Boeing is seeing the "early signs" of improvement in aircraft production as attempts to overall culture, oversight and safety at the US OEM' begin to bear fruit, chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes says. Speaking during a media event in London on 21 July, Stephanie Pope said that since taking over four months ago she has witnessed a "significant improvement" in the flow of Boeing's 737 Max factory production. The US manufacturer has reduced its production rate to below 38 narrowbodies a month, with a commitment to reach 38 towards the end of this year. "Those production rates are meaningfully increasing month over month," she observes. Similarly, on the 787 programme Pope notes that production has been below five per month with a commitment to get to five towards the end of the year, and that safety and quality actions it is implementing on the 737 are being rolled out across its other production facilities. "So you would see the same type of plans and actions being put on the floor at Charleston as you would in Renton or Everett," she says. Stabilising production and running deliveries predictably is one of three priorities that Pope is seeking to introduce at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The others are developing and executing a safety and quality plan, and inculcating a new culture at the company. Pope says that she has confidence in the safety and quality plan as it is based on input primarily from employees, with 30,000 items of feedback collected from Boeing's workforce. "Those items are what generated the genesis of the plan, and you can think of the summary of the plan as increasing our investment in training and employee proficiency skill enhancement," she says. "You can think about it as simplifying our business processes and procedures or build plans, reducing the defects across our supply chain and across our factories, as well as increasing our production compliance and elevating our safety and quality culture as well as deploying SMS [safety management systems] throughout the entire company." Pope says that achieving predictable deliveries has been based on time listening to customers who have walked through the US OEM's safety and quality plans in detail. "They're very, very supportive. They recognise this isn't minor change, this is a transformational change," she notes, adding that Boeing has been forced to slow down its production "pretty significantly to execute that change". Pope's third priority has been to introduce what she describes as a "just culture", where employees are provided with the tools, training and parts they need to be successful, and have a responsibility to follow the processes put in place and "speak up". "Speak up if they need help, speak up if they see a hazard, or a defect that could create a safety issue. It's all about engagement and empowerment and accountability," she adds. Pope says that despite the production slowdown, the company's backlog remains "incredibly strong" and is sold out to the end of the decade. Asked about any concerns she had about Boeing losing market share during this period, Pope says market share is "defined by airplane deliveries" and that the changes being made at the company are to stabilise production and increase deliveries.

Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury has highlighted the A321XLR's potential to fill the "middle of the market" gap long studied by rival airframer Boeing, following European certification of the narrowbody's CFM International-powered version. Speaking in London on the eve of the Farnborough air show, Faury recalled that the A321XLR has been launched "in another world" at the Paris air show of 2019. "It was before Covid, before many other things, but I think that it's probably more than ever, the right product." He adds: "Some have been speaking about the middle of the market for decades. Airbus did it, and here we are with the XLR... We're very happy to bring that product to be sort of successor for the 757 that has been a great aircraft, but the XLR comes with 30% less fuel burn for the same mission... The XLR is an incredible new tool for the market, for many reasons, but it's also going in the direction of decarbonisation." Looking ahead to the Farnborough, Faury observed that following the recent general election in the UK the air show would provide "a great opportunity to engage with many new stakeholders", citing some discussions that had already taken place at the Royal International Air Tattoo military event in recent days. He acknowledges that "plenty of changes in our democracies" lie ahead later this year: "We are in a world that is changing all the time, very volatile, very unpredictable, and quite challenging for industries. A bit of deglobalisation as well, that makes our life not an easy life when it comes to operating... The first priority and the first objective that we have is to manage the [production] ramp-up in spite of all those difficulties."

Saudia Group has signed a binding order with Lilium for the purchase of 50 Lilium Jets, with options for 50 more. The German OEM says the move marks the largest reported firm order of eVTOL aircraft by an airline planning to operate them. The agreement includes deposit and pre-delivery payment schedules, delivery timelines, performance guarantees, and provisions for maintenance and support. The Lilium Jets, expected to be delivered starting in 2026, will be operated by Saudia Private, a subsidiary of Saudia Group. Lilium chief executive Klaus Roewe states: "We are proud of our partnership with a market leading airline such as Saudia. And we are thrilled to be pioneering progress in the eVTOL industry as the eVTOL manufacturer with the largest reported firm purchase order from an international airline that plans to operate the aircraft."