flight international

THIS WEEK

ightglobal.com 8-14 March 2016 | Flight International | 7

Tianjin starts

widebody

preparations

THIS WEEK P

A

irbus chief operating officer

for customers John Leahy

now thinks a market exists for a

45-seat stretch of the A350-1000,

after speaking to multiple airlines.

“I’m the one that started out

with probably the most scepti-

cism of is there really a market for

45 more seats,” Leahy said on the

sidelines of the ISTAT Americas

conference in Phoenix, Arizona,

on 29 February. “Now I think

there is some market.”

The shift in stance comes after a

months-long and continuing se-

ries of discussions with custom-

ers, with Leahy seeing at least one

airline at the event “to talk specifi-

cally about stretching it”. The re-

sponse from carriers so far has

been “positive” about launching a

further stretch to compete with

Boeing’s 400-seat-class 777-9.

Leahy’s comments stop short of

a formal commitment to launch

the programme, but he says more

details could be released in July at

the Farnborough air show.

“We might say we’ve talked to

the airlines and they don’t think

there’s that big of a market there.

We might say there is a market

and we’re going to launch it before

the end of the year,” he suggests.

H

oneywell has withdrawn a

controversial bid to acquire

rival aerospace engine and

systems supplier United Tech-

nologies (UTC).

The proposed $90.7 billion ac-

quisition had drawn criticism

from UTC and major customers,

including Airbus and Embraer –

where executives raised concerns

that a combination would result

in a concentration of too much

market power in a single supplier.

On 1 March, Honeywell said

its decision to drop the bid was

“due to [UTC’s] unwillingness to

engage in negotiations.” The

company adds that it “strongly

F

inmeccanica Helicopters in-

tends to compete for two sub-

stantial US military require-

ments, offering the 15-seat

AW139 as a replacement for the

US Air Force’s 62 Bell UH-1Ns

and the AW119 Koala for a US

Navy training programme.

Divisional managing director

Daniele Romiti – who confirmed

the proposals during the HAI

Heli-Expo event in Louisville,

Kentucky on 29 February – says

that if successful, both types

would be delivered through the

company’s rotorcraft plant in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“The [AW]139 is the best fit for

the [air force] mission,” he says.

“The [AW]119 is the perfect size

for a [navy] training helicopter,

with enough power to allow it to

simulate all the significant ma-

noeuvring capabilities that are a

baseline for pilots.” The USN will

replace up to 117 Bell 206-based

TH-57 Sea Rangers.

Airbus Helicopters says it could

offer its H125, H130 or UH-72A

Lakota for the requirements, with

production to occur in Columbus,

Mississippi. ■

See Show Report P

disagrees” with a claim by UTC

executives that international

anti-trust regulators would have

destroyed the value of any deal

by requiring spin-offs of overlap-

ping technologies.

Honeywell also claims that

UTC had made two separate

attempts to form a combination

of the two companies, in May

2011 and April 2015. After ap-

proaching UTC on 19 February, it

“had hoped to continue amicable

and quiet discussions”.

“We were told by them during

the meeting that such a combina-

tion would be fabulous, they

would take it very seriously, and

they would get back to us with

questions within a week, in an-

ticipation of their upcoming

Board meeting,” Honeywell says.

Responding to the company’s

cessation of interest, UTC de-

scribes the Honeywell withdrawal

as the “appropriate outcome”. ■

Bitter end to Honeywell’s UTC mega-merger plans

CONSOLIDATION STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

REQUIREMENTS

Finmeccanica

in pursuit of US

military deals

PROGRAMME STEPHEN TRIMBLE PHOENIX

A350-1000 may stretch out

Leahy shifts position on expected market for increased-capacity widebody to rival 777-

Final assembly of the -1000 model began in Toulouse last month

Embraer

Airbus

Companies will be

major suppliers on

Embraer E190-E

Speaking during a panel

discussion, Oriel co-founder and

senior appraiser Olga Razzhivina

strongly supported a launch deci-

sion. “I think they should do it as

soon as possible,” she says.

“Airbus has always been lagging

in the 777-300ER market, and

they need something to compete

with the 777X. And the engine is

there.”

Leahy agrees that Boeing

found a “sweet spot” with the

777-300ER. Airbus launched the

A350-1000 to capture the re-

placement market for its rival’s

record-selling twin-aisle. But he

disagrees with Seattle’s decision

to replace the 360-seat-class

product with the 777-9, which

will feature about 40 more seats.

“The 777-300ER market didn’t

all just magically shift because

[Boeing] wanted it to,” he says.

“Most of the market stayed there.”

Leahy declines to be specific

about the technical challenge

posed by a new A350 family

member. “It depends on what we

actually do: how many frames we

stretch the airframe, how much

higher we take the maximum

take-off weight. And that’s not

been finalised.” ■

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