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Scramble 459
Airbus
A350
Airbus has expanded the number of A350-1000 options with a
new variant hiking the MTOW to 316t. Airbus revamped the
original -1000 design in 2011, raising the MTOW from 298t to
308t to increase its payload-range capability.
A380
In last month’s Scramble we made notice of a production cut
for the A380 from 27 aircraft in 2016 to a target of twelve air-
craft in 2018. This month we can again mention a lowering of
the A380 production, because late July Airbus revealed that
it will cut A380 production in 2019 to just eight aircraft, as
a result of weak sales. Airbus said it made the decision after
consideration of the “current A380 order booking situation”.
A320
Better news for the A320 production, as Airbus plans to
open an additional final assembly line for the A320 family
in Hamburg this summer. With this new production line,
the production rate of the A320 can rise to sixty aircraft
per month in mid-2019. Airbus currently builds around fifty
narrow body aircraft per month. This extra production facil-
ity is much needed as Airbus still has a backlog of over 5,000
A320 family aircraft.
Boeing
B777
Late July Boeing declared it has “oversold” its 777 production
line for 2018. This means that Boeing won’t have to build
unsold white tails. From August onward, Boeing will built the
current 777 at a reduced production rate of five aircraft per
month, coming from seven and even 8.3 a month (meaning
a hundred per year) in its heydays. In 2018/2019 Boeing will
further cut the production rate to 3.5 aircraft per month.
With the current order backlog this new production rate
means that Boeing has already sold 90% of the available slots
for 2019.
The 777 production may be lowered for the time being,
Boeing has ramped up the production of the 737 and 787.
Boeing currently builds the 737 with a rate of 42 per month,
but this will rise to 47 by year end. The production rate of the
737 will grow to 57 per month in 2019. The 787 is currently
built at a rate of twelve per month, but will eventually rise to
fourteen in 2019.
Bombardier
Global 7000
The Global 7000 programme progress is beyond expecta-
tions. Mid July 2017 the three prototypes passed the 500
flying hours marker since they started back in November
2016. In August two more flying prototypes will join the test
campaign and together the final burdens of certification and
validation trials will be met, to ensure the scheduled entry
into service in the second quarter of 2018. From the Bombar-
dier’s US flight test facility in Wichita (KS) prototype FTV4
will be equipped with a full production interior and FTV5
will be used as a dedicated entry-into-service validation air-
plane. FTV1 also snatched the record of fastest large business
jet from Gulfstream and Cessna during a test flight in March
2017 while reaching Mach 0.995. Normally the maximum
operating speed of the Global 7000 will be slightly slower
with a still very respectable Mach 0.925. At their Toronto-
Downsview (Ont.) facility the first customer ordered Global
7000s entered the production line and find their way towards
the final assembly line.
Learjet
On 2 June 2017 Bombardier celebrated the delivery of the
3,000th Learjet. The lucky Learjet was also marking the
100th Learjet 75 being delivered since introduction in 2013,
so reason enough for a celebration with customer Leggett &
Platt. The history of the Learjets goes back to 1963 when the
first Lear Jet Model 23 was introduced.
Manufacturers News
The Boeing 787-10 was one of the highlights of this year’s Paris Air Show. It was a pity that the aircraft was only present for the first two days
and already left the city of light on Tuesday. On its way back to the USA Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner N528ZC made a fuel stop at Shannon. (20
June 2017, Malcolm Nason)
Civil News
