AIRBUS A 350 XWB

Thailand’s Bangkok Airways has placed firm orders for six [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] A350s, after evaluating the type against the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The aircraft will be placed into new long-haul services between Thailand and Europe in 2012, says Airbus in a statement.
Bangkok Airways currently operates a fleet of 17 aircraft, a mixture of ATR turboprops, Airbus A320s and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 717s. The carrier announced this summer that it would acquire widebody aircraft, and that it expected to make a decision on an order for either A350s or 787s by the end of the year.
“Having taken into account all competitive and economic factors, we decided to choose the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] widebody aircraft for our future expansion into the long-haul market. Commonality with our [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] fleet was one of the key drivers in our decision-making process,” says Bangkok Airways chairman and CEO Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth.

“We are also extremely impressed by the innovative cabin features, which will support our long term strategy to feed passengers with outstanding high comfort from Europe into our new home at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok and fly them to unique world-famous, cultural and holiday destinations in Thailand and the region.”

The carrier has selected a two-class interior with 258 seats, including 36 lie-flat beds in first class. Each A350 will be equipped with individual inflight entertainment.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Airbus's press conference at last week's Farnborough air show may not have been the beginning of the end of the airframer's troubles. But it may have been the end of the beginning of a five- or six-year campaign to rebuild its reputation in the market.

New chief executive Christian Streiff had been in the job just two weeks when he made his first appearance in front of the world's aviation media with four senior lieutenants. But he set the right tone. He was open and apologetic about past mistakes; firm about Toulouse's promise to fix the A380 on time; and bullish about prospects for the all-new A350.
(Sevrien : qoit, l'A350-XWB-.....). Streiff, who had no aerospace experience when he took the job, has a frantic few months and years ahead of him. A native of a wine-growing region next to Germany, he is unlikely to have time for long French lunches and vacations, undertaking to work 16h days through summer to get Airbus back on course.

He did not guarantee instant solutions. Instead, he is going to spend 100 days making sure the A380 meets its revised delivery schedule and fine-tuning the business case for the A350 XWB before deciding to recommend a formal programme launch to shareholders.

As for the A350 XWB, the jury is out. Existing customers have welcomed the fact that a product decision has been taken. On first sight, the A350 looks and sounds sufficiently different to the Boeing 787 to allow Toulouse to technologically leapfrog its rival in the four years between the two models entering service. But there is a lot of scepticism as to whether credibility-battered Airbus can deliver on time and at a price that airlines will pay.

At the press conference, Airbus's sales chief John Leahy admitted that "one or two" existing A350 customers might be lost in the interim. If those airlines are Bangkok Airways or Yemenia, no one is going to panic. If they are Qatar Airways or ILFC - whose founder, Steve Udvar-Hazy, is the only customer Streiff has met - the damage to the programme's prospects could be irreparable.

Bangkok Airways expects to take delivery of its first [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 2015.

The carrier has a total of four [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-800s on order, but has not received a firm delivery schedule for the subsequent three, a company spokesman said.

The spokesman added that Bangkok Airways does not have immediate plans to convert its A350-800 orders to A350-900s.

More A350 Progress



Airbus just provided a press release stating “After delivery of the first A350 XWB centre wing box to Airbus Saint-Nazaire on August 8th, Airbus Nantes has delivered the second major A350 XWB component manufactured on the site – the keel beam. The exceptional convoy, over 25 metres long, left the Nantes site for the Loire, to be loaded onto the barge that transported it to the Airbus Saint-Nazaire site.

The keel beam provides structural continuity to the fuselage at the landing gear compartment. The A350 XWB programme is the first programme in which the keel beam and the aft lower shell have been combined to form a single major component. This immense part, made out of 70% composites, is 16.5m long and 4.3m wide and weighs 1.2 tonnes. Its assembly in the Nantes factory required the use of 10,000 fasteners to join 2000 parts.”

This is what the part looks like. The A350 program is making steady progress. It also demonstrates Airbus’ ability to craft key parts within its own organization. As we have seen, supply chains are critical to new aircraft programs, and can add risk. Having critical parts sourced from within an organization clearly reduces risk because of tight oversight.

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Hawaiian Airlines has reiterated its commitment to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] despite an increasing number of carriers switching to the larger -900 variant.

The airline's CEO Mark Dunkerley, while not ruling out the -900, said he believes the -800 better fits the carrier's needs.

"At the moment, that is certainly our belief," he said.
Hawaiian has six [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-800s on order, to be delivered from 2017.

Dunkerley noted that the question of switching to the -900s will be one that the airline will revisit from time to time but indicated that the matter is not a priority for the carrier right now.

"We are open to assessing the -900s," said Dunkerley, adding that the issue is ultimately not "pressing".

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] has pushed entry into service for the -800 to mid-2016 from the second half of 2014 to focus its resources on the -900, which will make its first flight by year-end 2012.

The airframer has insisted it will build the -800, despite having a number of customers switching to the -900s and not having won any new orders for the -800 in the last three years.

Jeannot a écrit:SUH et les évolutions du 777 selon Leeham News

Assessing the 777 upgrade

The “godfather of leasing,” Steven Udvar-Hazy, the CEO of Air Lease Corp., weighed in on the 737RE and the prospective improvements to the 777 during ALC’s earning’s call. And when Hazy speaks, the industry listens.

Hazy, who favored a new airplane in the 737 class, wasn’t too happy about the 737RE decision and thinks Boeing has a ways to go on developing this aircraft. We’ll have more about this in a separate post.

As for the prospective improvements of the 777, Hazy had this to say

We have been spending a lot of time with Boeing since the Paris Air Show. We have looked at different scenarios on an improved version of the 777. There are multiple variations. Some involve minor changes,.....

some involve completely new wings,

some involve aerodynamic improvements, some involve a brand new engine which GE would have to develop as a follow-on to the GE90.

Some of those options are extremely costly in terms of development cost and would involve significant redesign of the airplane.

Others are more what I call band aid solutions to be competitive with the A350-1000.

But everything is still on the table and I don’t think Boeing is going to come to any quick decisions on any of those programs because they involve tremendous amount of resources both financial and engineering design resources.....

....... and I think, first Boeing have to grips with getting 787 flying. I think that’s really the number one goal right now of the company. (Transcript excerpt via Aspire Aviation. See Aspire’s [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].)

Although Hazy’s remarks quickly received press attention, these are possibilities [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] as part of Boeing’s Paris Air Show briefing this year, in which Nicole Piaskeci, VP of Business Development and Strategic Integration, said Boeing was looking at enhancements to the GE90-115B engine and to the wing span of the 777.

"So what" ! LeehamNews n'a toujours pas compris le problème de l'exclusivité-moteur ! Il lui faut se réveiller !

One of the reasons Boeing began to lean toward a re-engined 737, even before the Paris Air Show, and by July 18 the odds had shifted from a New Small Airplane to the 737RE. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], we detailed one of the reasons was a shifting emphasis to twin-aisle development of the 787-10 and enhancements to the 777. Although Boeing made a last-ditch effort to launch the NSA with American Airlines, instead Boeing decided to offer the 737RE to American.

With this as background, we recap the prospective 777 upgrades :

• The less expensive route is tweaking the GE90-115B engine and reworking the wingspan, as Piasecki noted during the Paris Air Show press briefings;
  
• Routine aerodynamic improvements and weight reduction, with increasing use of composites throughout the airplane;
  
• More expensive is the prospect of an entirely new engine based on the GEnx (which itself is based on GE90 architecture); and an entirely new wing. We;re talking billions of dollars here in R&B (though far less than a new airplane), going down the path of the 747-8;
  
• The prospect of reskinning the airplane seems less likely;
  
• Development of a 777-8 (dubbed the 8X at this stage) to replace the 777-200 and of the 777-9 (dubbed the 9X) for the 777-300 replacement; both are merely derivatives; and

Ces solutions sont des "non-starters", pour les raisons exposées ci-dessus ! Ceci est du "***===***===" !

The prospect of an entirely new airplane also seems unlikely, given the program overhangs of the 787 and 747-8 relating to the production issues still to come for the 787 ramp up and the negative cash flow of both programs.

With Airbus putting off the A350-1000 for two years, and a challenge remaining for the timely entry-into-service for the launch -900 model, Boeing feels it has more time to decide what to do on the 777.

At the Farnborough Air Show, Boeing indicated an answer for the 777 by the end of 2010 (as it had with the 737 future). As with the 737, the answer for the 777 keeps sliding to the right. Given the rescheduling of the -1000, we don’t expect Boeing to decide the 777′s future this year.

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EK buys an incredible quantity of new aircraft, partially due to their
young fleet turn-over strategy. IIRC, the first 77Ws leave the fleet in
2014! So Clark isn't just talking... .

EK have still not decided whether to take the -1000 orders or convert them to -900s or cancel in favour of a 777NG

The GE-90 needs:

1. Contra rotation
2. New case for higher pressure ratio
3. Low turbine improvements to help acheive the pressure ratio
4. Integrated blade rotor low compressor to use that improved low turbine

Ici, comme si souvent ailleurs, aussi,....... Lightsaber et ses gobeurs ne sont absolument à prendre au sérieux !

Civil aerospace

In the civil aerospace business, the first Trent XWB engine went to test onschedule in June (Sevrien : 2010 ! ), running to 100,000lbs of thrust later in the year (2010, aussi).

Widebody

We made good progress with the latest members of the Trent engine family, theTrent XWB and Trent 1000. The Trent XWB will power the Airbus A350 XWB and ran for the first time in June (Sevrien : 2010 ! ) - fulfilling a schedule commitment we made four years ago. Seven engines will run in 2011 as part of a comprehensive test programme.

Rolls-Royce will address the maintenance cost impact of its decision to incorporate a new, scaled-up core in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-1000's Trent XWB - which eliminates commonality with -800/900's engine - through its Total Care support programme.

"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."

• le moteur RR Trent XWB-1000 destiné initialement à l'A350-XWB-1000 fut un "95,000 lbs engine" (un moteur avec une poussée maximale certifiable prévue à la valeur de 95,000 lbs) ;
  
• après diverses péripéties, et selon les stipulations de "l'airframer", Airbus, le réglage de poussée maximale fut fixé dans le cahier des charges (par Airbus ! ) à une valeur de 93,000 lbs (en réalité, de 92,200 ou de 92,300 lbs, .. me semble-t-il) ;
  
• 
  
• le moteur RR Trent XWB-1000, après la récente révision, annoncée juste avant et pendant le Salon du Bourget 2011, est un moteur dit "100,000lbs engine" (un moteur avec une poussée maximale certifiable prévue à la valeur de 100,000 lbs), par l'acroissement de ladite poussée maximale de 5,000 lbs ; j'apporterai la preuve de ce rehaussement de 5,000 lbs dans un post séparé (élément bien dans le domaine public, sur lequel les Forumistes qui se chamaillent sur la poussée, ont 'glissé' sans rien voir ; il va y avoir des surprises ;
  
• la valeur de 97,000 lbs de poussée annoncée correspond à la stipulation du réglage maximal de poussée voulu / jugé nécessaire et optimal par Airbus (et, en réalité, me dit-on, ceci pourrait correspondre à une valeur ne dépassant pas 96,500 lbs.).
  

• le "core scale-up" de la première variante du RR Trent XWB-1000, prévue pour la version initiale de l'A350-XWB-1000,
  
• pour assurer l'accroissement de la poussée maximale de 5,000 lbs, depuis la valeur maximale de poussée certifiable de 95,000 lbs du motoriste ("95,000 lbs engine"), vers la valeur maximale de poussée certifiable de 100,000 lbs du motoriste ("100,000 lbs engine") pour la version 'révisée' du moteur, selon le redéfinition générale (pas encore détaillée) de l'A350-XWB-1000.
  

PARIS -- Rolls-Royce will make a significant revamp to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Trent 1000 engine and has confirmed the existence of a Package C upgrade intended for the 787-9.
The same core scaling up required for the 5,000lb thrust boost on the Trent XWB that will power the Airbus A350-1000 - now delayed to 2017 - will also be applied to the 76,000lb Trent 1000 on the conceptual -10X, says Mark King, president of Rolls-Royce civil aerospace, reports Flightglobal.

"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. We think we can do something that could open clear daylight relative to the competition on the Trent 1000."

• est un "100,000 lbs thrust engine" ;
  
• avec un "réglage-plafond" de poussée exprimé comme étant de 97,000 lbs (et, peut-être d'une valeur précise de, disons, 96,300 lbs à 96,500 lbs max.),
  

• de toute nouvelle génération,
  
• avec une aile en carbone (avion, donc, à "high-lift capability"), ..... a contraster -- si, si, ... à contraster -- avec la technologie "old-hat" du B777-300ER,
  
• qui nécessite une poussée de moteur (à technologie obsolescente) du type dépassé qu'est le GE90-115B, ...
  
• technologiquement largué même par le GEnx de GE, qui est en retard par rapport au RR Trent 1000, et, a fortiori, donc, par rapport au Trent XWB !
  

Civil aerospace
In the civil aerospace business, the first Trent XWB engine went to test onschedule in June (Sevrien : 2010 ! ), running to 100,000lbs of thrust later in the year (2010, aussi).

• Airbus, Boeing, US Airways, l'A-NEO-321, le B757, divers B737, et l'A350-XWB-800..... et seront postés en conséquence.
  

Significant [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] customer US Airways is taking a preliminary look at the Airbus A321neo, but is not convinced the aircraft is suitable for long-haul [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] replacement.

"We are in preliminary talks with Airbus about what the aircraft can and cannot do," US Airways chief executive Doug Parker told Flight International at the Boyd Group's International Aviation Forecast Summit in Albuquerque.

The problem, said Parker, is that US Airways is not certain the A321neo can fulfil the Phoenix-Hawaii missions currently operated by thIls ne sont pas e carrier with its 757s.

US Airways previously said it had told Airbus of the necessity for the A321neo to achieve similar long-haul mission capabilities to the 757 that it operates to Hawaii and Europe.

Airbus data indicates (Sevrien : "data indicate", ... sans "s"! ) that the A321neo, with 188 seats, will be capable of a range of 3,720nm (6,890km). The airframer has specifically aimed the A321neo at the replacement market for the 757-200, more than 900 of which were delivered.

American Airlines, which operates some of its 123 757s on transatlantic flights, has ordered 130 A321neos.

Parker appears unconcerned about Airbus's revised development schedule for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. The Phoenix-based carrier has 18 firm orders for the -800 and four for the -900 variant. Airbus plans to push back service entry for the -800 from 2014 to 2016.

But Parker said he was "not worried" about the -800 service entry delay because the carrier's deliveries are planned after the revised delivery date.

US Airways has carried out its own revisions to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] delivery times since placing an initial order in 2005.

Originally, the aircraft had a 2014 delivery, which was pushed to 2015 and later deferred to 2017.

Jeannot a écrit:Bangkok Airways semble avoir annulé sa commande de 4 A350-800

Bangkok Airways appears to cancel A350-800 order

Asian carrier Bangkok Airways appears to have cancelled its order for A350s, axing its deal for four -800 aircraft.

The erasure of the deal from Airbus's latest backlog figures is a further setback to the fortunes of the -800, which has experienced a shedding of orders by customers migrating to the larger -900.

Bangkok Airways was an early customer for the A350, reaching a deal for six of the type in 2005 before the twinjet was redesigned as the XWB.

It later ordered the XWB variant instead, the deal appearing on Airbus's books in December 2007 but only for four aircraft.

Airbus postponed development of the A350-800 earlier this year, setting back initial deliveries to mid-2016.

Bangkok Airways has not switched its order to the -900. The decision takes the -800's current backlog, to the end of August 2011, down to 131 aircraft.

Voici les 4 qui manquaient à l'appel.

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Que va commander cette Cie. ? Des A330-200 ou des B787-8 ?
Bangkok Airways aurait des problèmes de trésorerie, ... et besoin de souffler ! L'avenir parlera !

"Wait & see" !

Airbus Beluga swallows first A350 wing cover

Airbus is preparing to transport the first A350 upper wing-cover from Germany to the airframer's main wing facility in the UK.

It has loaded the upper cover, manufactured at its Stade plant, onto one of its A300-600ST freighters for transit to Broughton over the next few days.

The covers are 32m (105ft) long and 6m wide. Airbus said the components are the "biggest single civil aviation parts made from carbonfibre ever".

Spain's Illescas manufacturing facility is producing the lower wing-cover, and this is also set to be flown to Broughton.

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First A350 XWB Flyable Wing Upper Cover

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Airbus reported the first flyable A350 XWB wing upper cover manufactured at Airbus’ Stade site was loaded on to the Beluga today to be transported to Airbus’ Wing Assembly site in Broughton (UK). The A350 XWB lower wing cover made in Illescas (Spain) will arrive in Broughton in the coming days. The A350 XWB wing covers measure 32 meters long by six meters wide, making them the biggest single civil aviation parts made from carbon fiber ever. The A350 program continues to make progress. Given the nature of new airplane programs, and their complexity, every sign of progress is to be cheered. Airbus can be proud of this ground breaking carbon fiber part.

Jeannot a écrit:Air France veut faire de nouvelles économies apr-s une perte de 197 millions d'Euro au premier trimetre.

Air France considers more cuts after €197 million 1Q loss

Air France-KLM (AF) Group and AF CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon met with trade unions Monday to discuss potential new cost savings in light of the uncertain economic outlook, the company confirmed to ATW.

AF stressed that no specific numeric target had been discussed.

The group increased the target of its challenge 12 cost-savings program from €470 million ($664.1 million) to €500 million for the current financial year after reporting a net loss of €197 million during the first quarter ended June 30. It also said it would lower scheduled growth of its long-haul network for the winter 2011-12 schedule from 5.1% to 2.7%. The Challenge 12 hiring freeze will be extended until 2014, mainly affecting the hiring of interns and temporary workers.

“Given the current instability of the financial markets and the very uncertain economic outlook, union representatives were reminded of the need to implement the measures announced end July [at the presentation of the group’s first-quarter results],” spokeswoman Brigitte Barrand said. She added that unions were informed there “might be a need for additional cost savings.” Details would be presented to unions next month.

Separately, the group is still considering the purchase of 100 new widebody aircraft and may take action at the Sept. 15 board meeting.

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Cela est une affaire de culture et de comportement, ..... de 'savoir être' !