As the first day of Farnborough 2012 draws to a close, lets take a look at what has been creating headlines today:
- Top of the bill goes to Steven Udvar-Hazy’s Air Lease who have placed an a firm order for 60 Boeing 737 Max 8 and 15 Boeing 737 Max 9s with “reconfirmation rights” for 25 more. Expect those to be leased to airlines quickly when they arrive…
- Airbus have signed with Israel after the second-largest operator, Arkia to sell them Airbus A321neo’s – a grand total of four , became the first in the country to sign for the re-engined A320 family. For Airbus, this is another step into Israil after Israir’s purchase A320 aircraft. TheArkia A321neos will be configured in an all-economy layout for 220 passengers, and will be operate on domestic and European routes.
- Meanwhile, more important news from Airbus – with news of an upgrade to the A330 family to increase the payload range of the A330-300 with a 240 metric tonne (from 235t) maximum take-off weight (MTOW) with a maximum range extension of 400 nautical miles to 5,950 n.miles. The A330-200/A330-200F will also also be upgraded with an extra 2 tonnes to match the payload of the A330-300, whilst boosting the range to 7,050 nautical miles.
- COMAC, C919’s and… IAG? It seems that BA’s and Iberia’s parent is going to cooperate with COMAC over the development of the C919 narrowbody aircraft. It also means that COMAC will be in the bidding war with Airbus and Boeing for fleet type consideration in the future fleets if required. Whilst IAG may not order the aircraft, it will examine the C919. Certainly, it’s another feather to COMAC’s hat who are trying to develop the C919 as a rival to the Airbus A320 series and Boeing 737 series.
- Qatar are to operate their first 787’s first international route to London Heathrow after the initial deployment of the aircraft on Middle Eastern Routes.
- Bombardier are in high spirits with someone buying 15 of its planned C series aircraft, split for five CS100 and 10 CS300 aircraft. Who has brought them though? Bombardier are keeping quiet at the customer’s request…
- US Airways are to retrofit it’s fleet of 57 A321’s with HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters. The aim being to remove dust particulates, allergens, bacteria, viruses and odours from cabin air. Which will be nice.
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And to end with, Rolls Royce are showing off Trent 1000 engines. Made out of Lego. Whilst I’m sure they won’t generate the thrust needed to do anything (and the lego probably wouldn’t survive the the spin out, let alone the exhaust), it does look quite cool. The Trent 1000 is used as one of the powerplant options on the Boeing 787
Images: Rolls Royce via FaceBook – http://www.facebook.com/RRLegoEngine
Tune in tomorrow for more Farnborough news!
