Jetrader - September/October 2008 - 19

Despite exploding oil prices, Airbus and Boeing both pushed back the expected e.i.s. dates for the A320 and B737NG successors, respectively— reportedly mainly due to lack of progress in (engine) technology that would justify new designs. In the meantime, Pratt & Whitney has developed a new very fuel efﬁcient engine, the GTF, while Bombardier was looking for a “differentiator” for its new CSeries airframe design. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to ﬁgure out that a combination of high fuel prices, a new technology super-efﬁcient engine and a new airframe would potentially make a powerful combination. Add to this “marriage made in heaven,” the apparent seal of approval from Lufthansa—one of the world’s most respected airlines with respect to aircraft “Technik”—and the happy faces in the Bombardier chalet are easily explained. For the aircraft trading, leasing and ﬁnancing community, it will be interesting to see what effect the CSeries will have the on other OEMs. It might be a coincidence, but it seemed that some of the engine manufacturers were already putting greater emphasis on their R&D projects, such as CFMI’s LEAP-X (with an open rotor as an alternative) and Rolls Royce’s “back to the future” suggestion of advanced turboprops. Whatever may come, Bombardier and Pratt have clearly thrown a rock in the single-aisle pond. Was that all at Farnborough 2008? Surely not, but most of the other activities were fairly predictable. With Boeing announcing approximately 200 orders and Airbus about 250, interest in new aircraft still was surprisingly high for an industry that is projected to plunge deep into the red this year. What was not a surprise is that most of the orders will be paid with oil dollars, as most of the megaorders came from Middle East buyers such as DAE, Etihad, Saudi Arabian and Fly Dubai. Recycling and other environmental issues also featured prominently. Airbus showed its recyclable A380 with a green tail, Boeing had a high-tech chalet displaying various technologies to save energy and the environment, and lessor AerCap became the launch customer for a program to recycle aging A320 aircraft into freighters. Apart from the A380, the afternoon ﬂying displays were mainly a military event, which featured as a highlight—apart from the impressive Vulcan—a spectacular show by the F22 Raptor, ﬁnally matching or surpassing some of the maneuvers only demonstrated by MiG’s and Sukhois in the past. With generally pleasant weather, at least during the ﬁrst half of the week and signiﬁcantly improved logistics to get to the show (Bravo, SBAC!) there wasn’t much to complain about. Was Farnborough 2008 a “Classic?” Probably only if you are Canadian. ISTAT would like to thank all of our sponsors of the ISTAT reception at the Farnborough International Airshow in July. For additional pictures from Farnborough, be sure to visit the interactive Jetrader on the Web at www.ISTAT.org. Jetrader 19

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Jetrader - September/October 2008

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