New Composite Airbus Approaching Final Assembly

Wired: Several large composite pieces for the new Airbus passenger jet have been delivered over the past month as the airplane maker prepares for assembly of the first A350XWB. The new airplane is expected to make its first flight sometime next year and is a competitor against Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. Both the A350XWB and 787 feature significant use of composites. But each company chose very different ways to incorporate the materials into the airframe.

The upper cover for the wing is pictured above being loaded into the famous Airbus Beluga transporter. The company says it is the largest single piece made of carbon fiber used in the civil aviation market. The upper wing cover is flying today from Germany where it is fabricated, to the wing assembly plant in the United Kingdom. Earlier this month Airbus delivered the composite central wing box and fuselage keel beam to its fuselage assembly plant in France.

Airbus plans to fly the A350XWB for the first time in 2012. Slightly larger than the 787, the A350XWB also features composites throughout the design. In addition to the composite wings and tail sections, both airplane feature composite fuselages, though they are built using different techniques.

The 787 uses single piece composite barrels that are joined together lengthwise to form the fuselage. Airbus initially planned to use traditional aluminum structures for the fuselage of the A350, but opted to go with composite panels over a composite frame for the fuselage. The method of construction is similar to current aluminum airliners, but with just four large composite panels for each section. The two sides, top and bottom panels will form an ovoid fuselage on the A350XWB.

Airbus says it has 567 orders for its new airplane and hopes to deliver the first one in 2013. The first of 821 787 Dreamliners on order is expected to be delivered later this month.

Paris Air Show Reveals Boeing/Airbus Strategies

Seattle Times: The Paris Air Show has unexpectedly made starkly clear that the rivalry between Airbus and Boeing is playing out very differently in the two major airplane categories. In sales of narrow body jets, Airbus is clearly on the ascendant.

Airbus announced more than 700 A320 sales in Paris, compared to less than 90 Boeing 737 sales.Airbus CEO Tom Enders said even he has been surprised by the wild success of the upgraded A320neo, which now has more than 1,000 orders and commitments following blockbuster sales in Paris.

"When I went to the board for approval, I promised strong sales," said Enders. "I didn't think it would be such a best seller only six months after the launch."

But in the market for bigger widebody jets, Boeing has the upper hand. Airbus has to fix problems with its now-delayed A350 family. As a result, Boeing can look forward to a bonanza of 777 and 787 sales for several years with some sales campaigns almost uncontested because Airbus won't have a competitive jet to offer.

Pat Shanahan, head of airplane programs at Boeing, said that with the 787 Dreamliner soon to enter service and the 777 without any viable competitor until 2017 at the earliest, Boeing's position in the large jet market is "better than good."

Airbus has set its strategy for narrow body jets. It will put new fuel-efficient engines on its A320, to create the A320neo. Sales in Paris provided strong evidence this is a winning approach.

Worryingly for Boeing, Airbus sales chief John Leahy said that all those A320neo sales in Paris were new; none were conversions of existing A320 orders. In contrast, Boeing doesn't yet have a narrowbody strategy. It wants to decide by year-end whether to follow Airbus and put new engines on the 737 or to design an all-new small airplane to replace it around 2020.

Boeing's leadership insists it isn't floundering, but it doesn't look good right now.

Rumors swirled in Paris that Leahy may by year-end convince a major U.S. carrier -- American and Delta are most often mentioned -- to defect to Airbus and order the neo. Airbus's Enders said "737 customers are very interested in what we are offering."

Boeing's head of sales Marlin Dailey said Airbus is "peppering the marketplace with A320 proposals." That puts his sales team in a difficult position. As they consider a purchase, customers want to know what Boeing will have to offer.

"They want some certainty," said Dailey. "We need to move with velocity."

Yet he, like all top Boeing executives, insists that year-end is time enough and that the momentous decision of whether to launch a new small airplane that would be produced for 30 or 40 years can wait six months. "I see nothing but opportunity," in the future narrow body market, Dailey said.

That seems like whistling in the dark to Airbus's Leahy. He thinks skyrocketing neo sales will force Boeing executives to back away from a new plane and follow Airbus by re-engining. And if they don't, he said, it'll be a mistake.

He said he believes Boeing cannot get enough of an efficiency boost by 2020 to make the plane significantly better than the neo. "I'd really break out the champagne if I heard that they just invested $12 billion to come out in 2020 with an airplane that is essentially an A320 wannabe," said Leahy.

Yet on the wide body front, Leahy is the one in a difficult position, though of course he doesn't admit it. Airbus announced in Paris on the eve of the Le Bourget show that it will delay two models of the three-jet A350 family and change the largest model radically. That tore the veil from a program in trouble.

"They stretched that family to cover the 787 and the 777," said Boeing's Dailey. But spanning that range of aircraft sizes -- roughly 240 seats to 350 seats -- has turned out to be too difficult to do with a single wing size.

Now Airbus must make serious alterations to the wing of the larger A350-1000, and give it heftier landing gear and more powerful engines. With that model pushed out until 2017, Boeing can look forward to a bonanza of 777 sales in the interim. The 777 currently has no viable Airbus competitor. In addition, Airbus customers are migrating away from the smallest and weakest A350 model, the A350-800.

 
And Airbus chief operating officer Fabrice Bregier conceded that getting the middle-sized A350-900 delivered on time is "a heavy challenge" and "a race against the clock." That's the only model not formally delayed.

With that outlook, the rival Boeing's Dreamliner family now looks certain of further sales too, provided Boeing can get production running well in Everett and at its supplier plants. If Boeing goes ahead with the 787-10, that will strengthen the family even more.

In Paris, Airbus CEO Enders insisted that all will be fine when the A350s finally arrive. But until then, he conceded Boeing's first-mover advantage with the Dreamliner. "When you start programs earlier, for a while you are better positioned," he said. Then Enders went off on a rationale to defend the extra time spent on the A350 that eerily resembled what Boeing is saying about its narrow body problem.

"It's most important we get the concept right," he said. "That takes a bit more time. That may be unfortunate, but it's worth waiting."

As Airbus and Boeing separately wonder if their customers will wait for them, they are feeling the pressure in different places.

Paris Air Show - Day 4

Airbus A320neo

Associated Press: Airbus is trouncing Boeing in the race to be the world's biggest planemaker, claiming over $72 billion dollars worth of orders and commitments at the Paris Air Show, where the popularity of its new fuel-efficient jets twice broke records for the largest order ever.

Airbus' success cast a long shadow over Chicago-based Boeing, which recorded only $22 billion in orders and commitments, and raised questions over the U.S. planemaker's ability to compete in a market dominated by concerns over high fuel prices.

Airbus CEO Tom Enders and AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes signed off Thursday on an $18.5 billion order for 200 of Airbus' new A320neo aircraft, which has proven to be the star of the aviation industry's premier event. The order is the largest ever, eclipsing the previous record set just Wednesday by another A320neo customer, Asian carrier IndiGo. Airlines often negotiate discounts on large deals.

The recipe to Airbus' gains over Boeing is deceptively simple. It modified its existing workhorse jet, the A320, with improved engines and modified wingtips to make it allegedly 15 percent more fuel-efficient than Boeing's 737. The plane will only start delivering in 2015 but Airbus is using it now to cash in on airlines' need to reduce sky-high fuel costs and cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Airbus' Enders said the A320neo was now "by far the best-selling airliner in the history of commercial aviation." The company has over 1,000 orders or commitments for the plane, including 667 during the air show's first four days.

Airbus' success increases the pressure on its U.S. rival to respond to the challenge with either a revamped version of its own 737 or an entirely new aircraft. Boeing says it will make that decision in the coming months. It played down the orders rivalry, saying it doesn't keep deals in reserve just to announce them at air shows. It recorded orders and commitments for 142 aircraft worth $22 billion at catalog prices during the show. That includes a commitment from an undisclosed customer for it's hulking new 747-8 Intercontinentals worth $4.7 billion.

At this pace, Airbus looks likely to retain its position as industry leader for a fourth year running. Last year, it took in orders for 574 new aircraft worth $74 billion at list prices, more than Boeing's 530. The biggest orders for Airbus planes this week have come from the fast-growing countries in Asia and the Middle East. Besides AirAsia and IndiGo, Airbus also nabbed orders and commitments from the U.S. airline JetBlue and Garuda of Indonesia.

Boeing's highlights included a $1.7 billion order for 6 777 long-haul aircraft from Qatar Airways and 10 737s from Malaysian Airlines.

Though Airbus was ending the show with a bang, it had started off with a series of embarrassing gaffes before the opening. Its A380 double decker superjumbo was briefly grounded after it clipped a wingtip while maneuvering on a taxiway at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris, where the air show is held every two years. Airbus' long-overdue and over-budget military transporter, the A400M, was unable to perform a scheduled demonstration at the show because of what Airbus called a minor gearbox problem.

And the Airbus A350 long-range widebody had a new disappointment with the announcement that two versions of the jet would be delayed by about two years, so that the jet's exclusive engine supplier Rolls Royce can develop a higher powered motor for the stretched version of the aircraft, something Airbus said customers had demanded.

Although deals are typically announced during the first four days, before the opening to the general public on Friday, the planemakers held out hope for some last-minute surprises, possibly more orders.

"The show's not over yet," said Airbus CEO Enders.

Paris Air Show - Day 3

ABC News: Airbus racked up huge orders for its fuel-saving A320neo jetliner on Wednesday, even bagging the biggest single sale in aviation history, and overshadowing the arrival of Boeing's much-hyped and much-delayed 787 Dreamliner at the Paris Air Show.

As airlines around the world worry about skyrocketing fuel prices, demand has surged for low-consumption planes. Airbus' A320neo, which the company claims is 15 percent more fuel-efficient than rival Boeing's 737 thanks to an improved engine and modified wingtips, was the undisputed star of the Paris Air Show, the industry's biggest annual event.

Airbus notched an order for 180 aircraft from Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo, the biggest single order a company has received in terms of planes. Other orders for the A320neo came from Chilean carrier LAN Airlines and Kuwaiti leasing company ALAFCO, while U.S. carrier Frontier Airlines and Latin American carrier AviancaTaca made commitments for 131 more.

Airbus has now racked up more than 600 orders and commitments for the A320neo since it began marketing the jet last December. Airbus' top salesman John Leahy told reporters that orders for the A320neo could top 1,000 by the time the Paris Air Show ends this weekend, providing powerful confirmation of Airbus' decision to adapt its workhorse A320 to meet airlines' growing concerns over fuel costs.

The jet's success also poses a direct challenge to Chicago-based Boeing, which has yet to decide whether to respond with an upgraded 737 itself or to launch an entirely new aircraft.

Indigo ordered 150 of the A320neos and another 30 of the standard A320 single-aisle short and medium haul jets. The firm order follows a memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies in January. Airbus said then that the deal was worth $15.6 billion at list prices, though airlines usually negotiate discounts.

The deal topped the previous record for biggest aircraft order held by China's Central Aircraft Sales Corp., which ordered 150 aircraft from Airbus and the same number from Boeing in 2005.

Boeing was hoping to draw attention away from the Airbus' order tally to its wide-bodied 787 jets with a launch order from All Nippon Airways, who will take delivery of the first model as early as August. At a joint ceremony at the Paris Air Show, the two companies showcased the new plane — known as the Dreamliner — saying it will allow carriers to open up a number of new long-haul routes.

"Its delivery is planned for August or September this year," said Shuichi Fujimura, vice president of All Nippon Airways, or ANA. Developmental problems have delayed the new-generation jet's introduction into passenger service by three years. More than 800 have so far been ordered by over 50 airlines. Fujimura said ANA expects to receive 14 Dreamliners by next March. ANA has a total of 55 787s on order.

"We have a target to expand our route network, and the 787 will play a significant role in that plan," said Fujimura, who was speaking at a news conference together with Scott Fancher, Boeing's 787 program head.

The twin-engine 787 is made mostly of carbon fiber and other composite materials, which make it lighter and therefore more fuel-efficient than other mid-sized airliners. Its twin-aisle passenger cabin accommodates up to 250 passengers.

Because of the 787's improved range, ANA plans to use it on a number of new long-haul routes that were not previously commercially viable because there were not enough passengers to justify using larger aircraft such as the Boeing 747, Fujimura said.

The plane made its debut at the Paris Air Show when it arrived direct from Seattle late Tuesday.

Paris Air Show - Day 2

Wall Street Journal: The world's commercial-aircraft manufacturers racked up orders for more than 150 planes valued at more than $10 billion on the second day of the Paris Air Show despite growing concerns about the health of the global economy.

After a blockbuster opening day Monday, there was no letup in the pace of orders Tuesday with Airbus and Boeing Co. announcing more huge commitments.

"Airlines are fundamentally stronger than they've been in years," said Jeff Knittel, president of transportation finance at CIT Group Inc., one of the world's largest aircraft-leasing companies. "Consolidation in the U.S. has yielded better balance sheets, and airlines in the U.S. and western Europe are more disciplined on capacity than ever before.

"It's two stories: In the U.S. and western Europe, airlines are replacing older planes. And Asia, the Middle East and Latin America are growth markets."

CIT on Tuesday ordered 50 A320neos at a list price of about $4.6 billion as the fuel-efficient Airbus model once again stole the limelight, snaring the biggest deals of the day in terms of price and numbers of planes. Customers typically negotiate substantial discounts on bulk buys.

Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV, Tuesday booked orders for 121 aircraft from the A320 family of single-aisle commercial jets after taking orders for 142 planes Monday. The 263 aircraft booked over the first two days represent a value of $26.1 billion at list price and bring to 594 the number of orders booked by Airbus since it launched the A320neo program in December.

The European aircraft builder had predicted that its order book for A320neos would swell to at least 500 by the time the air show ends later this week.

Airbus says that the A320neo—the "neo" stands for "new engine option"—will enter service in 2015 and will offer 15% fuel reduction compared with existing versions of the plane. The reduction in fuel burn is equivalent to 1.4 million liters of fuel a year—the consumption of 1,000 midsize cars—saving 3,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide per aircraft, or the amount absorbed by 240,000 mature trees, according to Airbus.

CIT ordered 60 PurePower PW1100G engines and booked options for up to 40 more from Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp. It also ordered Leap-X1A engines to power 15 A320neos from CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric Co. and France's Safran SA, with an option for engines for another 10.

Other A320neo orders Tuesday included one for 40 aircraft from JetBlue Airways Corp. of the U.S. and one from Garuda Indonesia for 15 standard A320s and 10 A320neos.

There was a firm order from Taiwan-based TransAsia Airways for six re-engined versions of the stretched A321.

Airbus already has bettered its performance at Farnborough, England, last year, when it took in customer commitments for a total of 255 aircraft valued at $28 billion, including 133 firm orders worth more than $13 billion. The order inflow at Airbus is expected to continue. Airbus has scheduled two announcements for Wednesday and possibly one Thursday.

Boeing picked up an order for 15 737-800 aircraft worth $1.2 billion at list prices from low-fare carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, while late Monday in Washington MIAT Mongolian Airlines ordered two 737-800s and one 767-300ER in a $245 million deal. Malaysian Airline System Bhd. exercised an option to buy 10 737-800s for $800 million at current list prices.

Russian carrier OAO Aeroflot will receive eight long-haul 777-300ERs. The order was previously attributed to an unidentified customer on Boeing's orders and deliveries website.

2011 Paris Air Show Begins

San Francisco Chronicle: Airbus stumbled at the launch of the aviation industry's premier event Monday as its star superjumbo clipped a wing and a gearbox glitch derailed a demonstration flight. But the European plane maker and chief rival Boeing Co. quickly racked up orders for billions of dollars worth of aircraft at the Paris Air Show, heating up their race for the world's lead in jet sales.

Skyrocketing fuel costs and bleak forecasts for the international air transport market are driving purchases at this year's show. Airlines are searching for cheaper and cleaner ways to fly, and star displays include biofuel and hybrid engines and a solar plane.

One star, Airbus' superjumbo A380, was grounded after clipping a wing on a taxiway structure, the latest in a string of embarrassments for the company. The plane suffered damage to its wing tip Sunday after the slow-speed collision with a building at the Le Bourget airport, where the world's largest and oldest aviation showcase is taking place, spokesman Alexander Reinhardt, of Airbus' holding company EADS, said Monday.

Airbus quickly found a replacement jet for demonstration flights during the air show, an A380 operated by Korean Air. But the planemaker is facing other setbacks.

The Airbus A400M military transport plane had to cancel a demonstration flight because of what the manufacturer described as a minor gearbox problem, although the aircraft made a fly-over during President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to the air show on Monday.

On Saturday, Airbus announced that two of the three versions of its new wide body jet, the A350, would be delayed about two years.

The stretched A350-1000 is being pushed back to 2017 to give engine supplier Rolls Royce time to develop a more powerful motor that will extend the jet's range, Airbus said. The standard version of the plane, the A350-900, is still expected to arrive in the second half of 2013, Airbus said.

Airbus' chief salesman John Leahy defended the delay, saying the revamped 350-1000 would best rival Boeing's 777-300ER by flying 400 nautical miles further while burning 25 percent less fuel. "Yes we were supposed to come out in 2015, but customers said give us some extra performance and we can take the delay," he said.

Airbus' first big order Monday was from GE Capital Aviation Services, ordering 60 A320neo jets, a version of the workhorse jet revamped to be more fuel efficient. Airbus has booked 390 orders and commitments for the A320neo since its commercial launch last December — even though it won't come into service until 2015 — from airlines squeezed by higher fuel prices.

Boeing hasn't yet chosen how it will respond, but top marketing executive Randy Tinseth said it would decide in the coming months whether to upgrade its existing 737 model or design a whole new plane, which wouldn't be in the air until the end of the decade.

Qatar Airways announced an order for six Boeing 777 planes in a $1.7 billion deal at the start of the show Monday. Airlines in fast-growing Asian and Middle Eastern countries have been ordering hundreds of new aircraft to meet fast-growing air traffic in those regions.

Akbar Al-Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, said at a news conference with Boeing officials that he regretted hearing of "significant delays" in Airbus' A350 program. Qatar Airways is the launch customer for the A350, and is due to receive the first one in the second half of 2013. Half of the 80 A350s that Qatar Airways has ordered would be affected by the delay. "This will dent our expansion and fleet placement program," he told reporters. "It is very disappointing to us," he said. "Also we hope that the performances that they are today talking about is the right information and it will do what Airbus says that the airplane will do," he said.

Boeing and Honeywell are both boasting of having the first biofuel-powered trans-Atlantic flight, with Boeing flying in its 747-8 freighter from Seattle on a mix of biofuel and jet fuel, while Honeywell touts the "green jet fuel" it developed to power a Gulfstream business jet that flew from New Jersey to Le Bourget. EADS will also demonstrate the world's first diesel-electric hybrid aircraft at the show, another leg in its strategy of cutting its fleet's carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

Skyrocketing fuel costs are a major issue for Airbus and Boeing customers, who will see their profits plunge to $4 billion this year from $18 billion in 2010, according to the IATA forecast released earlier this month. Given the fierce competition in the market, Sarkozy defended European governments' support for France-based Airbus. "Aviation is a strategic sector that the state should not lose interest in," he said in opening the show.

Airbus edged out Boeing at last year's Farnborough International Airshow in the U.K., racking up deals totaling $13.2 billion, while Chicago-based Boeing's commitments came in at $12.8 billion. Those results were a big improvement over the results of the last Paris Air Show in 2009, when many airlines closed their checkbooks in the wake of the global financial meltdown.

Going into next week's event, Airbus has taken in 176 gross orders this year, compared to Boeing's 183 gross orders. Boeing is the world's No. 2 commercial jet maker after Airbus, based on 2010 deliveries. Airbus delivered 510 commercial planes last year, compared with 462 for Boeing.

The International Air Transport Association last month warned that natural disasters in Japan, unrest in the Middle East and rising fuel prices would cause airline industry profits to collapse only a year after they'd begun to recover from the global economic crisis.

More than 2,100 exhibitors from 45 countries have signed up to take part in the weeklong event showcasing both commercial and defense aircraft. Airbus expects to bag bountiful orders for a new, more fuel-efficient version of its workhorse A320 short haul jet, while Boeing is spotlighting its new mid-range 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 intercontinental passenger jets.

Paris to New York in 90 Minutes

Sky News: Plans for a hypersonic jet that can fly from Paris to New York in 90 minutes have been unveiled at the Paris Air Show. The plane, which is not scheduled to be available for commercial use until 2050, will be run on a seaweed-based fuel rather than kerosene, which is currently most commonly used.

EADS, the team behind the new plane - which could fly up to 100 passengers at more than four times the speed of sound - has decided to use a mixture of biofuel, hydrogen and water.

Labelled 'Zehst' (an acronym for Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation), EADS believe the jet will reach speeds of 3,125mph and slash travel times. The aircraft, which would reach Australia from England in about three hours, will fly just outside the earth's atmosphere, at about 20 miles up.

But it won't come cheap. EADS say that they expect their jets to be used by a similar clientele Concorde enjoyed - so don't expect prices to be much lower than £5,000 ($8,080) a head. They have been working on the plane for five years already, and are hopeful of performing test flights in 2020.

Meanwhile, Airbus had an unfortunate and embarrassing start to the Paris Air Show after two of its flagship aircraft were forced to withdraw from the influential exhibition.

The new A400M military transporter - also known as the Grizzly - was pulled out after a technical fault, with the A380 following later on Sunday.

"We have problems with the gearbox, but the test aircraft keep flying," Domingo Urena, chief executive of Airbus Military, said of the A400M. "We have very demanding flight-test requirements at the moment."

Airbus suffered a second mishap when the wing of a display A380 'touched' a structure the near the taxiway at Le Bourget Airport.

China Claims Place at Paris Air Show

China's Passenger Jet C919

AFP: China aims to claim its rightful place at the Paris International Airshow this week alongside giants Airbus and Boeing, laying down a marker for its ambitions to be a major player in global aviation.

Airbus and Boeing dominate the hugely important Chinese market but Beijing has long made clear its intentions to make its own aircraft, moving swiftly up the technological ladder, just as it has in so many other products. Its immediate target is the medium-haul segment, carved up between Airbus with its A320 twin-engined series and Boeing's similar 737, the largest selling commercial aircraft since its launch in 1967 and a mainstay in Chinese skies.

Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (Comac) makes its first appearance at the Le Bourget airshow next week just north of Paris, with a mock-up of the cockpit and part of the fuselage of its C919 model. Currently under development, the 190-seat C919 is due to enter service in 2016, just after Airbus brings its upgraded and already much sought after A320neo to the market, raising the question of whether China's first commercial jet can make inroads against such tough opposition.

For the moment, Comac has won orders for some 100 C919s from Chinese airlines but has found only one foreign customer - the leasing arm of US conglomerate General Electric. The company is clearly hoping for more by setting up its stall at Le Bourget, analysts say.

"They want to talk to companies and to bring them up to date with how the (C919) project is going," said Christophe Menard, aerospace analyst with Kepler.

"There are discussions underway with a number of Western aviation companies," said Jean-Paul Ebanga, head of CFM International, the Franco-American firm supplying engines for the C919.

For the airlines to take the C919 seriously, there are the key issues of its airworthiness certification, its performance and delivery date to be resolved. To ensure it can bring the C919 to market successfully, Comac, part of the giant China Aviation Industry Corp (Avic), has joined up with several major Western groups -- CFMI for the engines, France's Michelin for tyres and Safran for the cabling of the aircraft.

"We have settled on a timetable and things are moving on. We have no reason to question the rationale of the programme," CFMI head Ebanga said.

For Menard, Comac's tie-ups with the Western companies are clearly intended to "bolster the credibility of the project" and reflect a simple truth -- if it is to stand any chance against Airbus and Boeing, it needs foreign help.

In March, the company announced another tie-up, this time with Canada's Bombardier which is also trying to break into the medium-haul market based on its experience in smaller passenger jets. "In terms of the airframe (fuselage and wings), Comac should benefit from Bombardier's experience," Menard said.

The accord with Bombardier will no doubt "help accelerate" the C919 project but for Airbus and Boeing, Comac still presents no immediate threat, he said.

"For them, it is a competitor but the threat is not for right now but for the medium-term, looking ahead to around 2020," Menard said.

At the same time, Comac will be just one of several likely new entrants to the highly competitive market, with Bombardier and Brazil's Embraer making great strides. "There will be other aviation companies, Chinese, Russian," Fabrice Bregier, the Airbus number two, said recently.

Airbus and Boeing will have to face a number of new competitors by 2030 and they will have to prepare for that, making sure that they "anticipate developments and invest in new technologies," Bregier said.

Airbus Unveils the Plane of the Future

The Australian: NOW this is one flight worth waiting for.

Airbus has released details of its "cabin of the future" design, which it hopes to make real by 2050. The new plane has an extraordinary see-through cabin, which will open up the skies - and cities and landscapes thousands of feet below - to passengers.

The "intelligent" wall membrane of the cabin becomes transparent at the wave of a hand and could also change according to light conditions. New seats are sensitive to passengers' body shapes and needs, offering massages, drinks and even a sea breeze or the aroma of a forest.

Holographic pop-up gaming displays and in-flight entertainment will be powered by the heat of passengers’ bodies.

The aircraft will be built using a bionic structure that mimics the bone structure of birds. "Bone is both light and strong because its porous interior carries tension only where necessary, leaving space elsewhere," the company said in its website.

"By using bionic structures, the fuselage has the strength it needs, but can also make the most of extra space where required. This not only reduces the aircraft's weight and fuel burn, but also makes it possible to add features like oversized doors for easier boarding and panoramic windows."

The cabin's bionic structure will be coated with a biopolymer membrane, which controls the amount of natural light, humidity and temperature, providing transparency on command and eliminating the need for windows.

Airbus has compared the cabin's electrical system to that of the human brain, with "a network of intelligence pulsating through the cabin".

Materials used in the cabin would be self-cleaning and even self-repairing.

Airbus Trails Boeing Ahead of Paris Air Show

Reuters: Europe's Airbus (EAD.PA) trailed U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N) in terms of plane orders in the first five months of the year as the companies gear up for their annual battle for customers at this month's Paris Air Show.

Airbus, in a lull before the event when it traditionally makes a slew of customer announcements, added just seven orders in May, taking its gross total for the year so far to 176, behind Boeing's 182. After cancellations, Airbus had 97 net aircraft orders in January through May, compared with 133 at Boeing.

Airbus head Tom Enders predicted last month that the planemaker would have a larger order haul at the coming show at Le Bourget than at last year's event, held at Farnborough in southern England.

Leasing companies were top buyers at the UK show as demand recovered from the recession, helping Airbus bag 130 firm orders and 122 provisional orders.

Enders said on May 24 that "a few more orders" could be expected at Le Bourget, which runs from June 20-26, and that the "market is active."

Airbus has unveiled a revamped version of its key A320 family of short and medium-haul aircraft in an effort to trump Boeing in the single-aisle market, the most active.

Get Ready for the 1,000 Seat Airbus Jet

Airbus A380-900

Austrailian Business Traveler: If you think today's A380 is massive, wait until the next generation of the superjumbo. Airbus is working on an even larger version of the double-decker plane known as the A380-900 (compared to today's A380-800 series).

The -900 will carry 650 passengers in a standard multi-class configuration and 900 passengers if filled with with economy-only seating – although a 1,000 seat version is also on the drawing board, with Lufthansa and Air France-KLM already lining up for this model.

The aircraft is essentially a stretched version of the A380-800, measuring 79.4m from tip to tail -- 6.4m (the length of a shipping container) more than today's superjumbo. According to Louis Gallois, chief executive of EADS, expanding the already huge A380-800 to even larger variants was the plan from the start.

One indication of this is the A380's enormous 79.8m (261.8 foot) wingspan -- some 11m longer than Boeing's latest jumbo, the 747-8 Intercontinental – with the oversized wing believed to be designed to allow for the new ultra-big models now on the drawing boards.

The '900' variant was confirmed by Airbus chief John Leahy in 2007, though with no firm availability date, and there are persistent whispers of an even longer and higher-capacity A380-1000. These supersized aircraft are central to Airbus' belief that the global travel market will settle on using 38 cities as "mega-hubs" for long-haul travel – each of which will cater to more than 10,000 passengers per day – with other destinations being reached by transfers.

Chris Emerson, Airbus' Senior Vice President for Strategy and Forecast, said the industry needed to provide more seats on larger planes to serve those mega-hubs.

The Airbus A380-800 was initially though to be too big for airports to cope with, and pundits predicted boarding and disembarking would take much longer than current 747s. However, an intensive program of airport upgrades and new terminals allowing for multi-corridor boarding proved the pundits wrong.

Airbus A380 Clips Comair Jet at JFK Airport

An Airbus A380 superjumbo, the world's largest jetliner with a wingspan of about 260 feet, hit the tail of a Comair regional jet at JFK airport in New York last night. The incident was caught on amateur video (below). No injuries were reported.

U.S. investigators have impounded the Air France jet which was on it's way to Paris. One reporter on the flight said he felt "a slight rumble akin to hitting a patch of rough pavement" as the superjumbo, with 520 people on board, was moving on the ground at about 8.15pm local time.

The silent video shows the 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 operated by Comair rocking sharply to one side as the A380 wing flipped it into an almost 90-degree turn to the left.