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Scramble 467
Airbus
A320 Family
Early February, Airbus delivered the 8,000th A320 family
aircraft. Airbus A320-270N MSN 8000 was delivered to Air
China as B-1068. The aircraft was not assembled in Europe at
Finkenwerder or Toulouse, but was assembled in Tianjin in
China. It took Airbus less than thirty years to build 8,000 A320
family aircraft as the first A320 was delivered to Air France
in March 1988. The 4.000th A320 family aircraft was deliv-
ered in September 2009, so 50% of the A320 family aircraft
production took place in just the last 8.5 years of its thirty
year production run. A clear indication that the A320 is still
an extremely popular and well positioned aircraft in a very
strong market.
From the type analysis, the baseline A320 is by far the most
popular variant of the A320 family. With 4,811 produced air-
craft it represent 60.1% of the A320 family production. The
A321 is second with 1,641 produced aircraft, representing a
share of 20.5% of the production. With 1,468 produced air-
craft the smaller A319 represents 18.4%, while the smallest
member, the A318, completes the 100% with exactly eighty
produced units (1%).
A330NEO
As already predicted in Scramble 466 (page 29) Hawaiian Air-
lines decided to cancel its six strong A330-800N order and
switched to the 787-9 instead. As Hawaiian Airlines was the
sole customer for the smallest A330NEO, this was a severe
blow for Airbus and will make it not impossible that the 330-
800N prototype (MSN 1888 ) will become the only A330-800N
airframe ever built. However Airbus is still confident that
there will come a commercial production run of the A330-
800N as the manufacturer points out that the replacement
cycle for the A330-800N predecessor, the A330-200, has yet to
gain traction. The A330-200 entered service in 1998 and with
more than 620 A330-200 aircraft delivered, this offers lots of
opportunities for A330-800N sales. Time will tell....
To improve sales of the A330NEO, Airbus is planning a higher-
weight version of the A330NEO, than the current 242t variant.
This 251t variant will improve the range of the A330NEO by
a 1,204km, which gives the A330-900N a range of 13,334 km
and the A330-800N a range of 15,094km. This range increase
positions the A330NEO as a “transpacific” aircraft and Airbus
pitches the aircraft especially in the Pacific market. The
251t version would need minor reinforcements on the wing
and fuselage and also the landing gears need reinforcement
and would feature new tyres and brakes. Airbus expects the
A330NEO with 251t MTOW to enter service in 2020.
Boeing
Boeing has confirmed that it will not appeal against a decision
by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) that nullified
steep tariffs on the importation into the USA of Bombardier
CS100s. This decision by Boeing ends a controversial trade
dispute which begun when Boeing filed a petition with the
US department of Commerce in April 2017. Boeing claimed
that Bombardier received government subsidies worth more
than $4 billion and dumped the CS100 on the US market. This
was a violation of the US trade law and harmed the sales of
Boeing’s 737-700 and 737-7. Initially the Department of Com-
merce agreed with Boeing and imposed a 292% import tariff
on the CSeries. As a response, Bombardier teamed up with
Airbus and plans to open a CSeries assembly line in the US,
thereby avoiding US tariffs. However, another US govern-
ment agency, the ITC, who held the last word in this dispute,
concluded that the CSeries did not harm Boeing, because
Boeing does not sell aircraft that competes with the CSeries
and consequently nullified the 292% tariff. Bombardier says
it will deliver the first CS100 to Delta Air Lines later this year.
B737
A few weeks after Airbus produced its 8.000th A320, it was
party time at the Boeing facility at Renton, near Seattle (WA),
as the 10,000th Boeing 737 rolled out on 13 March. This his-
toric roll-out came with certification of the 737 as the ‘world’s
most produced large commercial jet” by the Guinness Book
of World Records. The 10,000th produced 737, a 737-800, is
MSN 42571 (line #6868) and will be delivered as N8717M to
Southwest Airlines in the coming weeks.
Manufacturers News
Civil News
Bombardier’s test fleet of the brand new Global 7000 corporate jet is now complete at five aircraft. The fifth and final “Flight Test Vehicle”
C-GBLG, named ‘Masterpiece’, made its first flight on 30 January 2018 from Bombardier’s Downsview facility. It joined the other flight test
vehicles in February at the Bombardier Flight Test Centre in Wichita (KS). FTV5 is the first Global 7000 that has been fitted with the first all
composite wing. The aircraft will validate flight and ground test data obtained to date and complete the type certification campaign to ensure
a smooth entry into service in the second half of 2018. (Toronto-Downsview (Ont.), 30 January 2018, Frederick L. Larkin)
