., selon les normes modernes de confort spacieux (rien à voir avec l'A350-XWB-1000, pour lequel TC Emirates a 'signé ferme), ....
  
• ... et tout ça dans le but faire en sorte qu'Airbus réponde aux caprices de Tim CLARK (TCEmirates), et construise l'A350-XWB-1000 pour Emirates, ou, du moins d'annoncer que c'est ce que TCEmirates souhaite , ....
  
• sans prendre en compte , ...... et sans le moindre égard pour, .... la position du client de lancement, .... QATAR Airways, ......
  
• ... et tout en organisant son discours autour d'une fiction, comme si TCEmirates pouvait modifier ou annuler sa commande ferme et signée, .... impunément, vis-à-vis d'Airbus et de RR !
  

Il faut arrêter d'imprimer les âneries de £°£°£°£°£ Tim" , sans commentaire ou débat contradictoire, comme s'il s'agissait de l'évangile !