wang
(Wang)
#1
Articles
Trips
Shows
News
Movements
Scramble 468
737 BBJ MAX is MSN 61329 (line # 6843) and is a BBJ MAX 8. Its
first flight took place on 15 March 2018 and after some mul-
tiple certifications it is now ready to be completed as a BBJ.
The BBJ MAX is based on the Boeing 737 MAX which means
that it has the same fuel efficient CFM LEAP-1B engines as
the 737 MAX passenger jet and also benefits from the same
improved aerodynamics and some more advanced avionics
systems. All these new technology allows the 737 MAX BBJ
to fly further and have lower operating costs than its prede-
cessor, the 737NG BBJ. There are three different versions of
the Boeing BBJ MAX, the 737 BBJ MAX 7, the 737 BBJ MAX 8
and the 737 BBJ MAX 9. Boeing has orders for eleven 737 BBJ
MAX 8s, one 737 BBJ MAX 7 and one 737 BBJ MAX 9, while
six customers have ordered a 737 BBJ MAX, but still have not
decided which “size” they prefer.
B787-8
American Airlines’ 7 April order for 47 Boeing 787 Dream-
liners, from which 22 will be the shorter 787-8 variant, shed
some interesting light on the later. From a long time it
seemed the 787-8 was no longer favoured by Boeing and the
787-8 had become a dying sub-type. The order intake for the
787-8 has been quite slow since its first commercial flight in
October 2011 as most airlines preferred the 787-9 and sales of
the 787-8 had almost dried up until April’s American Airlines
order for 22 787-8s.
The 787-8 was hampered by a legacy of production and
design woes. Aircraft with a line number below line # 101
are sub-par, with weight, design and production issues. From
Line # 102, the aircraft are much better as the combined
lessons learned and design changes have finally resulted in a
“good” 787-8 aircraft. However all these changes have made
the 787-8 different from the 787-9 and 787-10 when it comes
to production. All these improvements have made the 787-8
relatively expensive to produce, and it was clear that Boeing
was commercially more focussed selling the larger more
profitable, higher margin 787-9/10 than the low margin (and
still unprofitable, according to various sources) 787-8. The
differences between the 787-8 and 78-9/10 are as big that
Boeing is essentially building two different aircraft. The 787-
9/10 are about 90% common, but according to some analysts
the 787-8 have only about 40% commonality to the 787-9/10.
But after the American Airlines’ order, a Boeing official stated
that Boeing would change the way it builds the rear section
of the 787-8 to make it more compatible with the 787-9/10.
Modifications that will be introduced later this year will
make the rear fuselage of the 787-8 essentially the same as
the 787-9 and 787-10 models except for their length.
With this new and much cheaper production method for the
787-8, it looks like Boeing has a renewed interest in selling
the 787-8. But the renewed interest in selling the shortest
version of the 787-8 may conflict with the potential New Mid-
Range Aircraft (NMA, also known as middle-of-the-market-
aircraft). This new concept aircraft is a 220-270 passenger
aircraft which is aimed at the market between the largest 737
MAX variant and smallest wide-bodied aircraft, which turns
out to be the 787-8. The NMA would have a range of around
9,260 km which is much smaller than the ~13,600km range of
the 787-8. But only 30% of the 787-8 missions flown today are
more than 9,260 km, so it looks like this “new re-born” much
cheaper to produce 787-8 could be a perfect NMA aircraft, as
the mission and product overlap is very obvious.
Airliner News
Europe
The Netherlands
On 25 April the new Dutch government BBJ arrived at Woens-
drecht for outfitting by Fokker Services. Painting is said to be
planned to being done at Ostrava and delivery as PH-GOV is
expected in 2019.
Austria
As a result of its tie-up with Ryanair, Laudamotion will end
its wet-lease deals with both Condor and Eurowings. Most of
the operations should have ended by the time you read this
Scramble. As a reason the incompatibility of the systems of
Condor and Eurowings with the systems of Ryanair, which
Laudamotion is changing to, has been given.
Denmark
As already rumoured, SAS has now announced that they have
decided to add fifty new A320neos to its fleet. Fifteen of these
are to be leased via various lessors, while the remaining 35
were newly ordered at Airbus. The first of these fifty planes
will start to arrive in Spring next year and deliveries will con-
tinue until 2023. SAS has also ordered a single extra A330-300
which will also arrive in Spring 2019.
France
The current owner of Corsair, TUI, is in final negotiations
with two possible buyers for the French airline. The two com-
panies bidding for the airline are from China and Germany
and a sale is expected to be concluded within a few months.
Whilst TUI is busy selling the airline, Corsair is moving
forward with its search for replacements for its current fleet
of two A330-200s, two A330-300s and three B747-400s. Under
evaluation are now offers from Airbus and Boeing for the
A330neo, A350, B777-300ER and B787.
The first BBJ version of the new Boeing 737 MAX made its first flight on 15 March 2018. On 16 April Boeing celebrated the fly away of the aircraft
when it left its place of birth at Renton (WA). It travelled onwards to Georgetown (DE) and Indianapolis (IN) for further completion. The first
Boeing BBJ MAX 8, registered N329BJ, is seen here departing Renton on its way to Georgetown. (Boeing Company)
