Boeing Delivers Jade Cargo’s First 747-400ER Freighter

SEATTLE, July 31, 2006 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] today delivered the first 747-400ER (Extended Range) Freighter to enter the fleet of Jade Cargo International. Jade Cargo, based in Shenzhen, China, is the first cargo airline in China with foreign ownership. The new cargo airplane is the first of six that Jade Cargo ordered in 2005. The carrier plans to put the airplane into operation in the first week of August.

Jade Cargo’s new freighter will carry a maximum payload of 124 tons (113 tonnes) and has a maximum range of 4,970 nautical miles (9,200 km). The airplane’s distinctive nose door allows increased revenue by accommodating high-value outsize shipments and superior efficiency and flexibility in ground operations. The Boeing 747 freighter family is the standard of the air cargo industry, providing more than half of the world’s freighter capacity.

Lockheed lands contract to launch moon orbiter

NASA has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth $136 million to launch a research spacecraft to orbit the moon. The launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter with an Atlas V rocket is scheduled for the fall of 2008.

Boeing Delivers First 737 with Enhanced Short Runway Package to GOL

SEATTLE, July 31, 2006 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] on Friday delivered to GOL, Brazil’s low-fare, low-cost airline, the first Next-Generation 737 with enhanced short runway landing and takeoff capabilities.

The 737-800 is the first of that model type delivered to GOL as the carrier augments capacity on domestic and regional international routes. It also is the first delivery of 67 737-800s the all-Boeing carrier has on order for delivery out to 2012. The airline currently operates 50 737s.

“We have worked with GOL to enhance the 737 and add value to its operations. Our partnership drove development of these enhancements that now will benefit the product line and many airlines around the world,” said John Wojick, vice president Sales, Latin America and the Caribbean, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

The 737 design enhancements allow operators to fly increased payload in and out of airports with runways less than 5,000 feet long. The design enhancements include a two-position tail skid that enables reduced approach speeds, sealed leading-edge slats that provide increased lift during takeoff, and increased flight spoiler deflection on the ground that improves takeoff and landing performance.

“Boeing helped us to expand our capacity on the most profitable route in Brazil, (Sao Paulo-Rio De Janeiro) while offering comfort and safety to our clients,” said David Barioni, GOL’s vice president, technical.

The short-field performance changes were developed starting in 2004 in response to GOL’s needs at Santos Dumont airstrip in Rio de Janeiro. That 4,300-foot runway is short compared to other runways and could not accommodate larger airplanes at higher approach speeds with full payloads.

The short-field design package is an option on the 737-600, -700 and -800 and is standard equipment for the new 737-900ER. The enhancements increase payload capability for landing up to 8,000 pounds on the 737-800 and 737-900ER and up to 4,000 pounds on the 737-600 and 737-700. They also increase payload capability for takeoff up to 2,000 pounds on the 737-800 and 737-900ER and up to 400 pounds on the 737-600 and 737-700.

To date, 11 customers have ordered the short-field performance package for more than 250 airplanes. In addition to GOL, Alaska Airlines, Air Europe, Air India, Egyptair, GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS), Hapagfly, Japan Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, Sky Airlines and Turkish Airlines are among some of the operators that have ordered the design package.  

Boeing Continues Progress on Bringing New 777 Freighter to Market

 Design milestone is important step toward first 777 Freighter for Air France

SEATTLE, July 31, 2006 – The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] progressed with development of the new 777 Freighter by completing firm configuration of the airplane’s design recently.  Boeing reached this significant milestone after months of collaboration with airline customers and program partners to determine the optimal configuration for the new cargo airplane.

Achieving firm configuration means that Boeing has completed major trade studies to finalize the airplane’s overall capability. This allows Boeing and its suppliers to begin detailed design of parts, assemblies and other systems for the 777 Freighter. The detailed designs will then be released to Boeing factories and its suppliers to begin production of the new cargo airplane. “Working together with our customers and program partners, we designed the 777 Freighter to be the world’s most capable twin-engine cargo airplane,” said Lars Andersen, vice president – program manager, 777 Program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “The 777 Freighter will have the lowest trip costs of any large freighter and burn up to 35 percent less fuel per tonne compared to today’s freighters.”Air France, which launched the 777 Freighter in 2005 with an order for five freighters, has been closely involved in the airplane’s design and development. Boeing will continue to seek input from Air France as it enters into detailed design work. The first 777 Freighter is scheduled for delivery to Air France in the fourth quarter of 2008.
“We are very pleased with the high degree of involvement and input that Boeing has solicited from Air France,” said Pierre Vellay, vice president of New Aircraft and Corporate Fleet Planning, Air France. “We are true partners on this very important program. We know exactly how the 777 Freighter is evolving throughout the design process and we continue to be excited about the performance and capability this airplane will mean for our cargo business.”

The 777 Freighter will have a range of 4,985 miles (9,065 km) with a full payload and general market densities, making it the world’s longest-range twin-engine freighter. Maximum takeoff weight for the new cargo airplane will be 766,000 pounds (347,450 kg) with a revenue payload capability of 229,000 pounds (103.9 metric tons). The 777 Freighter will feature unmatched capacity for a twin-engine freighter, accommodating 27 standard pallets on the main deck, ten pallets in the lower cargo hold and 600 cubic feet (17 cubic meters) of additional bulk cargo.

“The 777 Freighter is designed to complement 747 cargo operations with easy direct-transfer shipments,” said Dennis Todd, engineering leader for the 777 Freighter Program. “In addition, operators will benefit from the Freighter’s commonality with the passenger models of the 777 family.”
The main cargo door on the 777 Freighter will be sized to facilitate easy interlining with the 747 freighter, with the capability to accommodate transfer of 10-foot-high (three-meter) pallets between the two cargo airplanes.

Other changes to the 777 Freighter include an enhanced, lightweight, powered cargo handling system with built-in test equipment that continually monitors the operational health of the system, and strengthening certain airplane structures and removal of passenger-related items such as windows and doors.

The 777 Freighter is based on the 777-200LR Worldliner (Longer Range) passenger airplane and will share the family’s advanced features: state-of-the-art flight deck, fly-by-wire design and an advanced wing design that includes raked wingtips. The airplane will be powered by the General Electric GE90-110B1 engine, the world’s most powerful commercial jet engine.

The 777 Freighter is the sixth and newest model of the efficient and reliable twin-engine 777 family. Four operators have placed 23 firm orders for the airplane including launch customer Air France, Emirates, Air Canada and the Avion Group. In addition, Flyington Freighters has announced a commitment to purchase four airplanes. 

Kirby Chambliss wins Istanbul 2006 RedBull air race.

After an exciting race Kirby Chambliss wins again, this time Istanbul air race is added to his victories for this year. The complete ranking of today were:

1. Kirby Chambliss  USA
2. Paul Bonhomme  GBR
3. Peter Besenyei    HUN
4. Mike Mangold      USA

More information about the RedBull air race: www.air-races.com

IndiGo celebrates delivery of first Airbus A320

IndiGo, the new low-fare carrier headquartered in New Delhi, India, celebrated the delivery of its first A320 family aircraft, on July 28th, 2006, becoming the latest Airbus operator. IndiGo placed a firm order for 100 A320 family aircraft in June 2005.

IndiGo will receive five more aircraft this year, followed by more in 2007. The airline will receive the delivery of all 100 A320 family aircraft by 2016.

Bruce Ashby, CEO, IndiGo, accepted the aircraft at a ceremony held in Toulouse. “IndiGo is built for people with things to do, places to be and people to see, who don’t want to waste time, money or energy in the process,” Ashby said. “The team at IndiGo has designed an airline with affordable fares that has cut red tape and hassles, opening up a country full of opportunities.”

IndiGo is India’s newest low-fare domestic airline. Its fleet of brand new Airbus A320 family aircraft will soon connect destinations across India.

“IndiGo is our largest customer in India, and we look forward to the airline’s successful expansion with our aircraft,” said Christian Streiff, Airbus President and CEO. “India is a very important market for Airbus and with the low-cost model gaining popularity, airlines like IndiGo are set to revolutionise the growth in air travel in the regional” he added.

Designed to optimise revenue through cabin adaptability and passenger comfort, the A320 family feature the most modern and complete fly-by-wire technology available on any single-aisle aircraft in the 100-220-seat category.

The A320 family of aircraft is the most popular aircraft in the world with more than 4360 already ordered. In 2005, it outsold the competition by almost two to one. The cabin is the widest in its class, setting the standard for passenger cabin flexibility in this segment. It allows for best-in-class comfort with wider seats and aisles.

All A320 Family aircraft share the same type rating, allowing pilots to fly all of them and enabling the same team of mechanics to maintain the aircraft. This level of operational commonality among aircraft is unique to Airbus and generates valuable savings in training and operational efficiency.

Boeing 737 Design Enhancements Earn FAA Certification

SEATTLE, July 27, 2006 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] design enhancements that increase the short-field performance of the Next-Generation 737 earned certification this week from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration following a successful four-month flight-test program. European Aviation Safety Agency certification is expected to follow soon.

“Our ultimate goal is to help our customers succeed by offering them products that add value to their operations,” said Mark Jenkins, vice president and general manager of 737 Airplane Production. “The 737′s short-field performance enhancements will allow airlines to generate more revenue.”

The 737 design enhancements allow operators to fly increased payload in and out of airports with runways less than 5,000 feet long. The design enhancements include a two-position tail skid that enables reduced approach speeds, sealed leading-edge slats that provide increased lift during takeoff, and increased flight spoiler deflection on the ground that improves takeoff and landing performance.

The short-field design package is an option on the 737-600, -700 and -800 and is standard equipment for the new 737-900ER. The enhancements increase payload capability for landing up to 8,000 pounds on the 737-800 and 737-900ER and up to 4,000 pounds on the 737-600 and 737-700. They also increase payload capability for takeoff up to 2,000 pounds on the 737-800 and 737-900ER and up to 400 pounds on the 737-600 and 737-700.

The short-field performance changes were developed starting in 2004. The flight-test program was conducted on a new 737-800 and began when the airplane made its first flight on Jan. 24, 2006.

Boeing will deliver the refurbished test airplane later this week to the launch customer, Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL Linhas Aereas S.A. The jet is the first of 67 737-800s ordered by the carrier.

To date 11 customers have ordered the short-field performance package for more than 250 airplanes. In addition to GOL, Alaska Airlines, Air Europe, Air India, Egyptair, GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS), Hapagfly, Japan Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, Sky Airlines and Turkish Airlines are among some of the operators that have ordered the design package.

The Next-Generation 737s are 10 years newer and fly higher, faster and farther than competing models. Through June 2006, 97 customers have placed orders for more than 3,300 Next-Generation 737s; the program has 1,365 unfilled orders with a value of $91 billion at current list prices.

Boeing fact sheets can be found Here

Boeing Projects Air Cargo Fleet to Shift Further Toward Widebody Freighters

SEATTLE, July 27, 2006 – The global air cargo market will continue its growth patterns of the past few years, with strong 20-year growth, according to the Current Market Outlook (CMO) 2006 from the Boeing Company [NYSE: BA].  This pattern will lead to a doubling of the world freighter fleet from 1,789 to 3,563 airplanes, both numbers slightly up from the previous forecast.

This growth, accounting for expected airplane retirements of 1,209 airplanes, will result in a total of 2,983 airplanes added to the freighter fleet by 2025, according to the annual CMO, which was released earlier this month prior to the Farnborough Air Show.
“Relatively stable total fleet numbers over the past five years are a bit misleading since strong deliveries have been offset by a roughly equal number of retirements,” said Jim Edgar, regional director, Cargo Marketing for Asia.  “Rising fuel prices apply replacement pressure on older inefficient fleets, contributing to unprecedented freighter interest while we experience minimal negative impact upon traffic levels.”

Most of these additions – nearly 62 percent – will be in the widebody category (medium widebody plus large freighters).  Widebody freighters with a capacity of 40 tons or more will increase in share from 50 percent of the current fleet to 64 percent of the 2025 fleet.  Consequently, there will be an increase in overall average freighter airplane payload.  These findings are consistent with prior years’ forecasts.

“The total number of airplanes in the freighter fleet forecast is only slightly higher than last year’s totals,” said Edgar.  “However, the move to large freighters is already taking hold as the 2005 fleet is only 50 percent standard-body freighters, versus 53 percent for the same segment in 2004.  The underlying trend towards accelerated widebody growth, encompassing such airplanes as the 747 freighter family and the 777 Freighter, is masked by this retirement of older standard-body freighters.”

Standard-body freighters are defined in the forecast as having less than 50 tons capacity and the body width of single-aisle passenger airplanes.  The share of these freighters will decrease from 50 percent to 36 percent over the next two decades.  In many cases, operators such as express carriers prefer medium widebodies as a replacement for retiring standard-body freighters.

Freighters, as a share of the global jetliner fleet, will remain at about 10 percent during the forecast period, and by 2025, freighters of all sizes will provide more than half of the world’s total air cargo capacity, a slight increase from today and consistent with last year’s forecast.
Three-quarters of the freighter fleet additions will come from modified passenger and combi airplanes.  The remaining airplanes entering the fleet, about 766, will be new-production freighters.  Although new airplanes will make up a minority of the total world freighter fleet, they dominate the large-size category (widebody freighters of more than 80 tons capacity) with many airlines preferring their technical advantages, reliability, and fuel efficiency.  The value of all new freighters totals $169 billion in current U.S. dollars.

In 2005, Boeing received a record 113 firm orders for production and converted freighters and brought to market two new production freighters – the 777F and 747-8F.
Currently, Boeing provides more than 90 percent of the world’s freighter capacity.  This percentage is expected to remain stable, owing to the preference for larger Boeing production and converted airplanes.  Boeing offers a complete family of production freighter airplanes, including 747-8F, 747-400F, 777F, 767F and 737-700C (convertible).  In addition, Boeing offers Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF) – 747-400BCF or 767-300BCF, as well as an MD-11 Freighter conversion program and 757-200 and 767-200 Special Freighters through proprietary data licensees.

For Boeing fact sheets click Here.

Astronaut prepares for December mission to space station

Astronaut Sunita Williams is scheduled to make her first space flight in December to the International Space Station, where she will stay for several months. “I had always wanted to do this, be a space station person,” she says. “I sort of thought that the long duration is what we should be doing. It’s where we’re going in the future.”

Boeing and U.S. Army Sign Block III Apache Longbow System Development and Demonstration Contract

ST. LOUIS, July 26, 2006 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Army have ensured the continued modernization of the world’s most capable multi-role combat helicopter by signing the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase contract for the Block III AH-64D Apache Longbow program.

Boeing and U.S. Army officials signed the $619.3 million contract during a virtual signing ceremony July 14 in Washington, D.C., Huntsville, Ala., and Mesa, Ariz. The contract provides funding for the development, test and qualification of Block III technologies and capabilities. Previously signed and executed contracts for risk reduction engineering work were valued collectively at $66.1 million.

The delivery of the first production Block III Apache is scheduled for 2011, following the completion of current Apache production work that has been ongoing in Mesa since the program’s inception in the early 1980s.

“This new contract supports the long-term modernization of the U.S. Army’s Apache helicopters,” said Scott Rudy, Boeing Apache Block III program manager. “Boeing and our industry partners will continue to work together with the Army to apply the lessons learned and shared by battlefield commanders, aviators and soldiers to provide the right technologies to effectively support the men and women in uniform.”

The Block III Apache Longbow provides network-centric warfare capabilities for the Army’s current and future force. Incorporating open systems architecture, wideband network communications, extended range sensing, missiles and fire control radar, level IV unmanned aerial vehicle control and data fusion to merge off- and on-board sensor imagery, the Block III multi-role combat helicopter enables battlespace dominance. Other key benefits to the U.S. Army include a reduced logistics footprint and improved readiness and deployability.

The contract will ensure that Army warfighters and joint operations forces commanders are equipped with a modernized helicopter that can deploy and interface effectively with joint forces, coordinating information and weapons capabilities in battle.

Boeing Delivers the 2,000th Next-Generation 737

 

SEATTLE, July 26, 2006 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] made history today by delivering the 2,000th Next-Generation 737 nearly seven years sooner than any other commercial jet airplane model.

The milestone delivery — a 737-700 to Southwest Airlines — occurred nearly nine years after Southwest received the first Next-Generation 737.

“This is a tremendous day for the Boeing team and our customers. The 737 family just keeps getting better and better, and this milestone is a reflection of the continued value our customers place on the airplanes and the people who design, build and support them,” said Mark Jenkins, vice president and general manager of 737 Airplane Production.

Known for its versatility, reliability, fuel efficiency and economical performance, the Next-Generation 737 models have been selected by leading full-service airlines and low-cost carriers throughout the world. The Next-Generation 737 airplane family, which includes the 737-600, -700, -800, -900 and the new -900ER and -700ER, continues to be the company’s best-selling airplane model.

Earlier this year, the current airplane family eclipsed order totals for Classic 737s. As of June 30, 2006, 97 customers have placed orders for more than 3,300 airplanes. The program has 1,365 unfilled orders with a value of $91 billion at current list prices.

So far this year, the Next-Generation 737 has won net orders for 399 airplanes. The order total represents 78 percent in units of all Boeing commercial airplane orders for the year.

EMBRAER SELLS 30 EMBRAER 175s TO REPUBLIC AIRLINES

Deliveries, to start in 2007, mark debut of the type in the U.S. domestic market

São José dos Campos, July 24, 2006 – Embraer today announced that it has reached an agreement for the sale of 30 firm EMBRAER 175 aircraft to Republic Airlines Inc. This brings to 78 firm and 75 options the total number of E-Jets on order for Republic.

These aircraft were originally options under the amended and reinstated Embraer / US Airways purchase agreement. With the consent of Embraer, US Airways has transferred to Republic its right to purchase these aircraft. Today’s announcement does not affect the 25 firm EMBRAER 190 aircraft and the 32 additional EMBRAER 190s, subject to reconfirmation, in US Airways’ order book.

“We are very pleased to further contribute to Republic Airlines´ continuous success,” said

Frederico Fleury Curado, Embraer Executive Vice-President, Airline Market. “Furthermore, the introduction of another member of the E-Jets family, the EMBRAER 175 into the U.S. domestic market, represents an important validation of our strategy of providing airlines with flexibility to match demand with the right aircraft size.”

“We are very pleased to expand our relationship with US Airways with the addition of these 30 EMBRAER 175 regional jets,” said Bryan Bedford, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Republic Airways Holdings. “Our company has an excellent tradition of delivering safe, reliable and cost effective service to our customers and partners. We are especially excited to introduce the new 86-seat EMBRAER 175 regional aircraft to the U.S. marketplace. The Embraer E-Jets family continues to set high standards for airline service in North America. Passengers love this aircraft for its spacious interior design and in particular the absence of a middle seat.”

Deliveries of the EMBRAER 175’s – all in 86-seat single class configuration and to fly in US Airways Express colors – are expected to start in 2007 and continue through 2008. There are over 160 E-Jets operating worldwide and as of June 30, 2006, the E-Jets had logged 455 firm orders and 442 options.

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