Paris Air Show 2019 - Day 2

The 2nd day of the Paris Air Show provided Boeing with a shot in the arm as far as the 737 Max is concerned but Airbus still outpaced Boeing in the orders race but also signed on more form customers whereas Boeing announcements were all letters of intent (LoI).  Boeing certainly needed to get a vote of confidence for the 737 Max and they got it from IAG when they signed an LoI for 200 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 10s.  The exact number s for each variant will be subject to the final firm order agreement.

The 787-10 also got a major shot in the arm today as Korean Air will be ordering 10 direct from Boeing and also will lease another 10 from Air Lease Corp. and take 10 more 787-9s as well.  Separately, Boeing got an LoI for 5 787-9s each from Air Lease and an unidentified customer.

Airbus was also busy signing up Cebu Pacific for the A30/A321 and the A330-900NEO, getting additional orders or the A321XLR from IAG (Aer Lingus and Iberia) and Saudia who will increase their total A320 orders to 100. 

Airbus

Aer Lingus - 6 x A321XLR - Firm; 6 x A321XLR - Options
ALC - 50 x A220-300 - LoI
ALC - 27 x A321XLR - LoI
ALC - 23 x A321NEO - LoI
Cebu Pacific - 5 x A320NEO - LoI
Cebu Pacific - 10 x A321XLR - LoI
Cebu Pacific - 10 x A321NEO - Options
Cebu Pacific - 16 x A330-900NEO - LoI
Delta Air Lines - 5 X A220-100 - Firm
Iberia - 8 x A321XLR - Firm; 7 x A321XLR - Options
Saudia - 15 X A320NEO - Firm; 35 x A320NEO - Options
Saudia - 15 X A321XLR - Firm
Virgin Atlantic - 8 x A330-900NEO - Firm; 6 x A330-900NEO Options

ATR

NAC - 20 x ATR 42-600 - Firm; 20 x ATR 42-600 - Options; 20 x ATR 42-600 - Option LoI
NAC - 15 x ATR 72-600 - Firm; 15 x ATR 72-600 - Options; 15 x ATR 72-600 - Option LoI

Boeing

ALC - 5 x 787-9 - LoI
IAG - 200 x 737 MAX - LoI
Korean Air - 10 x 787-9 - LoI
Korean Air - 10 x 787-10 - LoI
Unidentified - 5 x 787-9 - LoI

De Havilland Canada

Air Antillies - 2 x DHC-6 Twin Otter - Firm


Embraer

Binter Canaris - 2 x E175 E2 - Firm
Fuji Dream Airlines - 2 x E175 - Firm
United Airlines - 20 x E 175 - Firm; 19 x E175 - Options

787 and 737 MAX, A Tale of Two Groundings

The two horrible 737 MAX 8 accidents within 6 months of each other and under similar if not outright identical circumstances brings to mind the grounding of the 787s 6 years ago that were prompted by LION batteries that are used by that aircraft.  In each case there are similarities but also notable differences in the issues and how the different parties reacted to the safety of flight issues that were causes for both groundings.

In order to properly understand the context of these issues we should review what happened in January 2013.  In a matter of one week, multiple 787-8 belonging to Japanese carriers, Japan Airlines and ANA experienced electrical fires that were traced to the lithium ion (LION) batteries that were carried in the equipment bay of the 787s and used to supply internal power to the aircraft.  January 7 the first incident occurred on a JAL 787-8 that had just landed at Boston's Logan Airport.  Soon after the passengers and crew had deplaned, a maintenance worker noticed a burning smell. Airport fire rescue put out a fire that had started when the LION battery exploded in the aft electrical bay.

8 days later on January 15, 2013 an ANA 787-8 was flying a domestic route when smoke had entered the cabin.  The 787 made an emergency landing in Takamatsu, Japan where the passengers and crewed evacuated the airplane using the emergency slides.  After this incident, ANA promptly grounded all its 787s (which numbered 17 at the time).  One day later on January 16th, the FAA ordered the grounding of all US based 787s which, at that time, numbered 6 all owned by United Airlines.  However, other countries took the cue from the FAA and a worldwide grounding was in effect as aviation regulators took similar actions that the FAA had implemented.

It would be over four months before the FAA certified a containment system for these batteries that would protect the aircraft in the case of another battery fire. The airplanes returned to service once the FAA approved containment system was retrofitted in in service aircraft over the course of several months starting in late April, 2013.

Currently we don't have a definitive cause for the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 disasters though it appears, from initial reports, that a flight control system new to the 737 and known as the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) is getting faulty angle of attack information from external sensors and forcing the aircraft into a nose down attitude.  This is one possible factor in the two crashes.  The other factor is flight crew training on the new system as well as the documentation in the flight manuals of this system and how to respond appropriately to any emergencies caused by MCAS.

Soon after the Ethiopian crash on March 10th and over the next 2 days, aviation regulators all over the wold started grounding the 737 MAX 8 but the FAA did not act and this is where bizarre things start to happen.  Take for instance that Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg called the President to reiterate that the 737 MAX is safe to fly.  As more and more aviation safety officials and airlines around the world ground the airplane the FAA still insisted that the airplane is safe to fly.  This goes one for two and half days until finally the President (not the FAA) announces the grounding of the 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9.   The announcement didn't come from the FAA, it came from the President which is extremely unusual and, quite frankly, disturbing.  Equally disturbing is the lack of leadership in the aftermath of these crashes from the FAA unlike the response it demonstrated with the 787 battery issue.  The United States was the last to ground the 737 MAX 8 (and MAX 9) after data of both crashes showed a lot of similarities.

Lastly it appears that Boeing has been working on a software fix for MCAS since the Lion Air crash but the long government shutdown in December/January delayed the implementation of testing and certification of the fix.  It's unknown what the pre-shutdown plan for testing and certification was or if the shutdown had not occurred if the fix would have been rolled out in time to prevent the Ethiopian crash.

With the 787 battery issue in 2013, the FAA had lead from the get go thus reassuring airlines and their customer that they took safety of flight issues seriously.  However, the FAA in 2019 abdicated its fiduciary responsibilities by not grounding the 737 MAX after the Ethiopian crash and thus leaving it to aviation safety regulators outside of the US to ensure safety of flight issues with the 737 are addressed.  The FAA was had to dragged into the grounding kicking and screaming after over 300 people had died.  The FAA and Boeing need to do more to ensure that the commercial aircraft used world wide are free from safety of flight issues if they want to redeem their reputation.  Outside individuals who are not involved with aviation safety and implementation of the regulations need to keep quiet and let the professionals decide what is safe and what isn't.

Paris Air Show 2017 - Day 4

Boeing ended the industry portion of the 2017 Paris Air Show with a bang by announcing a mega order of 125 737 MAX 8 with 50 options from an unidentified but major customer. as well as some smaller orders from other customers.  It was a way to steal some thunder (what little there was) from Airbus as they closed out their air show with a few notable orders as well.

There weren't any more Boeing widebody order announcements though travel editor John Walton said that Boeing may have a 787-10 announcement:

Boeing's Mounir says "hesitancy in regional pockets" not affecting #777X timing. Teases #787-10 announcement tomorrow. #PAS17 pic.twitter.com/jgSwBgIQtF

— John Walton @ #PAS17 (@thatjohn) June 22, 2017

I'm not sure what this is about and it is unusual especially since the industry events are all but over, but I'll be keeping my ears and eyes open for any announcement that may come.  In the meantime here's the final tally of orders (so far) from this year's Paris Air Show.

Boeing

AerCap - 30 x 787-9 (firm); 15 x 737 MAX 10 (conversion of 15 x 737 MAX 8)

Air Lease Corp. - 5 x 737 MAX 7 (MoU); 7 x 737 MAX 8 (MoU)

ALAFCO - 20 x 737 MAX 8 (MoU)

Avalon - 75 x 737 MAX 8 (MoU); 50 x 737 MAX 8 (options)

Aviation Capital Group - 20 x 737 MAX 10 (firm)

Azerbaijan Airlines - 4 x 787-8 (firm)

Blue Air - 6 x 737 MAX 8 (firm)

BOC Aviation - 10 x 737 MAX 10 (MoU)

China Aircraft Leasing Group - 35 x 737 MAX 8; 5 x 737 MAX 10 (firm)

CDB Aviation Lease Finance - 42 x 737 MAX 8 (MoU); 10 x 737 MAX 10 (including 6 conversions from 737 MAX 8 (4 MoU); 8 x 787-9 (MoU)

Copa - 15 x 737 MAX 10 (conversion from 737 MAX 8)

Donghai Airlines - 10 x 737 MAX 10 (conversion from 10 x 737 MAX 8)

El Al Airlines - 2 x 787-8, 1 x 787-9 (firm)

Ethiopian Airlines - 10 x 737 MAX 8 (MoU); 2 x 777F (firm)

GECAS - 20 x 737 MAX 10 (conversion of 20 737 MAX 8 orders - firm)

Japan Investment Advisor - 10 x 737 MAX 8 (MoU)

Lion Air - 50 x 737 MAX 10 (MoU)

Malaysia Airlines - 10 x 737 MAX 10 (conversion from 737 MAX 8)

Mauritania Airlines - 1 x 737 MAX 8 (firm)

Monarch - 15 x 737 MAX 8 (firm)

Norwegian - 2 x 737 MAX 8 (firm)

Okay Airways - 7 x 737 MAX 8 (firm); 8 x 737 MAX 10 (firm); 5 x 787-9 (MoU)

Qatar Airways - 20 x 737 MAX 8 (firm) + 40 x 737 MAX 8 options

Ruili Airlines - 15 x 737 MAX (MoU)

RyanAir - 10 x 737 MAX 200 (firm)

SpiceJet - 40 x 737 MAX 10 (20 new (MoU), 20 conversions)

Tassili Airlines - 3 x 737-800 (firm)

Tibet Financial Leasing - 20 x 737 MAX (8/10) (MoU)

TUI Group - 18 x 737 MAX 10 (conversion of 18 737 MAX 8 orders)

Unidentified Customer - 125 x 737 MAX 8 (MoU); 50 x 737 MAX 8 (options)

United Airlines - 100 x 737 MAX 10 (conversion from 737 MAX 8); 4 x 777-300ER (firm)

Xiamen Airlines - 10 x 737 MAX 10 (MoU)


Airbus

AirAsia - 14 x A320 (MoU)

Air Lease Corp. - 12 x A321neo (firm)

CBD Aviation Lease Finance - 30 x A320neo; 15 x A321neo (conversion)

Delta Air Lines - 10 x A321 (firm)

Ethiopian Airlines - 10 x A350-900 (firm)

GECAS - 100 x A320neo/A321neo (firm)

Hi Fly - 2 x A330-200 (firm)

IranAirtours - 45 x A320neo (MoU)

Viva Air - 15 x A320; 35 x A320neo (MoU)

Wizz Air - 10 x A321 (firm)

Zagros Airlines - 20 x A320neo (MoU); 8 x A330neo (MoU)


ATR

Air Senegal - 2 x ATR72-600 (firm)

Tianju - 10 x ATR42-600 (MoU)

Xuzhou Hantong - 3 x ATR42-600 (MoU)


Bombardier

Ethiopian Airlines - 5 x Q400 (MoU)

PAL Express - 7 x Q400 (firm)

SpiceJet - 25 x Q400 (MoU); 25 x A400 options


Embraer

Belavia - 1 x E175 (firm); 1 x E190 (firm)

Fuji Dream Airlines - 3 x E-175 (firm)

J-Air - 1 x E190 (firm)

KLM cityhopper - 2 x E190 (firm)

Unidentified Customer 1 - 20 x E190-E2 (MoU)

Unidentified Customer 2 - 10 x E195-E2 (firm); 10 x E190-E2 options

Qatar Airways exercises 30 787 options and buys 10 additional 777-300ERs and signs an LoI for 60 737 Max 8

In a press conference held in Washington DC, Qatar Airways announced an agreement with Boeing to exercise the 30 787 options it held when it placed the original order for 30 787-8s in April 2007.  The 787 order is for 30 787-9. This exercise of the 30 options is now a firm order

Additionally Qatar bought 10 more 777-300ER and signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to purchase 60 737 MAX 8 narrowboddies.

This order was to have been announced at Farnborough as I alluded to in previous posts but the deal was put on hold until the United States signed off or Qatar intent to purchase the F-15 for its armed forces.  Now that the F-15 sale is approved it allowed Qatar to complete the purchase of the 737, 777 and 787 fleet.

This purchase was not only a reaffirmation of Boeing's commercial product line but also was a shot aimed right at Airbus for the delivery issues they've had with the A320neo and the A350-900.  There also have been performance issues with the A350 operating out of Doha and the dispatch reliability is in the 90% area, way low then what was expected when Qatar started taking delivery.  I have to wonder if Qatar's order for the remaining A350s (including the A350-1000) is in jeopardy given the large order with Boeing.  Don't forget that Qatar also has 60 777X orders.  Between these two large wide body order (787-8, 787-9, 777-300ER, 777X) Qatar has plenty of large capacity aircraft to meet its needs into the next decade.


Here's Boeing Press Release on the Qatar order:

Boeing, Qatar Airways Announce Order for 30 787-9 Dreamliners, 10 777-300ERs

Announcement includes Letter of Intent for up to 60 737 MAX 8s 

Marks Boeing's future entry into airline's single-aisle fleet 

One of largest fleet announcements in Qatar Airways' history

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Qatar Airways announced an order for 30 787-9 Dreamliners and 10 777-300ERs, valued at $11.7 billion at list prices, validating the value, reliability and performance of Boeing's twin-aisle airplanes.
The airline also signed a Letter of Intent for up to 60 737 MAX 8s, valued at $6.9 billion at list prices. 

Today's announcement builds on Qatar Airways' current fleet of 84 Boeing aircraft, a combination of 787s and 777s, all delivered over the last nine years. With this new order, Qatar Airways increases its firm order backlog of Boeing widebody airplanes from 65 to 105, including 60 777Xs.
The announcement was attended by the State of Qatar's Minister of Finance, His Excellency Ali Shareef Al Emadi, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken and the Ambassador of Qatar, His Excellency Mohammed Jaham Al-Kuwari. 

"Qatar Airways, already one of the fastest growing airlines in the history of aviation, today announces a significant and historic aircraft order that will power our future growth for the years and the decades ahead," said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker. "Boeing has proven to be a valuable partner, and today's announcement is testament to our appreciation of the quality of their product and their dedication to providing world class customer service."  

Qatar Airways' relationship with Boeing was renewed in 2006. Since then, there have been many milestones in the partnership. The airline was the first to operate the 787 in the Middle East and is a launch customer for the 777X. With the commitment for the 737 MAX 8, it would be the first Boeing single-aisle airplane model to join Qatar Airways' fleet in more than 15 years. 

"Congratulations to The Boeing Company and Qatar Airways on the remarkable milestone they've reached, which will significantly grow the number of Boeing aircraft in the Qatar Airways fleet," said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. "Beyond its importance for these two companies, this agreement demonstrates the importance of global commercial partnerships in strengthening our bilateral ties. This deal will strengthen economic opportunity and job creation, and highlights the importance of strong global trading relationships." 

"We are so very proud that a discerning and market-leading customer like Qatar Airways not only continues to endorse our current products, but  also has confidence in Boeing's new technology that will soon be evident on the 777X and 737 MAX," said  Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner. "Our partnership with Qatar Airways has grown and strengthened tremendously over the years and I look forward to the time when its fleet will feature an increasing number of both our single and twin-aisle airplanes." 

The 777-300ER is the most reliable twin-aisle airplane flying today and is considered to be the flagship of the world's elite airlines. It has the highest schedule reliability of any twin-aisle airplane at 99.5 percent – the airplane is on time, nearly all the time. 

The 787-9 Dreamliner is the second member of the super-efficient, passenger-pleasing 787 family. The 787-9, a stretch of the 787-8, can fly 290 passengers 7,635 nautical miles (14,140 km) in addition to more cargo, allowing airlines the ability to grow routes first opened by the 787-8 

Boeing's newest family of single-aisle airplanes – 737 MAX 7, 737 MAX 8, 737 MAX 9 and 737 MAX 200 – builds on the Next-Generation 737's popularity and reliability while delivering customers unsurpassed fuel efficiency in the single-aisle market, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2017.

Farnborough Air Show 2016 - Day 1

Here's a summary of today's order action from Farnborough

Boeing

Donghai Airlines - 25 x 737 Max 8, 5 x 787-9 (MoU)

Standard Chartered - 10 x 737-800 (Firm)

Xiamen Airlines - 30 x 737 Max 200 (MoU)

Airbus

ALC - 3 x A350-900, 1 x A321 (Firm)
Virgin Atlantic Airways - 8 x A350-1000 (Firm)
Jetstar Pacific - 10 x A320 (MoU)
Air Cote D'Ivoire - 1 x A320neo (Firm)
Arkia - 4 x A330-900neo (Firm)

COMAC
China Aircraft Leasing - 60 x ARJ21 (MoU)
AVIC - 30 x ARJ21 (MoU)

Embraer
Arkia 6 x E195-E2 (MoU)
Kalstar 5 x  E195-E2 (Firm)
Nordic Aviation Capital 4 x E190-E2 (Firm)
Japan Air Lines 1 x E190 (Firm)

Mitsubishi

Rockton - 10 x MRJ90 (MoU)

Boeing makes a huge widebody splash at Dubai 2013; 777X launched, 787-10 gets more orders

Boeing Rendering of the 777-8X and 777-9X

 

Boeing made good on expectations of a huge splash of orders at Dubai 2013 today by booking 259 orders and commitments for the 777X part 2 of Boeing's two prong strategy against Airbus' A350.

The 777X is meant to directly challenge the A350-1000 (Boeing says the 777-8X is a direct challenger to the A350-1000) and any potential stretch of this aircraft to over 400 seats.  Emirates came in big with an order for 115 777-9X and 35 777-8X, the later is really an extended range version of the 777-300ER.  Etihad ordered 17 777-9X and 8 777-8X while Qatar signed an LoI for 50 777-9X.  What is unknown at this time is weather the Etihad and Emirates orders are firm or not.

Additionally Etihad ordered the 787-10 taking orders for the type to 120 and total orders for the 787 family to 1,012.  It does seem that this order may be firm.  Along with the 41 787-9s on order, Etihad is on track to be the largest airline customer of the 787.  ILFC is the largest 787 customer with 74 airplanes on order with 5 already delivered.

Boeing wasn't done as FlyDubai also went big and ordered 100 737-8 MAX and 11 737-800.  Overall a huge day for Boeing and I suspect that it's not over for them.  I expect that Boeing will more orders to announce from non Gulf carriers and may include Cathay Pacific as another customer for the 777X.

Airbus tried to make a splash but really came up with another yawn order of 50 A380 for Emirates.  The A380 has a large exposure to just one carrier and truly doesn't bode well for the aircraft as it has unable to penetrate other airlines and diversify its customer base.  The re-sale market for this aircraft is extremely limited.

After Day 1 at Dubai 2013 here's the scoreboard:

Airbus

Emirates - 50 x A380 (yawn)
Etihad - 40 x A350-900, 10 x A350-1000, 10 x A320 NEO, 26 x A321 NEO + 30 options on A350 and A320/A321 NEO
Qatar - 5 x A330-200F (8 options)


Boeing

Emirates - 35 x 777-8X, 115 x 777-9X + 50 options
Etihad - 8 x 777-8X, 17 x 777-9X, 30 x 787-10, 1 x 777F + 12 x 777X options/purchase rights, 12 x 787-10 options/purchase rights, 2 x 777F options/purchase rights
FlyDubai - 11 x 737-800, 100 x 737-8 MAX
Lufthansa - 34 x 777-9X
Qatar - 50 x 777-9X (LoI)

787 musical chairs continues at Everett

As 787 flight testing continues to progress. Boeing is still producing 787s although it seems it is at a slower rate.  The load dates since June 26 bear this out but please note that this does not include the second 787-9.

L/N 127 - 6/26/13
L/N 128 - 7/2/13 (8 days)
L/N 130 - 7/16/13 (14 days)
L/N 131 - 7/26/13 (10 days)
L/N 134 - 8/7/13 (12 days)
L/N 136 - 8/19/13 (12 days)

Recent 787s have been loaded into the first assembly position in 40-26 at rate of 1 every 12 days. this is about half the rate that a 787 needs to be loaded in order to produce 5.5 airframes per month from Everett (not counting 787-9 test frame production).  The reason for the production slowdown is yet unknown but I do think that it is helping Boeing to manage the inventory build up at both Charleston as well as at Everett.

In other news, Boeing allocated L/N 22 (ZA803) to Transaero thus the 4 aircraft order for this carrier will be filled by 4 early build airframes 2 of which are currently under going change incorporation and will probably be delivered sometime in the 1st quarter of 2014.  Boeing has also moved the three airframes occupying Kilo South at Paine Airport to the runway 11-29 storage area and the tower ramp.  As Boeing continues to work through the early production frames that need change incorporation the number of early build 787s being stored around the airport will gradually shrink though at a slower rate as these air frames do require a lot of work and thus more time.  Boeing has also pulled another airframe that had undergone change incorporation onto the flightline.  This time is it is ZA235 (LN 32, VT-ANG) and appears to be preparing for production testing.  This aircraft maybe delivered in September. Lastly, Boeing had one canceled 787 this year which was just posted.  The sole 787 cancelled was from Travel Service of the Czech Republic.  The opted to switch their order to 3 737 MX 8 instead.

Full 787 List

Current 787 Production List

Delivered 787 List

787 Monthly Delivery Tracking

787 Customer Delivery

 

787 info from Boeing's 2nd quarter earnings call

                                         Ethiopian's First 787 (ZA262) returning to Everett.
                                         Photo by Bernard Leighton

Today was quite a day for Boeing and the 787. A lot of news today so let's get started

Boeing's Earnings Call

Boeing Earning's came out today and showed quite an improvement.  As far as the 787 is concerned Boeing said a few things that were already known but let's go through the highlights.  Boeing is saying that they're seeing a high level of completion of aircraft coming out the final assembly line at Everett.  It's close to 100% apparently.  They're still tracking to increase production to 5/month by the end of this year and 10/month by the end of 2014.  Boeing is expecting to see higher 2nd half 787deliveries both from aircraft coming off the assembly line as well as those finishing change incorporation.  However Boeing does expect to see an increase in inventory as deferred production balance was recorded at $13.2bn and is expected to grow to about $20bn by the time the production rate hits 10/month after which there should be decline in this balance as airplanes are cleared out of inventory and the production system stabilizes at that rate.  In terms of deliveries Boeing said the deliveries were paced by customer demands and request.  It seems that this may be the reason why there hasn't been too much 787 pre-delivery activity at Everett.  They also said that aft fuselage production is a "hot spot" for Boeing in terms of 787 production and they still have some issues there which they're addressing. It's not a show stopper for the production rate increase. Jim McNerney said that the most important thing is that production is now occurring without the need to send airplanes to the Everett Modification Center (EMC) for change incorporation.  He also said that there is plan to get the aircraft that have to go through the EMC out in an orderly fashion.  He said that the EMC will continue to see work for the next year and half plus (so let's assume for another 18 to 21 months or end of first quarter 2014). Aside from Air India (a deviation from planned deliveries) which is all to well known, Boeing does have a ramp plan for deliveries for the second half of the year.  In terms of the improvement they said that ZA182 (LN70, JA828A) had about 160 open jobs left so they're seeing a lot of improvement in the condition of assembly.  Boeing is also seeing improvement at the EMC in terms of work behind schedule and shortages. They also said that the Trent 1000 gear box issue won't affect deliveries and 4 of 5 of airplanes ANA airplanes have been fixed and it's a very minor issue.  This issue won't affect deliveries of the airplane.  Boeing also gave more indications (there is greater fidelity on the evaluation of the business case) that they will do a 787-10X and that a decision should come later this year or early next year.  McNerney said that it does look like a good airplane which would have a lot of market demand. 

Looking ahead to 787 delivery forecast for the remainder of the year, Boeing said that they still expect to deliver between 35 and 42 787s for all of 2012.  They have already delivered 11.  This means that between 24 and 31 787s will be delivered by the end of this year and this will be split 50/50 between airplanes from EMC and those coming off the final assembly lines in Everett and Charleston.  Thus Boeing is saying that they would deliver between 12 to 15 787 each from EMC and the final assembly lines over the next 5 months starting in August (1 787 already has been delivered from the EMC in July).

Air India

Delivery of Air India's 787s is one step closer as an Indian Government Group of Ministers (GoM) had approved the deal between Boeing and Air India.  The matter now goes to the Indian Cabinet for final approval.  If and when that approval is given the delivery will take place and the fly aways will occur.  It's not known when the Indian CCEA will meet next but it is at his next meeting that the compensation deal will be discussed.

Aeromexico Order

Aeromexico added to the days news with a huge letter of intent (LoI) for 90 737 MAX8 and 737 MAX 9 as well as 10 787-9.  The deal is worth about $11bn.  It is not known if this order is inclusive of options of not but when the deal is finalized the numbers will then be known.  Aeromexico currently has orders for the 787-8 (both purchase and lease) and is expected to start taking deliveries starting in 2013.

Other News

The first 787 fro Ethiopian (see picture above) flew back to Everett this afternoon. ZA262 (LN 49, ET-AOQ) flew back in the Ethiopian scheme after spending close to two weeks in Ft. Worth being painted.  There were other 787s flights today but were test airplanes conducting Boeing test flights out of Boeing Field.  It is not known when the next B-1 flights will occur next but there are still some 787s that need the new gear box fro the Trent 1000 powered airplanes.  The timing of the next 787 test flights is also clouded by the planned closure of Everett's main renway from 4pm on August 2nd to 8AM on August 6th.  It is possible that Boeing can get 1 possibly 2 787s into the air for their B-1 flight before August 2nd but only if they're ready.

Farnborough 2012 - Day 3

Farnborough 2012 is starting to wind down though I do expect one more big order from United Airlines to come through tomorrow.  Rumor has it that this will be for the 737 MAX and the order wll be announced in Chicago. I'll still list it here as part of the running order totals from Farnborough.

Airbus
Arkia - 4 x A321NEO - MoU
CALC - 28 x A320, 8 X A321 - MoU
Cathay Pacific - 10 x A350-1000 - MoU (converts 16 A350-900 order to A350-1000)
CIT Group - 5 x A330- Firm
Drukair - 1 x A319 - MoU

ATR
Air Lease Corp - 2 x ATR 72-600
LAO Airlines - 2 x ATR 72-600
Nordic Aviation - 1 x ATR 42-600
TransAsia - 8 x ATR 72-600

Boeing
Air Lease Corp - 60 x 737 MAX 8, 15 x 737 MAX 9 - Firm
ALAFCO - 20 x 737 MAX 8 - MoU
Avolon - 10 x 737 MAX 8, 5 x 737 MAX 9, 10 x 737-800 - MoU
GECAS - 75 x 737 MAX 8, 25 x 737-800 - MoU

Bombardier
AirBaltic - 10 x CS300 - LoI

Embraer
Hebei Airlines - 5 x E190 - Firm

Mitsubishi
SkyWest Airlines - 100 x MRJ - MoU

Sukhoi
Interjet - 5 x SSJ-100

Farnborough 2012 - Day 2

More 737 MAX activity from Boeing but Airbus and Cathay Pacific make a little noise as well today.For all the hype surroundng "Boeing's Show", it really is a slow.

Airbus
Arkia - 4 x A321NEO - MoU
Cathay Pacific - 10 x A350-1000 - MoU (converts 16 A350-900 order to A350-1000)
Drukair - 1 x A319 - MoU

Boeing
Air Lease Corp - 60 x 737 MAX 8, 15 x 737 MAX 9 - Firm
ALAFCO - 20 x 737 MAX 8 - MoU
GECAS - 75 x 737 MAX 8, 25 x 737-800 - MoU

Bombardier
AirBaltic - 10 x CS300 - LoI

Embraer
Hebei Airlines - 5 x E190 - Firm

Farnborough 2012 - Day 1

First day at Farnborough was Boeing's day and already there are rumors that there will be more 737 MAX deals with GECAS and United Airlines on the order of 75 and 100 each respectively.  The United order announcement is rumored to take place in Chicago which is where the corporate headquarters for both UAL and Boeing are located.  The GECAS order might be announced tomorrow. Here's a review of the order action at Farnborough 2012:

Airbus
Arkia - 4 x A321NEO - MoU

Boeing
Air Lease Corp - 60 x 737 MAX 8, 15 x 737 MAX 9 - Firm

Embraer
Hebei Airlines - 5 x E190 - Firm