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Airbus announced its plans to further increase the productivity rate in its manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama (United States). The manufacturer will build seven Airbus A320 family aircraft per month in the facility starting early-2021, as it aims to boost the monthly production of its most popular aircraft to 63.

Consequently, the facility will welcome a $40 million investment from the European company and create 275 additional jobs, notes the press release issued by the aircraft manufacturer. Combined with the planned production rate increase of the former-CSeries aircraft, the A220, Airbus plans to dish out 130 jets per year for customers.

Increasing demand

While its Seattle-based rival Boeing is struggling to contain the 737 MAX crisis, Airbus became the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, as the European company completed 863 aircraft throughout 2019, reported Reuters at the beginning of 2020.

Airbus shipped 800 aircraft to customers and logged 831 new gross orders in 2018. In November 2019 it already logged 940 gross orders for its planes, excluding cancelations. The company’s most attractive product became the A321XLR, launched during the Paris Air Show in June 2019.

Following the announcement, airlines signed up for 440 A321neo family aircraft, by far the most popular jet in the manufacturer’s lineup in 2019. Since December 1, 2019, Airbus racked up several additional orders for the XLR that are not yet present in the company’s Orders and Deliveries data: a firm order of 10 aircraft from the Chile-based low-cost carrier SKY and 50 from the world’s third-biggest airline, United Airlines.

Nevertheless, Airbus had its fair share of struggles throughout 2019 as well, including A320neo family delivery delays and the production cancelation of its iconic double-decker the A380.

Spicy politics

At the same time, the press release announcing the production increase at Alabama puts a very heavy emphasis on the company‘s presence in the United States:

“Airbus has extensive presence throughout the U.S.,” employing more than 4,000 people in facilities across the country and “has spent nearly $50 billion in the U.S. with more than 450 U.S. suppliers, supporting more than 275,000 American jobs.”

Just a month ago, on December 2, 2019, Airbus publicly stated that $7.5 billion tariffs, imposed by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and given the all-clear by the World Trade Organization (WTO), should be reduced by around $2 billion, citing the cancellation of the Airbus A380 production.

Source: https://bit.ly/2R7OKCc

Image: EQRoy

From Boeing’s tainted 2019 debuts to Russian and Chinese market newcomers, here are some brand new passenger aircraft to take shape and the spotlight in 2020.

Boeing 777X, NMA, MAX

Boeing is starting 2020 with a new CEO, halted production of the 737 MAX, and plenty of mess in need to be fixed. The year 2019 has, no doubt, been very difficult, as the two crashes of 737 MAX and the mayhem that followed (read more about it in Boeing Part I, II, III, IV, V) had not only cast a shadow on the company and its best-selling 737 series but across all its programs. Too bad for Boeing, which had some big news up its sleeve regarding new aircraft.

As the much awaited launches and announcements were overshadowed, here are three big news that have been postponed to 2020:

Boeing 737 MAX. Much has already been said about the (infamous) 737 MAX aircraft family. What has been, perhaps, overlooked, is that once the family is finally certified ‒ presumably in 2020 ‒ there could be more MAXs taking off than just the ones currently grounded.

Boeing 737 MAX family is made up of two variants, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 9, which are already in airlines’ fleets and two still in the making ‒ the MAX 10 and 7. The shortest sibling of MAXs, the 737 MAX 7, was previously due to enter service in 2019. The date could now be sometime in 2020.

The production of the MAX 7 was launched in 2014 and the first aircraft was rolled out of Boeing’s Renton facility in the U.S. in February 2018, shortly thereafter completing its maiden flight in March 2018. Initially, Boeing 737 MAX 7 was supposed to be delivered for the launch customer Southwest Airlines in January 2019. However, the U.S. low cost giant is believed to have postponed the deliveries until 2023-2024, giving up the queue for the Canadian low cost carrier WestJet, which has also converted its first four orders for MAX 8, postponing delivery of its first MAX 7 to 2021.

Meanwhile, the fourth and the last member of the family, the Boeing 737 MAX 10, has officially debuted in the company’s Renton, Washington, factory on November 22, 2019. Seating up to 230 passengers, the MAX 10 is the largest plane in the MAX aircraft family. The maiden flight of the MAX 10 is scheduled in 2020.

Boeing 777X. A successor of aging Boeing 777-200LR and 777-300ER models, once in service the 777X is promising to be a truly impressive aircraft. With its huge folding wings (the first of the kind on commercial passenger aircraft) and engines as wide as the body of a McDonnell Douglas MD-90, it is going to be the first twin-engine jet to be able to carry more than 400 passengers.

The 777-9 can seat 400 to 425 passengers in a standard configuration and offer a range of 7,600 nautical miles (14,075 km). Regarded as a competitor to Airbus A350XWB or even the A380, the aircraft is to come in two versions: the first model introduced is going to be the 777-9, followed by 777-8.

On March 13, 2019, Boeing was supposed to publicly roll out the first 777-9X at their Everett facility in Seattle. After Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crash three days prior to the event, the company indefinitely postponed the public ceremony, instead quietly revealing it only for the company’s employees.

Yet the aircraft program had plenty of problems on its own. In September 2019, a cargo door on a Boeing 777X static test plane “blew out” during a ground stress test. The fuselage of the test aircraft suffered a high-pressure rupture just as it approached its ultimate load required to certify the jet, the manufacturer later confirmed.

While Boeing claimed the incident would have no significant impact on the overall test program schedule, it was already experiencing delays due to problems in the development of the massive GE9X engine purpose-designed for the new jet. It appears that GE Aviation has managed to fix the issue with its GE9X, involving the engine’s stator vanes. New photos that appeared on December 17, 2019, showed the GE9X engines already installed on the 777X.

This might just mean that, according to the initial plan, the first flight of 777X would take place in early 2020 and the first delivery in 2021.

Boeing NMA. While never formally committed to producing a new middle of the market aircraft known as the NMA or, sometimes, 797, it is known that Boeing has been working on the concept for some time now. In fact, it was even expected to be “closing in” on the decision in early 2019.

Viewed as a potential replacement for the aging Boeing 757 or 767 fleets, the Boeing NMA is expected to be the company’s attempt to focus on the overlooked “middle of the market”. The aircraft would be then designed for the 8 to 10-hour travel, on routes such as New York to Los Angeles in the U.S., or medium-range flights connecting the U.S., say, Chicago, to cities in Europe.

The new aircraft was already anticipated by some airlines, particularly large 757 and 767 operators like Delta Airlines, whose CEO’s once said that the carrier was “very interested in it” and could potentially opt for as many as 200 NMAs over the next decade. However, as no news came from Boeing and other 757 operators began opting for Airbus A321XLR (in particular, United ordered 50 A321XLRs to replace its 757s in December 2019), the year 2020 might just become the year when all hopes of seeing the NMA program take shape and come into existence becomes finalized ‒ one way or another.

Any news on Airbus A220-500?

Amidst all Boeing initiatives and projects in progress, a question imposes itself: what can we expect from Airbus? Not much for next year, it appears. Besides launching the A321XLR during Paris Airshow 2019 (to enter service sometime in 2023), the Toulouse-based manufacturer has kept shut on any other possible derivative, even more so on completely new designs of commercial passenger aircraft.

There are some speculations, though. The stretched version of A220, dubbed the A220-500, has already caught customers’ interest. Currently, the A220 family is composed of two types: the A220-100 model, which seats 100-120 passengers, and the larger A220-300, seating 120-150. The idea of a third A220, seating up to 175 passengers, dates back to the times when the airliner was still called Bombardier C-Series. In addition to CS100 and CS300, Bombardier also planned a larger version, the CS-500.

In July 2019, Air France KLM has expressed interest to acquire 60 Airbus A220-300 aircraft. The order appears not to have been finalized yet, as the manufacturer’s order book does not refer to it (as of November 2019). However, in a presentation to investors (dated November 5, 2019), Air France-KLM refers to the A220 family as a possible medium-haul aircraft within Air France’s future fleet. Besides the obvious A220-300, it also lists a potential A220-500.

And Air France-KLM is definitely not alone sharing the belief that the A220 family is missing a member and that a stretched version is possible. Previously, similar ideas have been publicly discussed by airBaltic, Delta, British Airways, and Korean Air bosses.

Airbus itself has been ambiguous when discussing the possibility, saying neither “yes” nor “no”. Take, for instance, the CEO of Airbus Canada Philippe Balducchi’s comments for Reuters in November 2019: “It’s no secret that the aircraft has a potential to be stretched, potential to grow,” Balducchi told the reporter. He also added that Airbus is primarily focused on fully establishing the two already existing A220 versions, before moving on to consider the stretch version.

So maybe 2020 becomes the year when Airbus finally commits itself to the idea?

Mitsubishi SpaceJet M90 service entry?

Mitsubishi announced its regional jet program (then called the Mitsubishi M90) in 2008 with the initial target date for the jet’s service entry set to 2013. After multiple delays, the manufacturer broke out of a standstill as the aircraft (now called the SpaceJet M90) entered flight testing in March 2019, bringing hope that the year 2020 becomes the year when we finally see it entering service.

However, SpaceJet M90 service entry with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) in the mid-2020 now appears to be hanging on a thread. Reports indicate that the company is considering a possible pushback of the schedule by six months, in which case the service entry would likely be a year later ‒ in 2021.

In late November 2019, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Chief Executive Seiji Izumisawa told Reuters that he “cannot commit” to the mid-2020 hand-off date, thus indirectly confirming speculation of a schedule revision, which has been going on since October 2019. Back then, the company’s spokesperson told AeroTime “there has been no official announcement or comment on our schedule” back then. Whether or not SpaceJet M90 enters service on time, we will surely see a lot more of the Japanese regional aircraft in 2020.

New entrants to take final shape

Both Russian MC-21 and Chinese C919 commercial passenger jets are expected to finish certification and enter service in 2021. However, as the final year of development programs, 2020 should offer plenty of milestone news coming from both of them.

The MC-21, a Russian response to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 narrow-body families, is going to seat up to 211 passengers and have a maximum range of 3666 miles (5900 kilometers). Currently powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1400G-JM engines, the airliner will eventually have a second, Russian-made, engine option of Aviadvigatel PD-14.

The first MC-21 prototype made a maiden flight in May 2017 and currently, four MC-21-300 prototypes are undergoing testing. The latest (fourth) prototype made its first flight on December 25, 2019. The fifth prototype fuselage has already been assembled as well. What is special about this particular airframe is that it will be equipped with PD-14 engines. Flight tests of it are scheduled for 2020.

Besides the show-off of the new engines, the airliner is also expected to enter service with Aeroflot in 2020. However, UAC general director told Russia’s Federal Council (as reported by Russian Aviation Insider) of the plans to have six serially built MC-21 aircraft in 2021 and twelve 2022, indicating that service entry might have been postponed.

Meanwhile, the Chinese response to the same narrow-body category, the C919, is also moving forward and appears to be one step ahead of the Russian counterpart, as all six prototypes of the airliner-in the making are already flying.

China established COMAC in May 2008, announcing plans to produce its first commercial jetliner. The initial design was completed in April 2009, but the first C919 was presented to the public only in November 2015. In May 2017, the first prototype C919 successfully performed its maiden flight. In December 2019, the last two of six prototype aircraft began flight testing. COMAC is currently targeting 2021 for certification process culmination and first deliveries to customers.

Source: https://bit.ly/2sIK51x

Qantas picked its favorite: Airbus could be the manufacturer to break the record for the longest commercial connection in the world. The Airbus A350-1000 was selected as the “preferred aircraft” for the airline’s upcoming 20-hour flights.

The Australian carrier announced its preference for Airbus on December 13, 2019, at the expense of Boeing which had offered the 777-8. A “detailed evaluation of the Boeing 777X and Airbus A350” was made to pick the aircraft which could participate in the Project Sunrise. “The A350 is a fantastic aircraft and the agreement on the table with Airbus offers us the best possible combination of commercial conditions, energy efficiency, operating costs and customer experience,” said Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce in a press release. He also praised the “high reliability” of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB powering the aircraft.

There is no doubt that the uncertainties surrounding the Boeing 777X program have weighed in Qantas’ decision. Originally planned to begin during the summer of 2019, the flight test campaign of the B777-9 has not started yet. The development has been plagued with technical issues affecting both the aircraft and its engine, the GE9x. In those conditions, it seems highly unlikely that the B777-8, expected to come out of production two years after its “big brother”, would have been ready for the beginning of the flights in 2023.

No order has been signed yet, as the Project Sunrise test flights are still ongoing. The last of three Project Sunrise research flights, this time from New York to Sydney, will be conducted on December 17, 2019. Those test flights aim at studying the impact of such long flights on the health of passengers and the attention of pilots. The data should also help Qantas obtain regulatory approvals to carry that flight. According to the carrier, the Australian’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority “has provisionally advised that it sees no regulatory obstacles to the Sunrise flights.”

The final decision is expected for March 2020. But up to twelve Airbus A350-1000s could be ordered at a list price of €3.9 billion ($4.4 billion). However, the 17,000-kilometers (10,000 miles) route will require a conversion of the aircraft into an ultra-long-range variant. This was done for Singapore Airlines when it chose the A350-900ULR to serve its route between New York and Singapore in 2018. The conversion includes an increased maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) and an improved fuel capacity.

The Project Sunrise test flights should also give Qantas relevant data on the future plane configuration and cabin design. “Research flights have underscored the importance of dedicated space for stretching and movement for Economy passengers in particular, as well as the potential benefits from re-designing the service on board to actively shift people to their destination timezone,” says the airline.

For Qantas to launch its first flights between Sidney and London in the first half of 2023, it has yet to reach a wage agreement with its pilots. Negotiations with the Australian and International Pilots Association are ongoing. The company hopes to obtain an agreement for productivity and efficiency gains in exchange for an annual wage increase of 3% and promotional opportunities for its long-haul pilots.

The union had voiced its concern that the tests might not be sufficient to assess the feasibility of those flights when it comes to pilot health. The test flights “are special services restricted to a much reduced complement of passengers and crew,” said Mark Sedgwick, President of the AIPA, in a press release. “More work would need to be done on fatigue risk management, looking particularly at the cumulative effects of long range operations on crew”.

Source: https://bit.ly/2RXxgL5

Image: Airbus

The Irkutsk Aviation Plant has completed assembly of a new MC-21-300 aircraft fuselage. While the fuselage is the fifth already and three prototypes are already in flight testing, what is special about this particular prototype is the fact that it would be the first one equipped with a new type of engines. This time, the engine would be made in Russia.

The Irkutsk Aviation Plant broke the news about the latest MC-21-300 fuselage completion on December 10, 2019. The aircraft still needs to have systems as well as wing and tail consoles installed before it begins testing. Once it does, it would be the first MC-21 in testing equipped with Russian Aviadvigatel PD-14 engine.

Currently, there are four test aircraft already in action, all of them powered by American Pratt & Whitney PW1400G-JM engines. The latest, fourth, prototype was rolled off the assembly line and was transferred to flight test facility on November 28, 2019. Initially, it was this aircraft that was supposed to rely on the Russian engine, but plans were later abandoned in order not to delay the MC-21 program further than it already is.

Now, with the fifth MC-21 prototype aircraft in progress, the Aviadvigatel PD-14 engine enters the scene.

Aviadvigatel PD-14 engine

The PD-14 engine is the first completely Russian engine for civil airliners created in Russia since the 1980s. Designed by Aviadvigatel and manufactured by the Perm Engine Company (both companies belong to the United Engine Corporation, UAC), it is specifically designed to power the MC-21-300 aircraft.

The PD-14 would generate 137kN of thrust for take-off. Among the main competitive advantages of PD-14, the engine features lower exhaust temperatures of combustion chamber, according to Aviadvigatel, which also emphasises that the solution helps to save on operating costs and reduce risks.

The engine also has a smaller diameter (190 cm) to reduce engine mass and drag of the nacelle, an “optimal” internal circuit dimensions and “sufficiently high” degree of fan compression, which eliminates the need for an adjustable external circuit nozzle, the manufacturer highlights.

Just like the MC-21-300 is expected to be the first airliner in a series, so is the PD-14 seen as the basis version of the engine family, which will power the Russian airliners. In September 2019, UEC deputy director told RIA Novosti that MC-21-400 would be powered by PD-16, a modified power plant based on the PD-14. Reportedly, the newer engine would have an increased bypass ratio of the fan. However, the manufacturer’s website lists the engine which will eventually power the MC-21-200 simply as PD-14A, while MC-21-400 powerplant-to-be is called PD-14M.

The flight tests have started in 2015. The PD-14 was certified by Russian authorities in the fall of 2018. The following step, obtaining certification by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), is expected in 2020.

Flight tests of the MC-21 with Russian engines are scheduled for the first quarter of 2020, while the first PD-14-powered MC-21 is expected to enter service with Aeroflot in 2022.

Made in Russia with a little help?

Remember the part where PD-14 was supposed to be the first completely Russian engine? Well, the extent of the claim could now be questioned after the U.S. authorities launched a criminal complaint against a high-ranking United Engine Corp (UEC) official in a corporate espionage case. The subject matter in the case in none other than jet engines.

In September 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that two people ‒ a Russian and an Italian nationals ‒ have been charged in the United States with conspiring and attempting to steal trade secrets from an American aviation company, GE Aviation. One of the two people is identified as Alexander Yuryevich Korshunov, an employee of UEC.

The PD-14 manufacturer Aviadvigatel is a subsidiary of the Russian state company.

Between 2013 and 2018 GE Aviation’s Italian subsidiary employees were hired to do consulting work related to jet engine accessory gearboxes for the two accusees (including Korshunov), as outlined in the statement by the Department of Justice.

The employees’ statements of work typically said that the “the holders of patent and intellectual property obtained as a result of the work are…the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation,” according to DoJ.

However, the employees hired for the consulting work allegedly used GE Aviation’s trade secrets to create technical report. The effort, in DoJ’s belief, was focused on external engine components, accessory gearboxes, that provide power to systems such as hydraulic pumps, generators and fuel pumps.

Aviadvigatel has previously raised suspicions of another U.S. authority, the Department of Commerce, which “entity listed” the company in September 2018, alledging it was acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.

It must be noted that criminal complaint contains allegations, meaning that Korshunov and the other person accused of corporate espionage are presumed to be innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

The MC-21 is a medium-haul plane capable of carrying between 132 and 211 passengers. Seen as a replacement to the Tu-154 and Tu-204 aircraft in Russia, it is designed to compete with the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320.

The program has been plagued with delays that the Russian government mostly attributed to American sanctions.

The first MC-21 prototype made a maiden flight in May 2017. In current estimations, the aircraft could be certified in Russian in 2020 and obtain EASA’s certification the following year.

Source: https://bit.ly/2PjXHJ3

Image: Sergey Kohl, shutterstock.com

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued on November 20, 2019, an airworthiness directive (AD) for Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 and Trent 7000 engines. The significance of the regulation? The engines in question are those that power Airbus A330neo jets and Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

The Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 and Trent 1000 are high-bypass turbofan engines: the Trent 7000 was developed specifically for the A330neo, while the Trent 1000 is one of the two engine options for the 787 Dreamliner, the other being GE Aviation GEnx-1B.

The EASA’s directive was issued after cracks were found in the front air seal of the intermediate-pressure compressor (IPC) shaft assembly during stripping of a flight test engine. Follow-up inspections of other in-shop engines revealed two more cracked front air seals of IPC shaft assemblies, the document reads.

“This condition, if not detected and corrected, could lead to IPC shaft failure, possibly resulting in engine in-flight shut-down and consequent reduced control of the aeroplane.”

The regulation requires repetitive on-wing inspections between the fourth (rearmost) seal fin of affected part’s front air seal and the IPC Stage 1 disc. The checks need to be carried out at intervals not to exceed 200 flight cycles. Depending on findings, it could also necessitate the engine’s removal from service for corrective actions by Rolls-Royce.

EASA provides rigorous initial inspections criteria and timelines: if the engine has accumulated 700 flight cycles (FC) or less, the compliance time is before exceeding 500 FC, or within 100 FC after the effective date of the AD (November 27, 2019) whichever occurs later; if more than 700 FC and up to 1000 FC (inclusive), the compliance time is within 50 FC after the effective date of the AD; and if more than 1000 FC – within 25 FC or 30 days whichever occurs first after the effective date of the AD.

The agency has already issued several ADs for the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 and Trent 7000 engines in October 2019 and earlier in November 2019.

Opting for the competitor on the 787 Dreamliner

Air New Zealand announced on November 18, 2019, it would have to cancel more than 80 international flights, affecting around 14,000 passengers around the peak holiday season due to delays with servicing Rolls-Royce engines. The airline said it would also be making changes to its summer 2020 schedule due to the same issues.

The flag carrier has 13 Boeing 787-9s fitted with Trent 1000 Package C or Trent 1000 TEN engines and is awaiting delivery of one more Trent-equipped Dreamliner.

“We have 14 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft in our fleet and four spare engines to power these. However, all these spare engines are with Rolls Royce offshore either undergoing service or waiting for a service slot,” Air New Zealand senior fleet manager 787 captain Dave Wilson was quoted as saying by Australia’s Travel Weekly.

Air New Zealand, among several other airlines, has been dealing with Rolls-Royce engine problems since 2016. While the issues have not discouraged the kiwi carrier from buying Dreamliners, it has affected its choice of the power plant. In May 2019, the airline signed a firm agreement to purchase eight Boeing 787-10s with an option to increase the order up to 20 aircraft, as well as rights to switch from the larger 787-10 to the 787-9. This time, however, instead of Rolls-Royce, the airline opted for GE Aviation’s GEnx-1B engines to power its new long-haulers.

It might not be surprising then that both Biman Bangladesh, which ordered two 787-9s, and the Republic of Ghana, which signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for three jets of the same type at the Dubai Airshow 2019, also selected the GEnx-1B engines to power their new airliners, GE announced. Other customers, including Emirates, which inked an order for 30 787-9 Dreamliners, have not yet revealed their engine choices, but we may almost guess what that might be.

Source: https://bit.ly/2RaIN9i

Image: Maxene Huiyu / Shutterstock.com