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Hot Topic: Weird Week!

The news is just plain weird this week and we don’t know why. First on the agenda is Boeing. While Scott Carson proclaimed at the Dubai Air Show that the B787 first flight will be "beating internal deadlines by a day or so,” we have other issues! What about airline deliveries, we wondered. We do not see the program as being that healthy with suspected problems that include fasteners, long distance suppliers/partners, FAA certification, union issues, systems, EMI/RFI hardening, lightening, wiring, tolerances, and the difficulty of introducing a radical new design, manufacturing and partnering technologies. This all tells us that there is going to be more bad news coming – say, about one years worth if we had to guess!

At a mind boggling pace, Middle East airlines have ordered planes at a rate that seems to outpace the flying needs of the public. One analyst called it “loony tunes” however we note that the Dubai Air Show is now as big as those in Europe and may surpass them. Follow the money!

Financial value alone, numbers around the Dubai air show look to be in the “100 Billion USD range”. Yikes, that translates to one annual worldwide budget for all IFE, assuming an average of 4 million USD for every 200 million USD spent for planes. If you only consider IFE hardware and installation expenditures in the answer, the Dubai Air Show might be worth two years or more to IFE vendors. And, that is at only one air show! Based on sheer numbers, airliner delivery schedule could out pace new plane IFE manufacturing rates in the coming years and surely, IFE vendors will be placing more emphasis at this show. Indeed, this week’s announcement of a Panasonic IFE purchase by Emirates is only the beginning of this windfall.

To add to the madness Airbus has been rumored to be looking at increasing the A380 size which would peg the next model at over 1000 passengers. Today, the plane is certified from 471 to 871 passengers (probably exit limited), but one airline is implementing 650 numbers. Meanwhile, at the air show, Emirates and Qantas bought big while Qatar Airways, who has 50+ planes sealed deals with Boeing for 30 787s and options for 30 more and they have 27 Boeing 777s on order. At the 2007 Paris Air Show, Qatar ordered 80 jetliners from Airbus (A350s and A380s). One analyst estimated that each person in Dubai would have to take 1000 trips per year to use all the lift it will aggregate. Looking toward the future at India and China’s oil needs we see some strange aviation bedfellows on the horizon.

If the world economy tanks because of oil prices, there could be pandemonium. Middle Eastern airlines will no doubt be looking to become big aircraft lessors (Heck, they are already doing so), a lot of used lift could be on the market, new planes sales would then plummet and the “oil airlines” might become the Wal-Mart of air travel. All the while locations like Europe with a lot of international flight freedoms, European airlines could be competing for limited traffic. Wow, this was a weird week!
 

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Virgin America and RCRD LBL Unveil Inflight Music Channel
11/19/2007 9:03:38 PM

Airbus ends the 10th Dubai Airshow with record orders
11/19/2007 8:57:29 PM

Boeing, Royal Jordanian Sign Order for Two 787s
11/19/2007 8:56:39 PM

Panasonic Avionics Selected by Emirates to Provide Additional In-Flight Entertainment and Information Systems for New Aircrafts and Fleet Upgrades
11/19/2007 8:54:02 PM

Royal Jordanian - First Middle Eastern Airline to Offer OnAirmobile and Internet Services
11/19/2007 8:52:30 PM
 

IFExpress is sponsored in part by:

Boeing emphasizes 787 production oversight
Aviation Week

Saudi Arabian is second AeroMobile cellphone customer
Flight Global

Virgin America: A new airline with a great product and a few bugs
USA Today

UK gambling laws make inflight online bingo possible
Bingo Street

Flying into unreality
Worcester Telegram

Branson favors planned Airbus 900-seat A380
Seattle Times

James Wallace on Aerospace
Seattle P-I
 

IFExpress is sponsored in part by:

WAEA Technology Committee Meeting
1/22/2008 - 1/23/2008

Aircraft Interiors Expo - Hamburg
4/1/2008 - 4/3/2008

8th Annual European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE2008)
5/20/2008 - 5/22/2008

Aircraft Interiors Expo - Americas
9/9/2008 - 9/11/2008

Aircraft Interiors Expo - Asia
9/22/2008 - 9/25/2008
 

IFExpress is sponsored in part by: