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Since the fatal Southwest Airline accident the FAA is conducting a new review of jetliner engines. The enhanced hazard assessments revealed by acting Federal Aviation Administration chief Daniel Elwell, focus on potential threats from structural failures of front engine covers, called cowlings. Mid-air breakups of such ancillary parts typically haven’t been considered in safety analyses or mandatory certification standards for modern jet engines.
But, in the wake of the highly unusual engine failure that destroyed a cowling and killed a Southwest passenger in April, Mr. Elwell said the agency for the first time is looking into the extent of danger posed by precisely such rare events.
This is an excercpt from the series Far & Away, from National Geographic and The Wall Street Journal.
OF ALL THE JOYS of a bygone era of luxury air travel, Concorde was in a class by itself: supersonic flights that shrank the globe and made the hands of clocks tick backward. Now we’re closer than ever to a return to supersonic flights on commercial airlines, at prices far more affordable than Concorde ever was.
By the end of this year, a bluntly named aircraft manufacturing startup, Boom Technology, says it will fly a one-third size model of its supersonic airliner. The plane is called Baby Boom and it will test design and performance. The full-scale Boom airplane is scheduled to start three years of testing and certification in 2020. Many hurdles lay ahead, but the jet could be flying passengers in late 2023. Virgin Atlantic has ordered the first 10 of the $200 million jets. Other airlines have signed on, Boom Technology says, and a total of 76 orders are on the books so far.
Boom Technology says its Mach 2.2 plane will be able to get from New York to London in three hours, 15 minutes with round-trip tickets priced at about $5,000. Day-trips across oceans for business meetings would be possible. San Francisco to Tokyo would be five and a half hours instead of 11 hours today.
The plane will be roughly the length of a 737, only skinnier, and carry up to 55 passengers. Most rows will have a single seat on each side of the aisle with under-seat storage for carry-on bags. Seating will be about the same size as domestic first class today—38-inches for each row. While lie-flat business-class beds may be an option, there’s no need for them when you’re in the air as long as it currently takes to get from New York to Dallas.
Airbus SE is hunting for a new captain (CEO) to steer it through some of its worst turbulence in years.
The plane maker is facing investigations around the world over alleged corruption at a time when many of its most senior executives have laid plans to depart or already exited. While Airbus has secured orders for jets that have lengthened its backlog for years, it and rival Boeing Co. face big production challenges—including tight supply lines—to deliver those planes.
Airbus on Friday confirmed Chief Executive Tom Enders wouldn’t seek an extension to his contract beyond April 2019. His No. 2, Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Brégier, who runs the commercial plane division that delivers most of Airbus’s revenue and profit, will leave in February.
Boeing Co.’s attraction to Embraer SA fits one of the goals Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg has set for the aerospace giant: creating a level playing field in the commercial jetliner business.
Boeing this week confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that it was in talks with Embraer. But factors such as potential VETO from the Brazilian government could thwart a tie up. Analysts said that the chances of a full takeover were slim and that an expansion of the companies’ existing joint venture was a more likely outcome.
Airbus SE said this week it had completed a record-setting order for 430 jets from four airlines. These four airlines are linked to a U.S. private-equity firm. This one announcement narrows the gap opened up by rival Boeing Co. on new plane deals in 2017.
The European plane maker booked the order first outlined at last month’s Dubai Airshow for A320neo family jets. These 430 jets are destined for carriers linked to Indigo Partners LLC: Frontier Airlines in the U.S., Hungary’sWizz Air Holdings WIZZ PLC, Mexico’s Volaris and JetSmart, a new Chile-based carrier.
The sale is the biggest-ever bulk buy of planes in terms of aircraft number, with the jets carrying a list price of $49.5 billion before discounts that analysts estimate could run as high as 60%. Airbus and Indigo didn’t disclose the actual terms.
Boeing says its time for a new aircraft. The next new Boeing, known as the “new midsize airplane,” and unofficially, the 797, would likely be a double-aisle jet. The long process of design, building, testing, etc would mean the aircraft is not intended for delivery until around 2025.
The goal is to meet airlines’ needs for a plane bigger than the single-aisle 737, and smaller and with less range than the 787 Dreamliner. The new plane would overlap with the discontinued but still widely used 757 and 767, ferrying 200 to 280 passengers up to around 5,000 nautical miles.
The market for such a plane is questionable, which is one reason Boeing has not started developing it yet. The last 757 came off the line in 2004, and while airlines might like a replacement, it hasn’t been a major priority.
And Airbus has an aircraft in that space already. It can elongate the popular single-aisle A321. This would be at a lower cost and lower execution risk, since it wouldn’t be a completely new plane.
Boeing Reported First-Quarter Profit Down 9 Percent due to a $156 million charge for the KC-46 program, and a $70 million pretax charge for its 747 program. The U.S. Air Force aerial refueling tanker program is over-budget and behind schedule, while the weak air cargo market has slowed sales of the jumbo jet freighter. Earnings fell to $1.22 billion, from $1.34 billion a year earlier, but first-quarter revenue increased 2 percent to $22.6 billion.
Boeing still forecasts that its full-year profit and revenue will match 2015 and it is confident that other parts of its business would make up for the added expenses. The defense business was better than last year’s first quarter. Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg said, “Higher year-over-year deliveries of military aircraft and continued solid operating performance on core production programs drove revenue growth and strong cash flow for Boeing in the first quarter.”
Boeing did not report a 787 charge and said the program’s deferred costs rose by only $141 million to $28.65 billion, less than prior quarterly increases, but still the hole deepens. Commercial Airplanes first-quarter revenue decreased to $14.399 billion on 4 percent lower delivery volume of 176 aircraft. First-quarter operating margin was 7.2 percent. In the previous year, revenue was $15.381 billion, and the operating margin was $10.5 percent.
Earnings from commercial operations fell 36 percent to $1.033 billion from last year’s $1.617 billion. Commercial Airplanes booked 121 net orders during the quarter. Backlog remains strong with over 5,700 airplanes valued at $424 billion. In the first quarter of 2015, Boeing sold 116 aircraft, so sales this year are still strong, but some of those new sales were order changes to different types, which allowed at least one customer to delay delivery. In January, Mr. Muilenburg said Boeing will build between 740 and 745 commercial jets this year, down 20 from the 762 delivered in 2015, and the high-value 747 and 777 wide-bodies will be most affected. Expected revenue and cash flow for the year will drop accordingly. Boeing will build several flight test 737 MAXs this year, as well as the first production versions that cannot be delivered to customers until certification in 2017.
Airbus A350 deliveries are also delayed due to shortages of cabin equipment, such as seats and toilets. There are at least six A350s parked and awaiting delivery in Toulouse. Airbus delivered four A350s in the first quarter, while its target for 2016 is more than 50 deliveries. The manufacturer intends to deliver approximately 650 airplanes this year and forecast that hopes to sell 700 new ones. So far, the A350 problem has not reached the same level as 787 delivery delays that strained Boeing’s finances, but the Airbus Group is expected to report a larger than usual seasonal outflow of cash in the first quarter due to comercial jet delays and problems with the A400M military airplane. One analyst predicts a cash drain of €3.2 billion in the first quarter, and a 23 percent drop in operating profit.