Jetrader - Autumn 2016 - 22

More water from the sky.

The A350 has a distinctive wing shape as it
reaches for the skies. Photo: Simon Finn.

A reason to celebrate; Volga Dnepr orders 747 Freighters.

Nostalgia for the beautiful 727.

"MoM-jet" or a 737 MAX 10 in sight. The
stretching of the 737 MAX 7 by two seatrows was probably the most important
product development that was announced.
In terms of new orders, AirAsia clearly
stole the headlines with the announcement
of an order for 100 firm plus 100 options
for the Airbus A321neo. The second largest commitment also went to Toulouse, as
GoAir India signed a LoI for 72 A320neos.
Avianca's parent, Synergy Group, signed a
firm order for 62 A320neos, while Gemania
signed a firm order for 25 A320neos
(+15 options). WOW Air added four A321neos
to the order book. Apparently an aircraft
doesn't need to be present at an airshow
to still sell well. Airbus also sold eight
A350-1000s to Virgin Atlantic and three
-900s to Air Lease. Arkia signed up for two
A330-900s, while Aer Lingus remained with
the "old" A330-300, signing up for two more
of this type. Including another Airlease
order for an A321ceo and an Ivory Coast
order for an A320neo, Airbus' total came out
at 208 firm orders. Boeing booked a total of

A 3D printing of a miniature model
of a rocket engine.

The new 737MAX-8.

78 firm orders. The most spectacular order
was for 16 747-8Fs from Volga-Dnepr. Air
Europa signed up for 20 737 MAX 8s, TUI
for another 10 and Air Lease for six more.
Standard Chartered and Egyptair ordered 10
and nine 737-800s respectively. As a rare
order for twin aisle jets, Ruili (6) and TUI
(1) bought more 787-9s.
Another low-profile big seller at the airshow was the Chinese ARJ21; during two
ceremonies, CALC (60) and AVIC (30) signed
LoIs for the Chinese plane that has such a
striking resemblance to the DC-9.
Embraer proved that having an aircraft
present at the airshow doesn't prevent
sales either by selling nine E190/195-E2s
to Nordic Aviation Capital (4) and Kalstar
(5). JAL took another E190 "E1." Mitsubishi
reported a firm order for 10 MRJ regional
aircraft (+10 options) from lessor Rockton.
The few other firm orders at the airshow
went to the turboprop category, including
the new Lockheed LM-100J "Hercules," the
Bombardier Q400, the Viking Twin Otter and
the RUAG Dornier 228.

22 The official publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading

So, Farnborough 2016 was definitely
an airshow with a lot of rain, a reasonable number of orders, no significant new
program announcements, and a few interesting "firsts" in the form of the Embraer
E190-E2 and the Boeing 737 MAX 8. During
the flying display, the A380, A350, 787-9
and MAX 8 were impressive commercial
jets, but the mighty F35B clearly stole
the show. What else stood out? Well, more
so than during any previous airshow, the
exhibition halls held some fascinating
new developments. Noteworthy was the
breakthrough of 3D printing, or "additive
manufacturing." From a novelty producing plastic trinkets, the current printers can now produce high-quality metal
aircraft and engine parts. While not yet
fully functional, a printed 3D metal model
of a rocket engine was on display - fascinating stuff. Next year, it's back to Le
Bourget. Let's hope by that time the 3D
printers in France will be spitting out
sun-glasses and not umbrellas. Only time
will tell.

Jetrader - Autumn 2016

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