June in Paris: A350s and 747 Advanced
Published 9:00 pm Sunday, June 12, 2005
All kinds of stuff happening in Paris so far. The most interesting (to me):
* Airbus got its first significant A350 order; and
* Boeing execs are dropping jumbo-jet sized hints that they’ll launch the 747 Advanced soon.
First, the A350. You’ve all no doubt by now heard that Qatar Airways wants “up to 60” of them. (It’ll be most interesting to see how many of those 60 are actual orders, and how many never-to-be-exercised options.)
Key Quote, from The Scotsman of Edinburgh: “Airbus Chief Executive Noel Forgeard said the Qatari deal means he now has ‘more than enough’ orders to launch the plane. That decision has effectively been postponed by Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., which said last week it planned to give the green light ‘by the end of September,’ instead of during the show, as many had expected.”
Here’s a link to that story:
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4685814
And a couple of related ones:
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jun2005/nf20050613_1891_db016.htm
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aBHZtsGt7D9g&refer=europe
Meanwhile, Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Alan Mulally and board chairman Lew Platt have been talking up the 747 Advanced. From the sounds of it, I expect them to approve the next-generation jumbo jet next month.
Key Quote (from Reuters): “We’re getting very good interest in the Advanced Four-Seven,” Alan Mulally said at an upbeat press briefing a day before the opening of the Paris Air Show, the aerospace industry’s top showcase. “We would probably deliver around 2008. It’s really paced by the engine on the Eight-Seven.”
Here’s that one:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=8767039&type=businessNews
And here are some related stories:
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=646159
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1140258.cms
Also, here’s a story about the scene at Le Bourget. (Lots of color, we’d say in the news game.)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/13/business/buzz.php
And finally, here’s a story from today’s Herald about what Boeing 787 chief Mike Bair planned to announce in Paris (for those of you infidels who don’t subscribe).
Key Quote, about the A350: “There’s no way Airbus can deliver on the promises its salespeople are making to airlines, Bair said. ‘Most of what we’ve seen requires a rewrite of physics.’”
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/06/13/100bus_787001.cfm
