One year ago, Airbus executives in Canada laid out broad strokes of a plan to make the A220 a commercial success.
Chief among the company’s goals: to boost A220 production, land sales with major airlines, reduce costs and, ultimately, make A220s profitable. One year later, the production rate is up and several major airlines have signed purchase papers. The degree to which Airbus has achieved cost and profitability goals, however, remains unclear. But Airbus Canada chief executive Philippe Balducchi insists the A220 programme is progressing as expected. “The journey to get the cost down has started [and] is on [a] good track,” Balducchi tells FlightGlobal on 15 January, adding that Airbus expects to achieve more cost reductions “in the coming months and year”. “We are on the normal path of an aircraft programme at this stage,” adds Balducchi, who spoke at an event in Montreal during which Air Canada unveiled its first A220-300. In January 2019, about six months after Airbus acquired the A220 programme from Bombardier, Balducchi described his A220 goals during a media event in Montreal. He pledged to make the A220 profitable and said his team had initiated a broad cost-cutting effort that included seeking concessions from suppliers. The team would also work to improve production efficiency, partly by bringing Airbus’s processes and systems to the A220. Balducchi now says Airbus aims to reduce the A220’s cost basis by 20%. But he declines to disclose more details or say whether the A220 is closer to profitability. “We have been progressing on the cost reduction. We have been having some significant progress with some suppliers. Some are still under discussion,” Balducchi says.

Source: Cirium

Combined orders and deliveries across the two mainline OEMs plummeted in 2019 as the effect of the 737 Max grounding stymied Boeing’s single-aisle performance. The Boeing production hiatus also ensured Airbus became the new record holder for airliner production. Overall, net orders at Airbus and Boeing declined by 50% on 2018’s total, to 822 aircraft while total deliveries fell by more than a fifth to 1,243 units. With Max activity effectively in limbo for the last nine months of 2019, Boeing’s total net orders across all its products declined by more than 90% to 54 units while deliveries were halved to 380 aircraft. For reference, the manufacturer’s guidance a year ago was to deliver 895-905 aircraft in 2019. Boeing delivered just 57 Max aircraft in 2019, compared with 256 in 2018. Overall, 737 deliveries fell to 127 aircraft (from 580 in 2018). As the sun set on commercial 737NG production, Boeing shipped 70 aircraft. Max deliveries were suspended shortly after the Ethiopian Airlines accident on 10 March, and the grounding and ongoing crisis has blunted the airframer’s sales activities of the new 737 family. The Max net-order tally was significantly in the red, to the tune of 73 aircraft, as a result of cancellations. Airbus enjoyed a slight rise in net orders last year, to 768 aircraft from 747 in 2018. It also powered to a new industry production record – taking the honours from long-time holder Boeing, with a total of 863 deliveries. The previous record of 806 deliveries was set by Boeing in 2018. The US manufacturer dropped behind Airbus in delivery terms for the first time since 2011.

Source: Cirium

The UK government has reached an agreement to keep regional airline Flybe operating. “Delighted that we have reached agreement with Flybe’s shareholders to keep the company operating, ensuring that UK regions remain connected,” said UK business secretary Andrea Leadsom on Twitter on the evening of 14 January. “This will be welcome news for Flybe’s staff, customers and creditors and we will continue the hard work to ensure a sustainable future.” Full details of the agreement were yet to emerge, but pilot union BALPA tweeted: “This is good news for 2,400 Flybe staff whose jobs are secured and regional communities who would have lost their air connectivity without Flybe. BALPA looks forward to discussing the airline’s future plans in detail with management.” Emergency talks between the government and Flybe’s owners – the Connect Airways consortium – were being held on 14 January amid indications the operator was seeking urgent funding.

Source: Cirium