Airline passengers in the coming years will fly on several new airplane types that aircraft manufacturers showed off and discussed last month at the Farnborough International Air Show.
Airbus, for example, signed another airline customer for its super-jumbo A380, and Bombardier announced a single-aisle aircraft family for midrange routes. Meanwhile, Embraer is preparing to deliver the first new 100-seat E190 jets to JetBlue next year, and Boeing released a report predicting the world's commercial airplane fleet would double in two decades.
To take advantage of that growth, Boeing is banking on the 7E7 Dreamliner, a midsize, fuel-efficient aircraft capable of flying transoceanic routes. Japan's All Nippon Airways and Air New Zealand will become the first customers when they begin taking deliveries in 2008.
"Airlines and passengers will find that the 7E7 meets their needs because it will allow more direct flights, achieve significant improvements in fuel usage and be quieter than other airplanes of similar size," said Michael Bair, Boeing senior vice president for the 7E7 program. Boeing also is touting bigger windows, wider seats and aisles and improved cabin humidity. The 7E7 will come in three versions, ranging in cabin size from 217 seats to 289 seats.
In addition to ANA and Air New Zealand, Boeing said three other airline customers have ordered 12 7E7s, with more than 20 potential customers submitting deposits for roughly 200 airplanes. "Essentially, the first two years of production are 100 percent committed, and delivery slots for the third year are 80 percent committed," Bair said.
Boeing is bullish on the long-term outlook for the airplane market, forecasting annual world air travel growth above 5 percent. "Even severe downturns, such as we've experienced during the past few years, do not change the fundamentals of economic growth and the need for people to travel," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of marketing Randy Baseler.
Of the 25,000 new airplanes Boeing expects the world's airlines to buy during the next two decades, only 3 percent would be Boeing 747s or larger. "In the ever increasing competitive market, airlines will continue to meet passengers' demands for more nonstop, point-to-point flights and increased frequency choice, not larger airplanes," Baseler said.
European manufacturer Airbus obviously disagrees and is progressing on development of the double-decker jumbo A380, due to enter commercial service first with Singapore Airlines in 2006. Other airlines planning to take delivery of the new planes include Air France, Emirates, Korean, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Etihad Airways, the emerging national airline of the United Arab Emirates, late last month signed a memorandum of understanding for purchases including four A380s.
Airbus said passengers—ranging in number from 550 to more than 800, depending on configuration—will have more space at every seat, and airlines will benefit from lower operating costs. There are concerns, however, that the world's largest airports will not be ready in time to accommodate the largest plane in commercial aviation history. Virgin Atlantic cited that concern as a reason behind its decision to delay its first deliveries.
Nevertheless, certain U.S. airport authorities, such as those in Los Angeles, New York
(BTN, May 10) and San Francisco, are improving facilities, reinforcing runways and taxiways, preparing baggage and checkin processes and insisting they will be ready. "We planned for the future by designing the new international terminal to accommodate the new large aircraft, such as the A380, and that just makes sense, given we have 50 daily nonstop flights to 27 international cities, many of which will be served by the A380," said San Francisco International Airport director John L. Martin.
The airport is preparing extra common-use checkin counters, oversize baggage carousels, gates with two loading bridges and increased immigration capacity.
"Adapting to the large capacity A380 requires significantly less investment than accommodating growth through an increase of movements by smaller aircraft, which requires the duplication of existing infrastructure, such as runways and taxiways," Airbus said. "More than 60 airports will see A380 operations by 2010." The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration predicted 14 U.S. airports would see A380s by 2010.
On the much smaller end of the spectrum, Canada's Bombardier Aerospace announced details of its new family of commercial aircraft. The C-Series, if developed, would include two models seating between 110 and 135 passengers and offer operators transcontinental range with operating costs 15 percent to 20 percent below current levels. Bombardier said target airline customers are those now using "aging DC9, Fokker 100, Boeing 737 Classic, BAe-146, MD80 and other aircraft that are scheduled to retire by the end of the decade."
Bombardier is commencing a year-long feasibility study ahead of a possible program launch in 2005.
Another new family of aircraft comes from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer, including four models ranging in capacity from 70 to 110 seats. The smallest of the four, the Embraer 170, already has entered service. US Airways in March, for example, took delivery of the first of 85 it has on firm order. Alitalia, LOT Polish, Swiss and Finnair also have ordered E170s.
JetBlue Airways is scheduled to take initial deliveries in mid-2005 of the 100-seat Embraer 190, representing its second fleet type. The rapidly expanding low-fare carrier ordered 100 of the larger regional jets, with another 100 on order. It plans to use the planes to enter new midsize markets.
Embraer said the E170/E190 family addresses an untapped market segment and provides passengers with more legroom and headroom, two by two seating and generally more comfort than regional jets already in operation. It also said carriers benefit from quick turnaround times and a better means for matching supply and demand on point-to-point routes.