18 July 2008

Day 3 and 4 at Franborough

Sorry I wasn’t able to comment on yesterday’s so I am combining it with today’s news.
Airbus dominates with orders for A320s leading the way. Including the first initial orders for A320 P2F freighters.

Airbus seems to be on track for reaching Mr Leahy’s prediction of a large number of orders. At the same time the opening up of the A320 Freighter program got off to a roaring start with infrastructure deals being signed between Airbus and Russian Aerospace firms. At the same time the first orders came from a Dutch leasing company.

Not to be outdone – the Russians are continuing to make some headway. They have signed a deal to allow license production of the TU204 in Iran. This should give the USA some pause for thought as it will mean that Iran is going to get access to some pretty sophisticated technology. For the TU204 program this gives it a new lease on life.

On the military front the Russian Air Force looks like it will one day have a RAPTOR competitor. The Herc production line now has a lifeline of its own in the form of an order from the USAF for C130Js. Not such lifeline yet for the C17.

The political noise on GREEN continues with the EC receiving a slam from Airbus’s CEO. You have to admit this is all great theatre but I still don’t see the industry making much sense about what it is going to do about a reasonable alternative to reduce carbon emissions. My position is clear. Research, Modify, Reduce and eliminate if at all possible. But that is not very specific. I am still thinking about this issue.

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